National Stationery Week is upon is, with April 24-30 marking this year’s celebration of writing and office materials.

Below, we have complied a list of 20 fun facts about stationery. As ever, feel free to share your opinions over on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

1. An average sized pine tree can make just over 80,000 sheets of paper.

2. Before erasers were invented in 1770, the preferred method for removing pencil was actually stale bread.

3. The world’s first pencil was invented way back in 1565.

4. The average office worker handles around 10,000 sheets of paper per year.

5. Pencil leads actually contain no lead whatsoever – just graphite and clay

6. The Egyptians invented scissors back in 1500BC.

7. In the UK, around 45 million printer cartridges are send to landfill every year.

8. During the Second World War, paper clips were used to help fight the Nazis. Norwegian resistance members wore paper clips on their lapels as a discreet sign to show that they were fighting Hitler’s men.

9. Talking of World War II, this was also where ballpoint pens rose to fame. The Royal Air Force needed an alternative to the fountain pen as it couldn’t handle high levels of altitude without leaking.

10. The average ballpoint pen can draw a line two miles long.

11. However, a typical lead pencil can draw one that is 35 miles long – providing you sharpen it every now and then, of course.

12. Pencils can write in zero gravity and while underwater.

13. The first known stapler was made for King Louis XV of France in the 18th century.

14. Joseph Priestley, the man who discovered oxygen, also helped to invent erasers.

15. The Fulgor Nocturnus is the most expensive pen in the history of the world. Decorated with 945 black diamonds, the pen sold for the equivalent of £6.2m at a Shanghai auction back in 2010.

16. 2,500 pencils can be made from one average sized tree.

17. The word ‘pen’ comes from an old French word for the tail feather or long wing of a bird.

18. Pencils didn’t have rubbers attached to the end of them until around 100 years ago. This was due to teachers feeling as though they would encourage students to make errors.

19. Talking of which, the metal band that now attaches a pencil to a rubber is called a ferrule.

20. Mick Clay invented the drawing pin back in 1903. Sadly, that didn’t stop him from living in poverty as shortly after, he sold the invention.

Article written by Calum Chinchen – Social Media Executive at Red Bus Cartridges163, Beaconside, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE34 7PT163, Beaconside, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE34 7PT