I was a Hon, since my father, like theirs, was a lord. There were also, however, many honorary Hons; it was not necessary to have been born a Hon in order to be one

On the afternoon of the child hunt Linda called a meeting of the Hons. The Hons was the Radlett secret society, anybody who was not a friend to the Hons was a Counter-Hon, and their battle-cry was ‘Death to the horrible Counter-Hons.’ I was a Hon, since my father, like theirs, was a lord. There were also, however, many honorary Hons; it was not necessary to have been born a Hon in order to be one. As Linda once remarked: ‘Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood.’ I’m not sure how much we really believed this, we were wicked snobs in those days, but we subscribed to the general idea. Head of the hon. Hons was Josh, the groom, who was greatly beloved by us all and worth buckets of Norman blood; chief of the horrible Counter-Hons was Craven, the gamekeeper, against whom a perpetual war to the knife was waged.

N. Mitford, The pursuit of love (1945), collection edition. Kindle loc.10,627

A quarter of all the women who died in Paris were maids

Statisticians were foxed by their observation that the highest death rates in the French capital were recorded in the wealthiest neighbourhoods, until they realised who was dying there. The ones coughing behind the grand Haussmannian facades weren’t the owners on the étage noble, but the servants in the chambres de bonne. As Theresa McBride explained in her book, The Domestic Revolution, ‘Close enough to their employers’ apartments on the floors below, the servants were segregated into a society of their own where they need not be seen but could be easily summoned.’ They worked fifteen-to-eighteen-hour days and often had to share their sleeping spaces with other servants. ‘The servant’s room was generally small, with sloping ceilings, dark, poorly ventilated, unheated, dirty, lacking privacy or even safety,’ wrote McBride. The flu may have been democratic, as one French historian pointed out, but the society it struck was not: a quarter of all the women who died in Paris were maids.

L. Spinney, Pale Rider (2017), loc.2,892

But on every other continent – with the possible exception of Antarctica, which both disasters left pristine – more died of flu than war

War was undoubtedly the main event on that continent [Europe]: France lost six times more souls to the war than to the flu, while in Germany the multiple was four, in Britain three and in Italy two. But on every other continent – with the possible exception of Antarctica, which both disasters left pristine – more died of flu than war.

L. Spinney, Pale Rider (2017), loc.117

I should think a Communist would be much tidier, and not make so much extra work for the servants

Nanny and my mother had often pointed out to me that, if I was really a Communist, I should be more considerate of those members of the working class who happened to be at hand: 'Little D, I should think a Communist would be much tidier, and not make so much extra work for the servants,' Muv would say

J. Mitford, Hons and Rebels (1960), 96

Starting her list of expenditures with 'Flowers... £490'

Muv made sporadic efforts to interest us in the subject of household economy, and once offered a prize of half a crown to the child who could produce the best budget for a young couple living on £500 a year; but Nancy ruined the contest by starting her list of expenditures with 'Flowers... £490'.

J. Mitford, Hons and Rebels (1960), 45

The currents were sorting the fat, rich bodies from the poor, lean, ones

On the other side of the world, on the Ka'u coast of Hawaii, there was once a strange and macabre tradition for those who had lost loved ones at sea. The locals would search two different stretches of beach, depending on the social status of the person who had drowned. This was not part of some religious or superstitious practice, but because the rich and poor genuinely did wash up on different beaches ... The currents were sorting the fat, rich bodies from the poor, lean, ones.

T. Gooley, How to read water (2016), 248-9

Most insects die from dehydration

Flying insects live on the edge of death every second of their short lives, the very fact that they are flying at all is a precarious balance, dependent on how hydrated they are (most insects die from dehydration) and factors like how warm they are. When the sun slips bend a cloud, insects will cool slightly, and some lose the ability to fly and drop out of the air onto the river, where a trout will be expecting them.

T. Gooley, How to read water (2016), 87