Ten things we didn't know this time last week

Snippets harvested from the week's news, chopped, sliced and diced for your weekend convenience.

1. Michael Jackson "freely admits" that he reads girlie magazines, his lawyer said in his trial.
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2. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathmetician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations. He chose the two lines because "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle".

3. Stella McCartney and Jean Paul Gaultier used Little Chef toilets on the way to Madonna's wedding in Scotland in 2001.
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4. Will Smith loves chess. He's currently studying the Sicilian opening with the Dragon variation.

5. The Queen has never played dominoes, she told prisoners this week.

6. She has also never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood. More details

7. Sudan I probably got its name because of the interest in things relating to the Empire at the time it was discovered in the 19th Century. Other names include Congo reds and Congo browns.
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8. Sudan I is also known as 1-phenylazo-2-naphthalenol, a name the Sudanese government would prefer the British to use. More details

9. One person in four has had their identity stolen or knows someone who has.
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10. The length of a man's fingers can reveal how physically aggressive he is, scientists have said.
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