A Half-Century

I was planning on marking my 50th blog post with a wonderful exploration of anything I could find out about the number 50... but i've missed the opportunity! This is entry number 52.

Oh well, lets make the most of a bad job. Here's everything you never needed to know about the number 52 (this is going to be tough!)

There are approximately 52 weeks in a year. (well it's just over 52 really, but never as many as 53 weeks, so 52 is a good approximation)

There are 52 cards in a standard deck. (Not including jokers of course)

There are 52 countries in Africa (That's actually quite interesting....well I thought so anyway)

There are 52 white notes on a standard piano keyboard (so not a Grand Piano. With me so far?)

The international dialling code 52 will get you through to Mexico. (I don't think I'll ever have a use for that piece of information, but you never know)

Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opened in London in '52 and is still running today (ok, it's a terrible link to the number 52, but it was the best chance I had to mention Agatha Christie in my blog!)

Alfred Hitchcock was 52 when he directed Strangers on a Train (...and this is my lame way of getting Hitchcock into this blog entry too!)

The 52nd day of the year is Feb 21st, which is the birthday of Kelsey Grammar, Alan Rickman and W.H. Auden (look, I'm desperate now, YOU try and think of things to do with the number 52)

The number '52' doesn't appear in the decimal places of Pi until the 172nd and 173rd digits. (had to get Pi into this somehow)

52 is the atomic number of Tellurium. (The only thing interesting I could find out about this element is that if a human is exposed to a tiny quantity of it, they develop 'tellurium-breath' which makes your breath smell like you've been eating raw garlic)

52 is a composite number. (bet you didn't know that one did you? it just means it's not a prime number)

The Yin Hehuan Lotus always has 52 petals

Birmingham, Berlin, Amsterdam and Warsaw all lie at 52 degrees latitude.

...ok, I admit it. The number 52 isn't that impressive. I'll try to make my 100th entry 'quite interesting' if the blog survives that long! At the present rate that should be about the end of July :o)