The haiku, a very short Japanese poem, traditionally consisting of a total of 17 syllables, with 5 in the first line, 7 in the second and 5 in the third,  is usually focused on nature and the seasons.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote 156 fairy tales (and more besides), including ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’.

The Ides of March, historically, was originally a time for celebration and rejoicing – quite different to associations with the phrase today.

International Book-Giving Day came about because a group of passionate individuals wanted reading to be celebrated.

A hand written letter can end up as a treasured possession, or in some cases, of historic significance.

Famously, the Peter Pan Cup requires participants to swim 100 yards through the Serpentine’s Christmas Day waters.

The wren is very common in folklore literature.

One piece of advice I think is crucial is this: as soon as you have completed the resits, try to forget about them.

Emily Dickinson says how ‘November always seemed to be the Norway of the year’. Maybe this metaphor is linked to the month’s darkness.

Today, if you think about American spellings of words like ‘color’ (in the UK, we’d write ‘colour’), much of it is linked to American dictionary pioneer Noah Webster.