Did you know these facts about leap years?
None of this facts might have struck you, until now!
1. The Summer Olympic Games are always held in a leap year. This year, they take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2. US presidential elections are held every four years, in a leap year.
3. In Greece couples often avoid getting married in a leap year, believing it to be bad luck
4. Food for thought: If you work on a fixed annual wage, today is just one more day's work than you would usually have to do for your salary.
5. As touched on above, a year that is divisible by 100, but not by 400, is not technically a leap year. Therefore 2000 was a leap year under the Gregorian calendar, as was 1600. But 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. "There's a good reason behind it," Ian Stewart, emeritus professor of mathematics, told the BBC. "The year is 365 days and a quarter long - but not exactly. If it was exactly, then you could say it was every four years." Pope Gregory and his astronomers' solution will have to be rethought in around 10,000 years, Prof Stewart points out.
6. February 29 also marks Rare Disease Day.
7. Leap years are also known as intercalary or bissextile years.
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