In parallel with nordman's thread on facts we should know My head seems filed with historical facts we really don't need to know.

Tid -ley for instance was an seaman's expression for anything fancy or out of the ordinary. His shore clothes were his tiddly gear - tiddly being the word used in the early 1900's. Fancy knotwork - especially sennets, which were called tiddly mats. were called knot tiddlys.... and the Royal Sovereign, pride of the Royal Navy was known fondly as The Tiddly Quid.

My cousin, born into an ancient seafaring family was called 'The Tiddly'..........until her marriage anyway.... for many years I thought that had to do with baby matters until it was explained that she was the family's pride and joy.

Right, so you didn't need to know any of that, either.... just clearing the loft.

I always thought that 'tiddly' just meant very small, that's the sense in which I know it.

In this age of mass media and communication I suppose we are all bombarded with stuff we don't need to know every day. It even has a categories now, general interest, trivia or just gossip.

I thought tiddly was small too. Coming from a family who were mad on fishing (the females as well), any small undersized fish caught were called tiddlers and always thrown back.

In this heading comes ones Blood Group. One just cannot get this test done easily in UK. A man wanting to work abroad is often asked to give it but it is quite a rigmarole. Easier if he gets pregnant, of course.... the NHS says on its web site that to get it on the NH one must donate blood (min. half a pint) - blimey - that's inflation! I would have thought it should be noted on everyone's passport as routine - for all sorts of reasons. Is it thus overseas too?

Yet a test for blood type is very easy to do, I remember doing it as a science experiment at school and it only involved a finger prick not the taking of a lot of blood. I agree though, it should be on everyones passport, ID (not me!) and would be useful info on a drivers liscence as well.

In Aus. blood typing was something you had to specifically ask and pay for, unless you'd been in hospital or something and the testing had been done of necessity. I don't know if it is easy to do here. Daughter did try to donate blood recently, but they wouldn't take it because she was slightly anaemic (many are here, it is an hereditary problem in this area of the Med.), and also with any 1st pregnancy both parents are routinely checked for the condition. She did get her red blood cell count back up but whether she's been back yet I'm not sure. Mmm interesting question P, will have to check this out and get back.

The having-to-give-blood-in-order-to-find-out-one's-blood-group protocol in the UK was introduced in the 1990s in an effort to increase the number of donors. It's had mixed results. Previously, their blood group had been marked prominently on the front of a patient's file (often in the form of a sticker) and was easily accessible information obtainable from a general practitioner. This is no longer the case and, in the age of electronic scanners and computerised notes, patients' hard files are themselves becoming obsolete.

In the Far East (and particularly in China) the question of one's blood group (far from being something we don't really need to know) is actually a common topic of small talk and is even used as an ice-breaker. "What's your blood group" is the oriental equivalent, perhaps, of the occidental "What team do you support?".

As a regular blood donor in this country (with the relatively rare group of AB+) I also try to give blood if possible (and if due) when travelling abroad. It's a sort of health tourism in reverse as it were. I even have a mini collection of badges and mementos etc from various blood donation agencies in countries I been to such as the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross), الهلال الأحمر القطري Al-Hilal Al-Ahmar Al-Qatari (Qatar Red Crescent), 香港紅十字會 Heung Gong Hung Sap See Hwei (Hong Kong Red Cross), Bulan Sabit Merah Malaysia (Malaysian Red Crescent), the Cook Islands Red Cross Society and (my particular favourite) a key ring with my blood group on it obtained from Gwasanaeth Gwaed Cymru (Welsh Blood Service) in Cardiff in 2001. It was the day before the home side went down 15-44 to the visiting England team in the latter's first ever outing to the then new Millennium Stadium. I must have had a premonition that Wales were in for a blooding.

Although blood donation centres always advise that one should avoid physical exercise after donating, I always feel fitter and invigorated afterwards. To my mind this would possibly lend some anecdotal credence to the blood-letting instinct and practice of so many physicians in centuries past.

Blood transfusion can, of course, be an emotive issue with some groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses rejecting the practice. For many others, however, the very act of ‘giving blood’ is a highly symbolic gesture which cuts across language, cultural and religious barriers. A few months after I gave blood in Cardiff in 2001, for example, the world famously witnessed images of Palestinean leader Yasser Arafat giving blood in the wake of the 11th of September atrocities in America.

Although blood transfusions have been performed since the 17th century, blood groups themselves (and the importance of matching these) were only identified at the beginning of the 20th century. Predictably it were the needs of the world wars which then spurred on the development of anti-coagulation, refrigeration and storage techniques. Along with the parallel development of antibiotics, blood transfusion technology has probably been the single most significant factor facilitating the great advances in medical surgery witnessed over the last 60 years.

Yes, that use of "tiddly" - more usually "tiddley" was common Jackspeak in my time in the Andrew, which is also where I discovered my blood group - I'm fairly sure it was on my pay book.