Five facts for February 14

1. Verona, the Italian city made famous by Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine’s Day.

2. Amnat Puttigo of Pattaya, Thailand, won a Valentine’s Day contest by holding his wife in his arms for 10 hours 49 minutes and 15 seconds.

3. The term “to wear your heart on your sleeve” originated in the Middle Ages when young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their Valentines would be which they would then wear pinned on their sleeves for one week.

4. In the Middle Ages, people believed that the first person you met on the morning of February 14 would be your future husband/wife. Little Miss Blind Date saw her elderly neighbour at exactly 9.45am on February 14. Her housemates are now buying hats in preparation for the wedding…

5. In the medieval era, girls would eat strange foods on February 14 so they’d dream of their future husbands. Obviously they’d never seen inside a student fridge, where strange can mean anything from cheese dripping in mouldy mackerel juice, to liquidized carrot mush. Appetising