Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/01/bbc_doormats/
Beeb measures Blighty in doormats
Auntie's improbable units dept strikes again
Posted in SPB, 1st November 2011 10:29 GMT
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The BBC's improbable units department was in fine form last week when it decided to quantify the land area of the United Kingdom in doormats.
In this illuminating piece [1] on just how may noughts a trillion has, Auntie notes that Blighty's 244,820 sq km area is the equivalent of 1,000,000,000,000 doormats, based on a standard foot-wiping surface of 0.24 sq m.
Good stuff. The corporation also usefully explains that Manchester stretches to one billion doormats, while anyone with a "large house and garden" can comfortably roll out 1,000 doormats.
The Beeb's previous efforts to explain big stuff in simple terms include [2] dumping the 2010 Gulf oil spill on Middlesbrough - a very agreeable idea courtesy of BBC Dimensions [3]. ®
Bootnote
Ta very much to all those readers who alerted us to the BBC's doormat.