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Curious Questions: Who first used corks in wine — and how did they get them out again before the invention of the corkscrew?
There's nothing quite like the noise of uncorking a bottle of wine. Despite the inroads made by screwcaps, the majority of us still prefer the ritual of opening a bottle with a corkscrew. But how did we first start doing that in the first place? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Why do clocks go clockwise?
There's nothing to stop the hands of a clock from running backwards — indeed, some actually do — but the overwhelming majority move, well, clockwise. Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: How will we greet each other in a post Covid-19 world?
Kissing cheeks will surely be frowned upon, and even the humble handshake may struggle to regain its pre-eminence. But what other options will we have for greeting each other when the world gets (cautiously) back to normal?
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Curious Questions: Why do the clocks go forward in Spring?
As we move from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time, Martin Fone ponders the reasons why — and wonders if we'll always continue to change the clocks twice a year.
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Curious Questions: What did people use before toilet paper?
The mania for the humble toilet roll that has accompanied the coronavirus has our columnist Martin Fone musing on where it came from in the first place.
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Curious Questions: Who first discovered that washing your hands stops the spread of disease?
Washing your hands regularly is the single biggest thing you can do to help stop the spread of coronavirus. In an article adapted from a chapter of his book, Martin Fone explains more.
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Curious Questions: Who was Earl Grey — and why are we drinking his tea?
If you've ever stopped to wonder exactly which member of the aristocracy put his name to the floral, perfumed tea, Martin Fone has the answer.
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Curious Questions: Why do we say it with flowers?
Post-Valentine's Day, Martin Fone takes a look at the true meaning behind flowers, decoding what each individual bloom says about the receiver - or the sender.
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Cruising the Alaskan Inside Passage: Where the Call of the Wild meets the Lap of Luxury
Seeing the remote wilderness of Alaska was once reserved only for pilots and adventurers; today, cruise ships take passengers by the thousand to enjoy these spectacular parts. Martin Fone went on the archetypal Alaska cruise: a seven-day journey up the Alaskan Inside Passage.
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Curious Questions: Why are wine bottles all pretty much the same shape and colour?
We drink 36 billion bottles of wine a year — and almost all of them come in wine bottles that share essentially the same design. Martin Fone wonders why.
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Curious Questions: How did a stork with a spear through its neck solve the mystery of the migration of birds?
For thousands of years, most people were convinced that birds hibernated in the winter — until a staggeringly resilient stork proved otherwise. Martin Fone explains.
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Curious Questions: Why are banana skins so slippery?
The deadly slipperiness of the discarded banana skin — substantially more slippery than ice — is a staple of comic sketches across the world, but what is it that makes our favourite tropical fruit such a hazard? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Which bird's song is loudest?
We tend to think of bird song as endearing and delicate — but there are birds out there who would put the average foghorn to shame. Martin Fone finds out which is the loudest.
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Curious Questions: How likely are you to be killed by a falling coconut?
Our resident curious questioner Martin Fone poses (and answers) another head scratcher - or should we say, head banger?
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Curious Questions: Should animals wear clothes?
Martin Fone, decidedly not an animal person, ponders whether animals should wear clothes and, indeed, what a stylish pet would wear in the case that they do.
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Curious Questions: Dirty cash, filthy lucre... but how mucky is our money?
Martin Fone ponders another Curious Question, and comes away thinking that perhaps it's time for us to start money laundering in a very literal sense.
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Curious Questions: Why do we talk about the '$64,000 question' — even in a country where we don't use dollars?
A question about a question? Absolutely. Martin Fone gets to the bottom of where this curious phrase originates — and how it even found its way across the Atlantic.
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Curious Questions: What's the world's largest totem pole?
Martin Fone finds himself intrigued by the totem pole, and wonders which is the biggest ever made.
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Curious Questions: Does Amsterdam really have the most bridges in the world?
Everywhere you look in Amsterdam there seems to be a way of traversing the waterways of the city. But are there really more bridges here than anywhere else in the world? Martin Fone investigates.
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Curious Questions: Why do Australians call the British 'Poms'?
With England about to take on Australia in The Ashes, Martin Fone ponders the derivation of the Aussies nickname for us: Poms.
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Curious Questions: Were the Wright Brothers actually beaten to it by a farmer from New Zealand?
History is full of tales of inventors being credited with breakthroughs that had actually been achieved by others. Martin Fone takes a look at whether we should add the Wright Brothers to the list of the pioneers who'd been beaten to the punch.
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How cruising went from your grandparents' favourite holiday to an escape for explorers, foodies and music lovers
The idea of going on a cruise once conjured up images of old boys snoozing in armchairs while elderly guests play deck quoits around him — but times have changed. We sent Martin Fone, a cruise virgin, on a long weekend to Amsterdam to discover what all the fuss is about.
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Curious Questions: Why do cricketers call it a 'duck' when they get bowled out for 0?
Martin Fone, author of 50 Curious Questions, explains how a duck egg led to the popularisation of a term in one of the world's great sports.
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Curious Questions: How are hailstones formed? And how big can they get?
Inspired by the recent wacky weather, Martin Fone — author of 50 Curious Questions — turns his gaze to what is undoubtedly the strangest form of precipitation: hail.
