This Woman's Words

In 1989, as part of a deal to gain an exclusive interview to coincide with the release of her new LP The Sensual World, UK newspaper The Independent on Sunday agreed to let Kate Bush, a crossword enthusiast, set the clues for its weekly, notoriously difficult Beelzebub puzzle. The crossword's regular setter could only solve three clues and, even on seeing the answers, could only fathom a few more, leading the paper to pull the puzzle. Despite negotiations, the deal was off.

Bright Lights Big City

Odense, in Denmark, is strictly the world's largest city. An edict of 1849 (and subsequent ones in 1904 and 1970) failed to agree on the city's boundaries and so, legally, the city does not stop until the national borders of Denmark.

North and South

Although New Zealand is one of the planet's southernmost countries, it is also technically the most northern. Aspen, the most distant of the Ironside islands, 2,600 miles south of New Zealand, is actually 80 miles over the zero degrees line of latitude and so is actually the first named piece of dry land in the Northern hemisphere!

In Pieces



The Guatemalan word for 'jigsaw puzzle' translates literally as 'I-fall-together-you-fall-apart'.

Eisoptrophobic Crustaceans

Many creatures are averse to mirrors and reflections in windows. Some believe the reflection is a rival, while others recognise themselves and are disturbed by this. The most fearful is the lobster. In 1976, marine biologists in California set loose 30 male lobsters in a funfair hall of mirrors. All but two had died within three minutes, either of sheer fright or in a frantic battle with their own specular images!