Notebook Letters 12.

Delving into Melvin

Wade, Ess*x: D*mn good theory of the Joker card mystery, but who is Melvin White? A name Alfred uses when Bruce identifies thumbprint on the bullet used to shoot Gordon. Is Melvin the Joker? Also, where did the name Jack Napier come from for the Joker's alias in Tim Burton's Batman? Dave, Tyneside

Anyone seen or know anything about the following films, Last Ball or Farewell Bender? Neither seem to be available even in US.

Nigel, Keighley

Vortex; Teletext page 817; 23rd of December, 2008; 2/6.

* Shy male birds build closer friendships than bolder birds.

* Coleshill in Warwickshire is the Viagra capital of England.

* Pete Waterman has a trainset in his barn based on 1950s Leamington Spa.

* Countries with average GDP below $18, 500 (£11, 58) tend to chop down forests, while those above tend to plant them.

* Men with wide faces make people around them selfish.

* The first "drunk tank" was set up in Prague in 1951.

* Tigers share 96% of their genes with the domestic cat.

* Since 2000, until this week, most Americans considered Russia a friendly nation.

* The best way to get served at a crowded bar is standing square and looking directly at the barman.

* Smaller animals perceive time as if it is passing in slow motion.

10 things we didn't know last week; 21st of September, 2013.

No blots on Inkheart

Saw Inkheart last week, and I thought it was good but repetitive. An intriguing concept but muddled slightly. Bettany and Mirren stood out though for me. Merry Xmas, Vortex! Sade, Ess*x

Re SK, Tipton. Many critics were shocked at Heath Ledger being cast as The Joker, but then came one of the best performances ever on film. Have faith in Christopher Nolan casting Eddie Murphy as The Riddler, remember he directs these guys. Darren, Surbiton

Vortex; Teletext page 817; 23rd of December, 2008; 3/6.

* Cuban rescue workers use sniffer rabbits to find people in collapsed buildings.

* Finnair flights used to have a roast beef trolley.

* Bill Clinton was taught a jujitsu move by his aides to prevent Yassar Arafat hugging him for the cameras.

* There is a professor of space law at the University of Mississippi.

* Noise and artificial lighting means the dawn chorus starts up to five hours earlier in cities.

* Los Angeles has a cupcake ATM vending machine.

* UK Education Secretary Michael Gove owns a pair of swimming trunks "in the style of lederhosen".

* Ceefax was big in Holland.

* Fifteen per cent of Americans don't use the internet.

* City birds cope better in the cold than their woodland counterparts.

10 things we didn't know last week; 28th of September, 2013.

Sink teeth into these

Hammer's Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter is my fave vampire film. It manages to tourn vampire mythology on its head! Also, try Hammer's Dracula. Anon

Wow! I loved Twilight. Robert Pattison is easy on the eye too. Could you please tell me when Twilight is set for a UK DVD release. Amy, Co Antrim

What do people think about the Lizard as next Spider-Man villain with Kraven joining in the hunt? Mark, Leics

Vortex; Teletext page 817; 23rd of December, 2008; 4/6.

* The Soviet Union published a children's book of Stalin's five-year plan.

* People pour more white wine into a glass than red.

* Dolphins' favourite band is Radiohead.

* Passports issued by the UK, Sweden and Finland offer visa-free travel to more countries than any other passports.

* Users can band together to change the wording of Facebook buttons in some countries.

* Ants have a property ladder that they keep tabs on.

* A man can be sent to prison for being gay in three-quarters of Commonwealth countries.

* London 2012 athletes had bad teeth.

* The letters q, w and x were not allowed in Turkish official documents.

* The Swiss Army prepared for an attack by bankrupt French factions as part of a war gaming scenario.

10 things we didn't know last week; 5th of October, 2013.

Twilight dawns

My favourite vampire film has to be From Dusk Till Dawn. But just seen Twilight, one of the best for ages. A cult in the making. Michelle, Runcorn

Stephen, I read a book about 15 years ago; think it was called The Silver Kiss; same subject, male teen vamp falls for human girl. Ray, West Mids

Do the tabloids really think we are daft with this Eddie Murphy as Riddler tosh. Utter piffle. Jim, Halesowen

Vortex; Teletext page 817; 23rd of December, 2008; 5/6.

* Peanut butter is used to test for early signs of Alzheimer's disease.

* Elephants are the only animal to understand humans pointing.

* Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall won't eat the brown bits in bananas.

* Some species of marsupials mate with such intensity that it kills them.

* Medieval French cookery book Le Viandier de Taillevent contains a recipe for plucking and basting a live chicken, which is then rocked to sleep and placed on a platter beside two roasted chickens.

* Hemp seed herbal tea makes hangovers worse, but Sprite makes them better.

* New Sunderland coach Charlie Oatway- full name Anthiny Philip David Terry Frank Donald Stanley Gerry Gordon Stephen James Oatway- was named after the entire 1973 Queens Park Rangers first team.

* Nineteen Tyrolean men alive today are related to a 5, 300-year-old "iceman" whose frozen corpse was found preserved in the Italian alps.

* Swifts can stay airborne for up to six months at a time.

* Footballers are most at risk of injury five minutes after a goal has been scored or a red or yellow card is given.

10 things we didn't know last week; 12th of October, 2013.

Exclusive: a third Kills album

The Kills may work with a live drummer for the first time when they start recording their new live album in February.

"It would speed up the process," Jamie Hince told PS. "You can't sit around jamming with just two people. If we had a drummer, we'd know if songs need Moe Tucker drumming or something else."

Hince added: "It would be someone w're comfortable with. My guitar tech is a good drummer, he could do it."

1/7.

U2's format frenzy

U2's new album New Line On The Horizon, out on March 2, will be available in three different editions.

As well as standard CD and vinyl, there is a 36-page booklet, poster and a download film by Anton Corbijn, a 60-page paperback book replacing the booklet; and a hardback book with two posters and the Corbijn film on DVD.

The album has a duet with will.i.am on Crazy Tonight.

2/7.

Exclusive on Homme baby

Brody Dalle has said her daughter with Josh Homme has already written her first song, at the age of two.

"Camille wrote a song called Star Star Star, and it rocks," Dalle told PS. "She's a cooler singer than me."

3/7.

Killer off into space

The Killers release Spaceman, the second single from their Day And Age album, on February 9. The band tour from February 23.

Harry Priestman has signed a solo deal with Universal, but won't receive any money until he becomes a pensioner in 2021. The ex-Christians singer, 53, said: "I have a few good years in me but I need to think about my future." New single Grey Is The New Blonde is out on January 19.

4/7.

US tries new piracy move

America's music industry government body is to stop prosecuting people who illegally download music.

The RIAA will instead work with internet service providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo. Those who illegally download will be threatened with having their accounts closed down if they persist in stealing music.

The RIAA said: "This will be a meaningful alternative approach."

5/7.

Trio team up for Wonky

Boy Crisis, Dan Black and Master Shortie go on the Wonky Pop tour in February. Dates are:

Manchester Ruby (26) Sheffield Plug (27) Liverpool Evol (28) Newcastle NA2 (Mar 2) Edinburgh Voltaire (3) Glasgow Tut (5) Leeds Cockpit (6) Nottingham Rescue (7) Birmingham BBA (8) Stoke Sugar (10) Leicester Charlotte (11).

London KCLSU (12) Brighton Audio (13) Southampton Joiners (15).

6/7.

Plant mates with Page

Robert Plant has said he is still in regular contact with Jimmy Page, but says he won't tour with Led Zeppelin.

In October, John Paul Jones said the other three band members intend to tour next year with a different singer.

Plant told BBC Radio Wales: "I'm doing very well with Alison Krauss, I enjoy that. I see Jimmy Page quite a bit, and he's very supportive and complimentary. But we're in different places now."

7/7.

Teletext page 821; 24th of December, 2008.

* Ancient Britons ate frogs' legs.

* "Territorial discrimination" by fans- for example insulting Neapolitans- is an offence that can lead Italian football clubs to have to play behind closed doors.

* Marmosets are too polite to interrupt each other.

* Morrissey was asked to perform Smelly Cat on Friends.

* A universal law of urination means that elephants, cows, goats and dogs all take roughly 21 seconds to empty their bladders.

* The country where you are most likely to be enslaved is Mauritania.

8 Adding tiny Lego brick-style studs to solar panels makes them 22% more effective.

* From the age of 18 months a child can tell if someone is being insincere.

* On Saturn and Jupiter it probably rains diamonds.

* It's a myth that President Chirac regularly ate calf's head- he preferred snails and sauerkraut.

10 things we didn't know last week; 19th of October, 2013.

By John Earls Top 50 singles of 2008

12) DAVID HOLMES I See Wonders

Wanting to commemorate the death of his mother, Holmes decided his new songs were too personal for anyone else to sing, hence showcasing his own tremulous yet heartfelt vocals.

The album, The Holy Pictures, was superb. But this driving Krautrock was where it really tookk, a Motorik beat Primal Scream would kill for, with Holmes sounding just as urgent and derailed as any regular singer.

1/4.

Top 50 singles

11) PETE & THE PIRATES Mr Understanding

Nowhere was the lack of new bands breaking through thanks to the messed-up Top 40 clearer than here.

This was the simple, ditzy celebration that should have been sung along to at pubs and festivals throughout the land, on par with I Predict A Riot for packing a mighty chorus that's so hard to get right. It certainly deserves a better fate than for the band to have to carry on in the shadows. Bah.

2/4.

Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008.

* In Scrabble, a Benjamin is a three-letter extension to the front of a five-letter word.

* Gold grows on eucalyptus trees.

* Jazz apples are actually called Scifresh, and Pink Lady is the trademark name for Cripps Pinks.

* A man's walking pace slows by 7% for wives and girlfriends but not for other women, and increases if walking with another man.

* There are more US astronauts than pilots anywhere who have flown Canada.

* D*ck Cheney, the former US vice-president, had his heart implant modified for fear of terrorist attack.

* The avocado's survival after the age of mammoths is an evolutionary puzzle.

* The working-class white accent of New Orleans is affectionately known as "Yat", from the local greeting "Where y'at?"

* Reasons for a person to be committed to an insane asylum in Virginia in the 1800s included novel reading and "desertion by husband".

* The equivalent of an urban fox in Genoa is a wild boar.

10 things we didn't know last week; 26th of October, 2013.

By John Earls Top 50 albums of 2008

12) BRITISH SEA POWER Do You Like Rock Music?

Operating with an exemplary sense of the absurd from the outset, now their music is worthy of their ethos.

From the stirring anthemics of Waving Flags and No Lucifer (based on a Big Daddy wrestling chant, lest we forget) to some military mayhem, the melodies were better crafted, tighter while maintaining their heightened dramas. They really could go anywhere from here and it's a journey worth following.

1/4.

Top 50 albums of 2008

11) DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs

The extraordinary eight-minute opening single I Will Possess Your Heart was a statement that everything was up for grabs in their songwriting.

So it proved. Ben Gibbard may have sung with his usual warm humanity, but there was a new darkness at the lyrics' core. A decade in, and they offered their best, most-rounded album yet.

2/4.

Teletext page 823; 24th of December, 2008.

* Reindeer eyes change colour over the course of a year.

* The Chinese for nouveau riche is "tuhao".

* Red underwear is popular in Wales, while those in North West England buy a lot of things.

* Nervous dogs wag their tails to the left, and happy dogs to the right (from the dog's point of view)- and fellow canines pick up on this lop-sided tail language.

* People who eat large amounts of chocolate have trimmer stomachs.

* The mathematical chance of meeting your soul mate is one in 10, 000.

* A long-term lover is known as a "small house" in Zimbabwe.

* Mosquitoes tune into the same frequency of wing beat as the others around them.

* A smartphone can stop a bullet.

* Amazon's original name was to be Relentless- and the URL relentless.com still redirects to the company website.

10 things we didn't know last week; 2nd of November, 2013.

Jo is entirely correct about the obvious rhymes in Hallelujah. This took me two bus stops. "Len Cohen wrote a mournful song/ But no-one else would sing along/ Until Jeff Buckley thought 'Len, I'll improve yer'/ Then people praised Len's clever verse/ Although Cole Porter did it first/ In a much better song than Hallelujah." Zapruder

Blur may have reformed, but we need Pulp to follow suit, if only for an official farewell. Liz Leyburn

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 1/7.

* The highest ever recorded score at Scrabble was 392 for the word "caziques" at a tournament in Manchester.

* Getting as close to the urinal as possible to allow a smooth, unbroken stream is the most effective way for men to reduce "splashback".

* The most effective time to drink coffee is between 09:30 and 11:30.

* Solar cells convert sunlight into electricity when loud music is played to them- as long as it's pop or rock.

* Edinburgh and Glasgow have witnessed more reports of paranormal activities than any other cities in the UK.

* An estimated 600, 000 bats were killed in the United States by wind turbines in 2012.

* PhD students in Kashmir are graded in part on the kebab feast they lay on at their assessment.

* The anatomical structure of froghopper genitals has remained unchanged in 165 million years.

* 17th Century cheesemakers used to colour their cheese to pass it off as a high-quality product.

* The least depressed country in the world is Japan, according to a study of global diagnosis rates.

10 things we didn't know last week; 9th of November, 2013.

"Girls, Vibrations... yeah, God only knows/ That The Beach Boys wrote poetry and prose/ Do you mind if I answer, only to poo-poo yer/ A song doesn't necessarily need to rhyme/ Take Troubled Waters, was that a crime?/ I bet that you prefer The Priests. Hmm, hallelujah. Jo Morley

I never envisioned Kyle Falconer in eyeliner, but it suits him. He looks like a child in The View's 5 Rebbeccas video, I felt maternal. Jade Webster

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 2/7.

* Lee Harvey Oswald still has an overdue library book from Dallas public library.

* Wayne Rooney's voicemail password was Stella Artois.

* "Huh?" means the same thing in every language.

* A man can outrun a cheetah over a distance of four miles (6.4km) during the hottest time of the day.

* Russian officials can no longer say "Your thank you does not butter my bread" in case it's taken as a request for a bribe.

* The first margarine was made from cattle fat combined with chopped sheep or pig stomach.

* There's only one sneeze in the bible.

* The Volkswagen Golf has been Germany's best-selling car for 32 years in a row.

* The most popular US college degree earned by millionaires is engineering.

* The oldest piece of string dates back 90, 000 years.

10 things we didn't know last week; 16th of November, 2013.

My version of Hallelujah is based on a true story: "I went to book my Christmas leave/ But was left feeling quite aggrieved/ As I was told to come in over New Year/ I was looking for a longer rest/ My boss said he would do his best/ We agreed the 5th, and I cried Hallelujah. Duncan Woods

With the exception of a few songs, 2008 wasn't a patch on last year, when Maximo Park and Editors released top albums. Elmo

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 3/7.

* You can make chees from the bacteria of human tears, belly buttons and noses.

* The average time taken to drink half a pint of beer in pubs on a November Saturday night in Brighton in 1938 was 7.3 minutes.

* The market value of a diplodocus skeleton in the UK is between £400, 000 and £600, 000.

* Promiscuous female mice rear sons who are more attractive to females.

* It's impossible to tickle yourself by pretending someone else is doing the tickling.

* The Pope says he goes to goes to confession at least fortnightly as he's a sinner.

* Film actor John Wayne coined the phrase "the Big C" to avoid naming cancer.

* Shaking hands with your middle finger folded in is considered lewd in Dubai.

* Humans seem to be born with an innate distrust of plants.

* New York mechanical street sweepers cover 6, 000 miles a day at eight miles per hour.

10 things we didn't know last week; 23rd of November, 2013.

Goldfrapp "went acoustic" on Seventh Tree? Er, they started out largely acoustic on the wonderful whistly and ethereal Felt Mountain. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the transition to big gay disco on Black Cherry, but I loved it. The problem with Seventh Tree isn't the change in musical direction, it's the lack of any. Garion

My album of the year is Paramore. It's live, and comes with a free DVD. What more could you ask? Victoria Rowlands

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 4/7.

* White round plates make food taste better.

* The world's oldest known toilets were used by the dinodontosaurus, a rhino-like herbivore, some 240 million years ago.

* Richard III ground his teeth.

* Massachusetts colonists drank an estimated average of 35 gallons of cider per person during the year 1767.

* Earwigs use a chemical cloud to protect themselves from illness and predators.

* There's a twins-only military unit in Russia.

* Some 55% of middle names in the UK are chosen to commemorate relatives.

* Barn owls recognise the calls of their sisters and brothers.

* Robbie Williams is the most-featured artist in the Now That's What I Call Music compilation series, with 28 singles.

10 things we didn't know last week; 30th of November, 2013.

I'm gutted at the news of Mystery Jets being dropped. What is it about 679 Records that they drop their acts so regularly? First it was Annie and The Futureheads, now this.

As for Patrick Wolf's next record being funded by fans, why don't his challenging records cross over? MIA is huge in the US, so why not Patrick? What is it about him that puts people off? Lycanthropy is a superb album. Kirkland Ciccone

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 5/7.

* Women's and men's brains are differently wired and the difference grows bigger after childhood.

* You can teach a wolf tricks just like a dog.

* Neanderthals were house-proud creatures, devoting separate spaces to tool-making, butchering animals and socialising.

* A children's TV show in Sweden has characters dressed as"poo-poo" and "wee-wee".

* Female lemon sharks go back to their birthplace to reproduce.

* The pope used to work as a bouncer.

* Monkeys in Latin America prefer eating the fruit of the Pouteria and Brosimum trees to bananas.

* You can tell a person is tall by just hearing their voice.

* Koalas evolved a vocal organ that allows them to produce a very low-pitched sound for mating.

* The hardest tongue twister is "pad kid poured curd pulled cold".

10 things we didn't know last week; 7th of December, 2013.

Top 10 singles of 2008

1) Waving Flags British Sea Power
2) I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me Annie
3) Time To Pretend MGMT
4) One Day Like This Elbow
5) Fascination Alphabeat
6) That's Not My Name The Ting Tings
7) Ready For The Floor Hot Chip
Eight) Superstar Lupe Fiasco
9) I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You Black Kids
10) Sequestered In Memphis The Hold Steady

The Void; Teletext page 825; 24th of December, 2008; 6/7.