200,000 American voters in the 2008 USA Presidential Election lived in London, England.

The largest hotels in the world at the start of 2009 were : FIRST WORLD HOTEL Malaysia ( 6118 rooms),  MGM GRAND Las Vegas (5690 rooms), AMBASSADOR CITY JOMTLEN Thailand (4631 rooms), LUXOR Las Vegas (4408 rooms), MANDALAY BAY / THE HOTEL Las Vegas (4341 rooms), THE VENETIAN Las Vegas (4027 rooms), EXCALIBUR Las Vegas (4008 rooms), BELLAGIO Las Vegas (3993 rooms), CIRCUS CIRCUS Las Vegas (3774 rooms), FLAMINGO Las Vegas (3565 rooms), PALAZZO Las Vegas (3443 rooms), HILTON HAWAIIAN VILLAGE Honolulu (3386 rooms), CAESARS PALACE Las Vegas (3349 rooms), MIRAGE Las Vegas (3044 rooms), MONTE CARLO Las Vegas (3002 rooms), HILTON Las Vegas (2956 rooms), PARIS Las Vegas (2916 rooms), TREASURE ISLAND Las Vegas (2885 rooms), GAYLORD OPRYLAND Nashville (2883 rooms),  and DISNEY’S POP CENTURY Florida (2880 rooms).

Under construction is the ASIA ASIA HOTEL in Dubai, which is scheduled for completion in 2010, and is expected to have 6500 rooms.

When out hiking or camping, you can determine how much daylight is left by holding your fist up to the western horizon. Stack your fists on top of one another up to the sun’s level in the sky. Each fist represents about an hour of remaining daylight.

It’s embarrassing enough when you lose your handbag on a night out.  Even worse when you are in orbit, particularly when you’re the first woman to be given the job as lead space walker on a shuttle flight, and your bag is a valuable tool kit. 
“Oh, great!” muttered Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper in November 2008 as the reality of the situation hit home, and the jokes about handbags and lipsticks lost in space loomed.  The astronaut was carrying out an attempt to clean up a joint on the International Space Station’s solar panel when the grease gun inside her tool bag exploded, getting grey goo all over her camera and her gloves.  As she cleaned herself up, her bag slipped out of her grip and floated off.

The huge £500m Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol city centre which opened in 2008 was named after John Cabot, following a public vote, after the original chosen name 'Merchants Quarter' came under criticism due to its associations to the slave trade.
John Cabot was actually Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto, who gained the patronage of Tudor King Henry VII of England.  Sailing from Bristol he and his crew became the first Europeans (since the Vikings) to discover the North American mainland, landing on the coast of Newfoundland on June 24, 1497.  Christopher Columbus did not find the South American mainland until his third voyage, in 1498.  Back in England, Cabot was made an Admiral, rewarded with £10 and a patent was written for a new voyage.  Later, a pension of £20 a year was granted to him.  However, he never returned from a later voyage and it is rumoured his expedition was sunk by a Spanish ship. 

Richard Amerike, born near Ross On Wye, was a merchant and descendent of the Earls of Gwent.  He married in West Camel near Ilchester in Somerset, before moving to live in Bristol.  He held the post of King’s Custom Officer three times and in 1497 became Sheriff of Bristol.  He was the principal owner of John Cabot’s ship Matthew during the voyage which discovered the North American mainland.  It is thought that the name “America” was named after him.

Robin Hood, the medieval outlaw, often referred to as Robin of Loxley appears to be from Sheffield, as Loxley is a river valley in Sheffield near Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.  Just west of the Loxley Valley, in the churchyard in Hathersage in the Peak District, is a huge grave which supposedly contains the giant skeleton of Little John.  From the evidence, the famous ‘merry men’ who hid in Sherwood Forest and the Peak Forest do seem to have been real people.  It is thought that Robin Hood, Little John, and the outlaws never travelled all the way to Nottingham, as that was a long way south, with the Norman castle there being home to their enemy the Sheriff of Nottingham.