Reykjavík, DYK Fact #93

Vissið þið? Reykjavík er höfuðborg Íslands.

And Reykjavík was the birthplace of Magnús Magnússon (though he spent most of his life living in Scotland). He died last month, aged 77. I did not know he had passed away until earlier this week, when a programme about him was shown on TV.

Magnússon was at one time president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Most people, though, would know him as the former host of “Mastermind”.

He once appeared as a guest on “Have I Got News for You” – when he was introduced by Angus Deayton as “Iceland’s hottest geezer”.

Here it is.

I have just read about geyser in the glossary at the end of Chapter 2, “Earth and its resources”, under the section THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE in Volume 1, “The world of nature”, of the Reader’s Digest Library of Modern Knowledge. Did you know? Geysers are common not only in Iceland but also in the North Island of New Zealand and in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming, USA. A geyser occurs where water from the surface can penetrate through cracks in the rock to magma below.