I’m renowned for my vast stocks of useless information, so thus begins the first in a series of useless fact posts. Probably the last too, given my proclivity for “first in a series” posts. Maybe this could be the first in a series of posts about my first in a series posts… hmm….

Aaaanyway, I was gazing into space in a traffic jam at Mahon Point the other day, as I’m sure we all do regularly, and it occurred to me that I had no idea what the name on the sign my gaze happened to fall on actually means. TESCO. This happens quite regularly, but this time I actually looked it up, and if Wikipedia is to be believed on this occasion, here’s the explanation:

The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a large shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell. He made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier’s name (TES) and the first two letters of his surname (CO) forming the word “TESCO”.

So there you have it. Boring, but you’ll still tell people in the pub the next time the name comes up. And your bonus fact today, which I have to confess prompts a confused WTF moment for me, is:

Group profit before tax was £2.653 billion for the 52 week period and £2.648 billion after tax.

£5m tax on £2.6b? I know my grasp of high finance is shite, but again: WTF?