Sunbathing has its origins in ancient civilizations. Greeks, Romans, and Sumerians considered Sun as a God, because Sun was the most powerful natural source of heat and light; as a part of Sun worship, they used to expose their bodies to sunlight. Another reason was ancient man’s liking for bronzed skin, which could be easily acquired by sunbathing.

When you throw in the towel, you are giving up. You are admitting surrender or defeat. In its original form, it was called ‘to throw up the sponge’; this appears in The Slang Dictionary (1860). The reference is to sponges used to cleanse combatants faces at prize fights. A contestant’s manager throwing in the sponge would signal that the fighter …

Teddy Bears began with the American President ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, who was fond of hunting. One day he found a bear cub which had lost his mother and his kindness to the cub was noticed by a newspaper cartoonist. Afterwards Teddy Roosevelt went to a wedding and, at the reception, was given some toy bears. He was delighted and someone suggested …

The sport of riding on the crest or along the tunnel of a wave, especially while standing or lying on a surfboard is called surfboarding. Originally developed by Hawaiian islanders before the 15th century, ‘he’e nalu’ spread in the early 20th century to mainland USA and Australia, where heavy timber plank boards were ridden directly towards beaches.

Today we think of origami, the art of folding paper, as a Japanese craft. But the skill originally came from China, where it was the custom to make household items from paper so that they could be burnt at a person’s funeral and that person could have the objects in the after life. The art reached Japan in the seventh …

The dodo was rather a stupid bird. Indeed, it was so stupid that it was named dodo by the Portuguese when they discovered Mauritius-its home-in 1507. The Portuguese word dodo means stupid. Mauritius is an island, 70 square miles in area and lying 500 miles to the east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Until the arrival of man, with …

Time is measured east and west of the prime meridian (00 longitude), an imaginary line that passes through Greenwich, England. East of Greenwich, the time advances by one hour for every 150 of longitude. To the west, one hour is lost for every 150 of longitude. At 1800 East, the time is 12 hours ahead of Greenwich, while at 1800 …

A newly-hatched crocodile is about eight inches long and can be found on the mud near the water’s edge of marshes, rivers, estuaries and lakes around the tropical regions of the world. For it is here that the female lays her eggs and buried them-to 70 at a time-in holes in the warm mud. Each of the hard-shelled eggs is …

Some sharks may attack human beings if attracted by under water noises, erratic swimming, the presence of a large number of bathers, or the glint of jewellery or some other article. But probably the greatest provocation to a shark is the presence of blood, for instance from a speared fish or live bait. Sharks are most likely to attack during …

The first comic book was Famous Funnies, which first appeared in 1934. The first comic book, Superman, landed on newsstands in 1939. Comic books are single square newspaper cartoons that have grown up. From cartoons came comic strips, which are three or four squares long.