Every weekend Spectator Life brings you doses of topical trivia – facts, figures and anecdotes inspired by the current week’s dates in history …
13 March
Earl Grey (born 1764). The Prime Minister gave his name to the tea. It was specially blended for him by a Chinese mandarin to suit the water in Northumberland, where the Grey family seat Howick Hall is located. The tea contains bergamot, to take account of the water’s high lime content.
14 March
International Pi Day. The date was chosen because in American format (3/14) it matches pi’s first three digits. To remember the first seven digits (3.141592), count the letters in each word of ‘how I wish I could calculate pi’.
15 March
In 1906 Rolls-Royce Limited was incorporated. In 1957 the legendary advertising executive David Ogilvy created the firm’s most successful ad of all time: ‘At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.’
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