Most curious - and, to be honest, entirely pointless - fact of the week comes from deep within the lengthy press release from Brighton firm Burt Brill & Cardens about its involvement in a student art show (see [2004] Gazette, 24 June, 11). Apropos of absolutely nothing, and under the tempting headline 'Did you know?', it explains: 'Brighton, like Hull, had an embryonic telephone exchange. [The]BB&C Old Steyne office number was highly advanced with the single trend-setting digit of just 1! As the company grew it became 123 and has now evolved into today's 01273 604-123, with all the usual broadband IT support for business.' It's fair to say that nobody in the Gazette offices did know this, and being kind, one can never have enough knowledge. Thus we would encourage all firms to include such trivia in their communications with us, and this particular bit of information would be worth remembering should you find yourself at a dinner party, ideally with south-coast BT engineers, where the conversation is waning.