Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is a British Crown dependency just off the coast of Normandy, France. The bailiwick consists of: Jersey, Les Dirouilles, Les Écréhous, Les Minquiers, Les Pierres de Lecq. Jersey is part of the ancient Duchy of Normandy, and is ruled by the Duke of Normandy - a title held by the reigning Monarch of the United Kingdom, though unrelated to those duties as king or queen of the UK.

Did you know that:
1. The Jersey Giant Cabbage grows up to 10ft tall.
2. Sir Walter Raleigh was the Governor of Jersey from 1600-1603.
3. Charles II was proclaimed King when in exile in Jersey when Charles I was executed in 1649.
4. In recognition of Jersey's help during his exile, Charles II gave land in the colonies to George Carteret of Jersey, which he named 'New Jersey'.
5. Jersey residents are called 'Crapauds' ('toads' in Jersey French) by other Channel Islanders as Jersey has toads and Guernsey doesn't.
6. The island of Jersey would fit 189 times into the area of New Jersey - or 95 times if the tide is out. 7. Men are banned from knitting in Jersey during the fishing season of August-September.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles Island arc, in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean. To the north of Saint Vincent lies Saint Lucia, to the east Barbados. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a densely populated country (over 300 inhabitants/km2) with approximately 120,000 inhabitants.

Did you know that:
1. St. Vincent and the Grenadines were first found by the famous explorer Christopher Columbus in 1498.
2. The laborers brought in to serve on the plantations were brought in from Africa in the form of slaves who married among the local population to give birth to the Black Caribs.
3. The tourism industry has won St. Vincent and the Grenadines the Best Sailing & Yachting Island of The Year award for the year 2009.
3. Two of the popular local drinks found in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are Hairoun beer and Sunset rum.
4. Hairoun is actually the original Amerindian name of St. Vincent and means ‘Land of the Blessed’.
5. The capital city of Kingstown is known to have at least 400 arches and is also referred to as the city of arches.
6. All three parts of the movie ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ were shot in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The London 2012 Olympic Games

The London 2012 Games were centred around the Olympic Park in east London, which is the site of a number of new sports venues. Up to 180,000 spectators a day entered the Park to enjoy the Games, making it the principal focus of Olympic activity.

The main venues – the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velodrome and BMX Circuit, as well as the hockey, handball and basketball arenas – were easily accessible through a network of footbridges and walkways within the Park.

The Olympic Village was within walking distance of all the venues in the Park, enhancing the experience for athletes and officials. The use of other prestigious venues – such as Wembley Stadium for football, the All-England Club in Wimbledon for tennis, Lord’s Cricket Ground for archery and Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball – was also a feature of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.The London 2012 Games included a four-year Cultural Olympiad. It reached a climax with the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on 27 July 2012, starting a 60-day festival of sport and culture across the UK, as the Olympic and Paralympic spirit crosses the world once again.

Finland

Finland is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, Russia to the east, and Estonia to the south across the Gulf of Finland.

Did you know that:
1. The Finns are the world's biggest coffee drinkers, gulping down no less than 12 kg of the black substance annually, twice more than the Italians, three times more than the Americans, and four times more than the Brits.
2. Santa Claus (known in Finland as Joulupukki or "Yule Goat") officially resides in a house built right on top of the Arctic circle, near the town of Rovaniemi, in the northern province of Lappland. The Santa Claus Post Office (address: Santa Claus Village, FIN-96930 Arctic Circle) receives some 700,000 letters every year from children from 198 countries (so far).
3. There are exactly 187,888 lakes (larger than 500 m²) and 179,584 islands within the territory of Finland. Both are world records.
4. The 120 km Päijänne Water Tunnel is Europe's longest tunnel and the world's second longest.

Winter Olympic Games - Sochi 2014

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, were a major international multi-sport event held in Sochi, Russia, in the tradition of the Winter Olympic Games.

Scheduled for 7–23 February 2014, opening rounds in certain events were held on the eve of the opening ceremony, 6 February 2014. Both the Olympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics were organized by the Sochi Organizing Committee (SOC). Sochi was selected as the host city in July 2007, during the 119th IOC Session held in Guatemala City. It is the first Olympics in Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet Union was the host nation for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.A total of 98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines were held during the Games. A number of new competitions—a total of 12 accounting for gender—were held during the Games, including biathlon mixed relay, women's ski jumping, mixed-team figure skating, mixed-team luge, half-pipe skiing, ski and snowboard slopestyle, and snowboard parallel slalom. The events were held around two clusters of new venues: an Olympic Park constructed in Sochi's Imeretinsky Valley on the coast of the Black Sea, with Fisht Olympic Stadium, and the Games' indoor venues located within walking distance, and snow events in the resort settlement of Krasnaya Polyana.

Malta

Malta is a southern European country in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Sicily, 284 km east of Tunisia and 333 km north of Libya. The country covers just over 316 km2, making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which is also the smallest capital in the EU at 0.8 km2.

Did you know that:
1. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English.
2. In the past, there used to be a bridge connecting Malta with Sicily.
3. Even though the Maltese Islands are tiny, major worldwide newspapers are still sold on the islands. The most common international newspapers that you’ll find are British, French and Italian newspapers.
4. Malta was earlier known as Melita, meaning the island of honey, by ancient Greeks and Romans.
5. The Temple at Ggantija traces back its foundation to a time period much before the Egyptian pyramids.
6. Malta is believed to have served as the site for the legendary city of Atlantis.