Articles by Jo Foster

Salmon fishing is a popular sport and leisure activity that takes place all year round. At one time, anglers thought of Iceland as being the haven for salmon fishing, but in recent years, it has been overtaken by Scotland in terms of the number of fish caught. The average number of salmon caught in Scotland over a 10-year period is 74,000, compared with 43,000 caught in Iceland over the same...

Scooby-Doo is one of the most popular animated cartoon series of all time. First featured on television in 1969, it was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears for Hanna-Barbera Productions. The original series 'Scooby-Doo, where are you!' premiered on CBS and ran for two years, with a total of 25 episodes, and this was followed by the New Scooby-Doo Movies. Scooby-Doo featured in the Guinness World...

Many people love collecting things, as it represents something important in their life. Often, collections can represent treasured memories - and nothing evokes memories as effectively as listening to music. A nostalgic song can transport us back to happy times in an instant. Psychologists say there is a reason why people like collecting things. They believe it provides a cushioning effect a...

One million plastic bottles are bought in the world, every minute of every day, and this figure is set to rise over the coming years. © DmyTo / Adobe Stock Although it's not always easy to avoid buying plastic, there are plenty of ways that you can reduce the need to throw it away, by re-purposing it into useful and cost-effective objects. Plastic bottles, for instance, can be r...

Toy Story is one of the most popular computer-animated films of all time, enjoyed by both children and adults alike. Created by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, and directed by John Lasseter, Toy Story was released in 1995. It made history for being the first ever feature-length, computer-animated film. In fact, it took 27 animators and 400 computer models to capture the sce...

Created by Andy Heyward with DIC Entertainment, Inspector Gadget is an animated television cartoon series that originally ran for three seasons from 1983 until 1986 - although many spin-offs and motion pictures were created long afterwards. The cartoon series centres on a powerful but dim-witted and gullible police inspector called Inspector Gadget. He acquired this name due to the fact that...

Although you can buy hot cross buns all year round these days, they're generally synonymous with Easter time. Made by mixing together flour, milk, butter, yeast, eggs, spices and raisins or currants, and baking the mixture in the oven, this sweet bun is traditionally eaten on Good Friday to mark the end of lent. Hot cross buns are loaded with religious symbolism. The bread is said to repr...

If you've ever seen any of the most famous paintings in the world, by the greatest artists in history, you'll know it's the experience of a lifetime. Most of the great masterpieces can be admired at famous art galleries and museums in cities around the world, where they have delighted viewers for generations. Choosing the best paintings is a difficult task, since there are so many influentia...

Huckleberry Hound is a blue, anthropomorphic dog that appeared in cartoons developed by Hanna-Barbera. The famous character, also known as Huck, first appeared on our screens in 1958, in The Huckleberry Hound Show. As well as being the second character created by Hanna-Barbera, the show was the first all-cartoon programme to hit American TV screens, and it even earned an Emmy Award in 1960 f...

The refrigerator is something that most of us take for granted but in times gone by, keeping food chilled was much more challenging. Here's how refrigeration has evolved over time. Early cold storage Hunter-gatherers would've consumed freshly foraged food straight away, so in days gone by, there was less need to preserve food. Over time, preserving food became more commonplace and niches ...