In my 9th blog I mentioned some interesting information about distant places that I have read about from time to time. Here are some more:

The Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas are all remnants of the Tethys Ocean, which separated Gondwana from Laurasia.

The Wash, the Gulf of Carpentaria and Hudson’s Bay are thought to be the sites of meteoric impacts.

Port Lockroy in Antarctica is a tourist resort.

Lake Isa in the Yellowstone National Park has outlets to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Damascus is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

The Three Gorges Reservoir stretches for 412 miles, more than the distance from London to Edinburgh.

The Pantanal swamp in South America is bigger than England.

There is more water in aquifers (underground lakes) than in all the lakes and rivers in the world.

In 2004 an underground lake was discovered 400 miles deep in the mantle with three times the volume of the sea.

Population of the world’s greatest conurbations

Mexico City 21 million
Shanghai 25 million
Delhi 26 million
Sao Paulo 29 million
Tokyo 38 million
Pearl River Delta (including Hong Kong) 63 million

The days when London and New York were the greatest cities in the world are long gone.

Literary associations of places in Britain

Ambridge, the village featured in the Archers, is Inkberrow in Worcestershire.

The story of the Babes in the Wood is set in Wayland Wood near Watton in Norfolk.

Brownsea Island is Whispering Island in ‘Five Have a Mystery to Solve’ by Enid Blyton.

Castle Top Farm near Cromford in Derbyshire was the childhood home of Alison Uttley.

The island of Fidra, which is featured on my panorama from Arthur’s Seat, is said to be the inspiration for Treasure Island, although I didn’t know this when the panorama was produced.

Hayford Hall near Buckfastleigh is said to be the inspiration for Baskerville Hall in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’.

The Herries Chronicles were written at Brackenburn near the shore of Derwentwater.

Hilaire Belloc lived in the house adjoining the windmill at Shipley near Horsham.

Jack and Jill went up the hill at Kilmersdon near Radstock.

The story of Jack and the Beanstalk was set on St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall.

King Lear is said to have lived in Leicester in the 9th century B.C.

Little Miss Muffat lived at Muffats Farm, North Mymms near Hatfield.

Macbeth died at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire.

Maid Marian is said to have lived at Blidworth in Sherwood Forest.

Quarry Wood, Cookham Dean is the inspiration for the Wild Wood of ‘The Wind in the Willows’. Mapledurham House on the Thames is the inspiration for Toad Hall. The house also features in the Forsyte Saga.

Samual Taylor Coleridge wrote Kubla Kahn at Ash Farm near Culbone in Somerset.

Tannoch Brae, the village featured in ‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook’, is Auchtermuchty in Fife.

More about the Higgs boson

Since I wrote blogs 33 and 34 I have learned that the Higgs field exists throughout the universe, which means that the achievement of 2012 was in the nature of a discovery after all.