No matter how hard one tries to inject levity into the proceedings, there are some times when the office conversation simply runs dry. At gadgetshop HQ, of course, where there's no end of wizard technology to keep us amused, not to mention my colleague Geoff's many and varied tank tops, we are truly blest with material.

But, as we imagine that working in an insurance company must be a trifle challenging at times, we are thrilled to present the Trivia a Day block. As the name suggests, it's a desktop book of trivia in a page-a-day block containing enough factual flotsam and jetsam to provide one stunning and original piece of information for every day of the year.

Think of it as material for a conversational opener and who knows where it could take you... To demonstrate, here is how some of the material worked on Geoff:

Me: Morning, Geoff. Did you know it takes 300 muscles just to stay standing upright?

Geoff:Uh. 300 muscles. What, in your legs?

Me: No, that's all over your body; each muscle making tiny adjustments to help you keep your balance.

Geoff: Huh. Why don't we just lean against something if it's all so difficult?...

And so it continued, all downhill from there. You'd never guess that Geoff was an eminent particle physicist - so we went straight back to talking about gadgets and he felt much better.

To sum-up: 365 fascinating facts. One desktop block. Endless fascination. And guaranteed glory in pub quizzes. Splendid.