A countdown is loudly counting in reverse from 10 to 1, prior to an event. In a rocket launch, a countdown is a carefully devised set of procedures ending with the ignition of a rocket engine, which starts 72 to 96 hours prior to its launch time. During the countdown, step-by-step procedures like placing the vehicle at the launch site, …

In several countries, people cannot bring in animals freely from abroad. Any animal that does arrive must go into quarantine and spend several months in a cage before being allowed to mix freely with other animals and people. There is a very good reason for this law. It is to prevent the spread of a terrible disease called rabies. People …

The flowers appear at the times most suited to the production of seed for the continuation of the species. Before seed can develop the flower must be pollinated. This means that the dust-like pollem produce by the stamen of the flower must be transferred to the stigma of the ovary. Pollination is brought about by various means. Most plants are …

There is one theory that the eye patch was worn over one eye so the pirate could move between the darkness of below-deck to the brightness of topside without waiting for the eyes to adjust. Another theory: the eye patch stereotype predates the “Golden Age of Piracy” by some 200 years. Up until the 1500s one of the key tools …

Trees do not grow on mountain tops either because the situation is too exposed, or because the soil is too thin or too frozen to allow their roots to draw nourishment from the ground. In most mountainous areas there is usually a clearly marked timberline, a boundary above which there is no tree growth. Sometimes the height of the timberline …

Because he first started writing on the staff of a women’s periodical. He spent four years writing a gossip column under the odd penname of “Gwendolyn.” He regarded the time thus spent as the most valuable part of his life. He later became the assistant editor and then editor of a weekly magazine called Woman. His later commet was: “I …

Mary Webb was born at Leighton, Shropshire on March 25, 1881. Her family name was Meredith and in 1912 she married a school-master, Henry Bertram Webb. In 1914 Mr and Mrs Webb began work as market gardeners and sold their fruit and vegetables on a stall in the market place of Shrewsbury Town. Marry Webb started journalistic work at an …

Attaboy is an alteration of ‘That’s the boy!’ It is used to cheer somebody on and to express enthusiastic encouragement or approval to a man or boy. It is an act of congratulating somebody on an achievement. Example: he received several attaboys from the top management after the presentation.

Helen Beatrix Potter, born July 6, 1866, paid for only 250 copies of Peter Rabbit to be printed in December 1901. Two months later, a second edition of 250 copies were printed. Later, in 1902, Beatrix Potter (the name she wrote under) published, again at her own cost, The Tailor of Gloucester. 500 copies were published. In the year 1903, …

This was Hector Hugh Munro, born in Burma on November 12, 1870. His fame as a writer rests on his brilliant short stories which have been collected in several volumes such as Reginald, Reginald in Russia and The Chronicles of Clovis. He was only a child when his mother died and, in Devonshire, England, he was brought up by two …