first name: ChrisM

statistic: More than 2,700 vegetarians hunt for recreation in the US annually.

chosen: I thought it odd.

source: Time Magazine.

first name: Heloise Forbes

statistic: Rodney King riots - 53 deaths

chosen: There's a single grain of rice to represent Rodney King in the Birmingham show and the description on the wall says he was beaten to death by police officers - this isn't true, he survived, but people did die during the riots that ensued when the officers were acquitted.

THANK YOU HELOISE FOR SPOTTING OUR ERROR

first name: Graham Rand

This is a query about a statistic I saw in Stan's Cafe during ArtFest.
It implied, if I remember correctly, that there had been a huge population growth in Liverpool between 1770 and 1773. The recently published history of Liverpool has a table which indicates steady growth in Liverpool's population in the 18thC. 1700
(5195), 1730 (11932), 1750 (18400), 1760 (25579), 1770 (34050), 1780 (40000), 1790 (55732), 1801 (77653).I would be interested to discover the source of your data.

source: Liverpool 800 ed J. Belchem p169

THANK YOU GRAHAM FOR SPOTTING THIS - OUR LABEL HAD A TYPO - IT SHOULD HAVE READ POPULATION OF LIVERPOOL IN 1700 NOT 1770

first name: Tim

statistic: Number of writers for 'The Archers' meeting in Birmingham 15/09/08: 10

Number of listeners to 'The Archers': 4,500,000

chosen: 'The Archers' is very proud to be a product of Birmingham having been
recorded in the city since 1951. It is now the world's longest running radio soap
opera. I just thought people might like to know this national institution was being
created where they live!

source: BBC and average RAJAR listening figures

Alfred Bird qualified as a chemist in Birmingham. His wife was a lover of custard but an intolerance of eggs meant that this pleasure often resulted in severe indigestion. This led Alfred to invent his custard powder which enabled lovely custard to be made without the use of eggs. His custard was a big hit and with his 2 sons Alfred set up Alfred Bird and Sons. Their factory was in Digbeth and is now home to the Custard Factory arts and media complex. According to The Custard factory site the Bird's factory employed 1000 people at its height but I haven't been able to verify this so if anyone can let us know.

Sources: various
Submitted by: Craig

Chosen: I thought you'd be interested

Source: World Health Organisation

Submitted By: Simon P

Chosen:

The coincidence of the Georgian armed conflict with Russia and the opening of the Olympic Games led me to explore if there were any other ways of linking the two events. I'd been staggered by the size of the Olympic Opening ceremony cast (14,000) a hunch told me the Georgian Army could be small and indeed the numbers are comparable. Pushing things I wondered how many people lived in the disputed region of South Ossetia and found that, even before so many of them fled the fighting, they could all comfortably be accomodated in the 91,000 seats of the Birds Nest stadium. As for the population of Georgia itself, it's roughly equivalent to that of St.Petersberg.

This collection of statistics along with two grains of rice acting the Georgian and Russian pistol shooters embracing on the Olympic medal podium recently formed a section of the show in Hamburg.

Sources: Mostly the BBC.

Submitted by: James

Chosen: Detainees in Guantanamo Bay Camps is a statistic we have had trouble finding recently so we have failed to include it the show for a while, but this number shouldn't be forgotten.

Source: The Guardian, 22 March, 2008

Submitted By: James

Chosen: I think I know three of them! Apparently there are also 100,000 on council waiting lists. I salute them all.

Source: The Guardian 22nd March, 2008

Submitted by: James

Chosen: Actually, this is "an estimated 60,000 pigeon fanciers" and so probably not allowed. What the hell use is it anyway I hear you ask? No idea.

Source: The Guardian 21/1/8

Submitted By: Amanda