1. I do love the idea of them genuinely thinking they were educational, too. Hurrah! And I confess a deep fondness for the historical ones, ever since I discovered as a nipper that Fivey had started the Great Fire of London (always made me grin whenever the topic came up in school). Shame the new school seems so wary of going too historical: apparently the producer's main note after the first series was 'to kick the historicals up the arse' - which is absurd, since the historicals were far and away my favourite Nine episodes.

2. It was a lump which I then cheese-grated into powder (well, some of it), and it came from Lush. It's not really ideal for my hair as it's naturally very dark, and henna doesn't really lighten, but it went quite happily over the top of what I had on there, and toned down my roots a wee bit. Do you have a Lush near you? I'm allergic to a few of their things, but the staff are lovely.