Portal:United Kingdom/Did you know/December 2006

• ... that the expression "pay on the nail" originated from the practice of closing deals by payment on brass tables called "nails" (pictured), which can still be seen at The Exchange, Bristol?
• ...that surgeon William Brydon was the only European of 16,500 British troops to survive the retreat to Jalalabad from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War?
• ...that the 1917 Silvertown explosion may have been the largest explosion to ever occur in London?