The custom of celebrating St. Valentine's Day reached this country in the 15th Century.
# The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time.
* One billion Valentine's Day cards are given around the world every year.
* 78 million texts are sent in the UK on Valentine's Day
* £253 million is spent on flowers to say ‘I love you' in the UK.
* £92 million is spent on chocolates
* £437million is spent on jewellery (According to the British Retail Consortium)
* The city of Verona, Italy, where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set, receives nearly a thousand Valentines addressed to Juliet every February.
* Married on Valentine's Day: Diane Ladd, Sharon Stone, Prince, Roseanne, Jerry Garcia, Harold Robbins, Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid and Elton John.
* About 3% of pets in the USA receive a Valentine's Day gift from their owners!
* British people spend around £34 million on flowers to say "I love you"
* Sales of fresh flowers increase by well over half, on average sales levels
* Over 1 million people - both women and men - give fresh flowers
* Around 90% of the day's flowers are bought by men
* Around 5% of the day's flowers are bought for men - and this figure is growing
* Well over 9 million red roses are given in the UK
* The majority of roses sold in the UK are flown in from Colombia, Ecuador, Holland, India, Israel, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, to satisfy the huge consumer demand.
* Worldwide over 50 million roses - mostly red - are traded on this one day alone