We all know that March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day to mark the fall of Sauron, but I did discover a more obscure celebratory day - 30th March is, in fact, Pencil Day - who knew?

National Pencil Day is celebrated on 30th March because it was on this date in 1858, Hymen Lipman patented what was seen as the first “modern pencil.” A wooden graphite pencil with a rubber eraser attached to it. How many of us have used such an implement growing up and to this day? It seems almost impossible to think pencil's, at one time, did not exist in the format we know so well. Historically, our ancestor's used a stylus, which was a tiny lead rod used by the Romans to make marks on a tabula. (a tablet made of wax attached to wood).

Originally, graphite sticks were wrapped in string, and only later, was the graphite inserted into hollowed-out wooden sticks. The birthplace of the first mass-produced pencils in 1662 was Nuremberg, Germany.

It's interesting that there is also evidence in the late 16th century of farmers using graphite to mark their sheep from deposits found in the Borrowdale area of the Lake District, UK. A major pencil manufacturing industry was created in the 19th century near Keswick, UK. The oldest pencil in the world was found in a timbered house built in 1630.

So cheers to the first writing implement we all use.