Ever wondered what that strange hole at the end of a Bic biro pen lid is for?



It's the sort of thing you might muse over while sitting at your desk chewing the end of a pen. And it turns out the reason is that exact habit.

It's not to create a makeshift whistle, or a cruel trick to enable the ink to run out of the top and all over your belongings when it leaks in your bag. The hole is actually there to try to save your life.

In 1991 Bic introduced the small round hole at the end of its lids to reduce the likeliness of suffocation.

While chewing the end of the pen, if you were to accidentally swallow the lid the hole is designed to ensure you are still able to breathe.

So there you go.

However we wouldn't recommend trying out this theory.

In 2007 Ben Stirland, a 13-year-old boy from Durham, died after falling off his chair and swallowing his pen lid.

His mother Nathalie Hodgson warned: "Contrary to popular belief, the safety hole is no use.

"Body secretions soon block this and because of the lid's shape, they easily lodge in the throat and cannot be removed quickly.



