Few people realise it, but the city's environment and surrounding countryside served as inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's classic sagas The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The author grew raised in Moseley from the age of four, and the stories are based on local sites and people.  The Hobbits' home, the 'Shire,' was inspired by the fields and mill at Sarehole, a village that has since been absorbed into the city's suburbs, while Perrott's Folly and the Waterworks Tower in Edgbaston, as well as the University of Birmingham's illuminated clock tower, can be seen in The Lord of the Rings.

The majority of Pune's area and surroundings are heavily urbanized, which has led to an increase in real estate costs recently. Pune has the highest per capita income in India and the narrowest gap between average incomes for rich and poor.

The colour of a chicken's earlobes—yes, chickens have earlobes—is a good predictor of the colour of the eggshell it will lay. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs, whereas chickens with red or brown earlobes lay brown eggs.

No, this alleged torture gadget did not exist. The widespread usage of the term "mediaeval" is a typical 18th-century fiction, fueled by conceptions of the Middle Ages as a generally uncivilised era of murder and mayhem. (They weren't awful, but they weren't great.)

If you notice yourself becoming more upbeat during the warmer months, you are not alone. For a 2011 study published in the journal Science, researchers examined the tweets of 2.4 million people from around the world over a two-year period. They discovered that when the change in daylight was positive (i.e., as the summer solstice approached), users tweeted considerably happier tweets than when the change in daylight was negative (i.e., as the winter solstice approached).

In any case, it's not a conventional sphinx. Although greatly influenced by Egyptian and later Mesopotamian legend, the ancient Greek representation of the Sphinx consisted of a lion's body, a woman's head, and a bird's wings. Technically, Giza's male-identifying landmark is an androsphinx. The absence of wings further complicates its recognised classification.

Every oyster is born male, and they all undergo at least one gender change. Oysters can fertilise their own eggs since they have both sets of reproductive organs at birth.

Arsenal on the Kyiv city metro line (Sviatoshynsko - Brovarska Line) is currently the world's deepest metro stop. It is 105.5 meters deep. Escalators transport you deep underground so that you can catch the train. Arsenal had to be 105.5 m deep because it had to bypass the Dnieper River, which rises above and surrounds Kyiv. You will ride the escalator for five minutes to reach 105.5 m deep down the station.

The light is the world's most effective light source. The chemical reaction's energy is nearly entirely released as light.

Toners are essential, particularly in the summer because they prepare your skin for moisturization and get rid of extra oil and impurities. We've put together a list of the numerous toner kinds for different skin types to get you started, and it will aid you in making the best decision.

The instrument was first used in the Fifth Symphony in C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, which was composed between 1804 and 1808.

More areas of the human body are affected by ulcers, which can take different forms including arterial ulcers, venous ulcers, mouth ulcers, or genital ulcers. The focus of this article is on the many forms of peptic ulcers.

Consider the following scenario: a racist man is exposed to Agent Orange-style gas while serving in Vietnam. When he is under stress, he transforms into a black superhero dressed as a Harlem Globetrotter, and neither identity remembers the other. After Marvel's success with Black Panther and Luke Cage, DC's first idea was to create something similar. Perhaps it is a relief that DC chose Black Lightning instead.

Apart from the fact that several notable Christian sites (such as the Hagia Sophia) are located in Turkey, one of the religion's oldest churches is located in modern-day Antakya. The Crusaders later built a gorgeous stone façade on a cave in Antioch, believed to have been dug by the Apostle Peter himself as the very first Christian church.

Halibut is, indeed, a flat fish. Flatfish can be mottled brown, black, and beige in colour, like the black sea turbot, or spotted, like the blue-and-yellow peacock flounder. The majority of species dwell in the various tropical and subtropical waters.

This fun fact about the Netherlands dates back to the 16h century when the Dutch invented gin (jenever) and introduced it to the British. It became popular in Great Britain after William of Orange (King William III) held the English, Irish and Scottish thrones. Ever wondered where the term ‘Dutch courage’ comes from? It’s said to originate from when the Brits and Dutch drank gin during the Thirty Years’ War from 1618 to 1648.

The one-of-a-kind work of art depicting a 13th-century chronicler in Budapest's City Park appears to have miraculous powers. According to legend, touching the Anonymus' pen will bestow upon you great writing abilities. You may not believe in its magical abilities, but the pen's gleaming surface suggests that many others do.

One of the lesser-known facts of the Indian Ocean is that it has a number of tectonic plate boundaries, notably the Rodrigues Triple Point, where the African, Indo-Australian, and Antartic continental plates collide.

Sunflowers enjoy the sunshine. Even their name implies it. Sunflowers track the sun when they are young and face the east when they are mature plants, but that is not all.

The famous FIFA World Cup has only been won by eight teams worldwide. Germany and Italy both have four victories, while Brazil has five victories. France, Uruguay, and Argentina all have two championships, while Spain and England each have one. Six of these eight teams—England, Italy, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, and France—have won the title while serving as hosts.

A group of volunteers decided to put this theory to the test in 2007. They used only one pencil to write "To Kill a Mockingbird." The novel is 100,388 words long.
 

On an Intrepid tour, you may participate in a homestay, walk into the forest, and discover more about rural life in Cambodia.

New election legislation raised the threshold for minor parties to join Parliament in 2008, pushing political groups to form two coalitions. The right-wing Pact for San Marino, led by the Christian Democratic Party of San Marino, and the left-wing Reforms and Freedom, led by the Socialists and Democrats.

There are many beautiful flowers that makeup sunflowers, not just one. Smaller blooms make up sunflower heads. Depending on the type, there are typically 1,000–2,000 tiny buds on average, and the petals are also regarded as separate flowers. It's amazing how well these flowers all work together.