Here's why February has one extra day every leap year

Today’s one of those special days that comes around once every four years, and the reason for that is interesting, because it involves planetary movements and an emperor’s ego. The earth’s orbit takes 365.24 days to complete and an extra day is added every fourth year. It was Augustus Caesar who decided that February would be the month that would get the extra days. According to legend, Feb earlier had 30 days. When Augustus Caesar came to power he changed Sextilis to Augustus which would have 31 days. But since the previous month, named after his uncle Julius (July) also had 31 days, he was forced to cut Februarius down to 28 days, and gave it an extra day every four years in an attempt to keep in sync.

People born on the February 29 are a perennial source of curiosity and fascination. How do they measure age? Is the leap year just another year, or a special year? On other normal years, do they align their birthdays with February or March? So many questions. Team dna met a few of these 29-ers and here's what they found out. Read about some people born on leap years

Another interesting tradition that exists is that on February 29 women propose to men. As the trend is for men to make grand gestures when proposing, leaving it to your bloke means risking public shame. Naff question-poppings are on the rise. ​Read more about this crazy ritual