31st March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1966: Harold Wilson wins sweeping victory Labour is on course to win the general election with a majority of about 100 seats in the House of Commons.
	1986: Greater London Council abolished Thousands of people take part in festivities to mark the historic final hours of 97 years of local rule in London.
	1959: Dalai Lama escapes to India The spiritual leader of Tibet� the Dalai Lama� crosses the border into India after an epic 15-day journey on foot over the Himalayan mountains.

Green light for sexy new car show

The Axon Eco-M loses its windscreen to lose weight

A new type of car show at the Eden Project in Cornwall is a brave attempt to bring together two things not often seen in the same sentence, sexy and green.

The Sexy Green Car Show, which opened on Friday, claims to have it all, sex and green issues all under one giant biome, or greenhouse.

As well as the tropical vegetation normally seen at Eden the site is also providing a temporary showcase for biofuels and automotive ideas for a more ecologically aware future.

Sexy is certainly here, in the form of rakish sportscars and green is here, in the more dumpy offerings from the major manufacturers.

But sexy and green. Together?

'Bug eater'

Welcome to the Axon Eco-M. If sex comes in the shape of four wheels, a race-tuned engine, a shiny black body and acceleration to knock you back in your seat, then the Axon is it.

Axon Automotive, based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, have stripped down a Caterham 7, even taking off the windscreen.

The result is what is called a "bug eater" in the motoring trade.

The Eco One has tyres which are made from potatoes

Recycled carbon fibre has been used in a production car for the first time, and there is a gadget that tells drivers when to change gear for maximum fuel economy.

Combined with what Axon is describing as "eco-driving techniques", the 500 kilo Eco-M should enjoy a 20% improvement in fuel economy over the standard 7, says Axxon.

Perhaps less sexy, but probably more green is the Eco One, an environmentally-friendly racing car from WMG, a provider of innovative solutions to industry based at the University of Warwick.

Not only are its tyres made from potatoes and brake pads from cashew nut shells, it does 0-62mph in four seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph.

Meanwhile, groupBio, a UK-based racing team, has produced a racing car which runs on nuts.

The firm's partner, UK-based D1 Oils, is producing a form of diesel, called biodiesel, from tropical nuts called jatropha.

The D1 will be powered partly by tropical jatropha nuts

And it says that jatropha really is a green alternative to fossil-fuel and to biodiesel produced from palm oil.

Graham Prince, of UK-based D1 Oils, said: "We have always known there are many potential raw materials for biodiesel.

"A lot of those used are soya or rape seed, but we thought it is wrong to make fuel from something that is used to feed people."

The company has planted about 145,000 hectares of jatropha trees in Zambia, Swaziland, India and Indonesia and aims to make it available from next year as part of a blended bio-fuel.

The 200mph racing car, based on a 2004 Lola, runs on diesel blended with up to 50% per cent jatropha biodiesel.

The Eco-M, groupBio and WMG are lining up with the giants from the motoring world at the show, including Saab, Ford, Vauxhall, Toyota, VW and Mercedes.

The Sexy Green Car Show runs to 15 April.

New longest concert record is set

The concert continued despite an earthquake

A new world record for the longest non-stop concert has been set by hundreds of musicians in Japan.

The performance began on the evening of 23 March in the city of Omi, with musicians aged between six and 96 taking turns, local media said.

About 2,000 tunes were performed over 182 hours, with breaks of no more than five minutes between acts.

Organisers praised the musicians, one of whom carried on despite a major earthquake during her piano piece.

"This pianist was amazing. The whole place was shaking quite badly but she went right on playing," one of the organisers said. "Even an earthquake couldn't stop us."

An official from Guinness World Records was present to declare when the record had been set.

The previous world record was set in Canada in 2001 with 181 hours.

The art of fooling around

One in five people are estimated to fall for April Fool's jokes

It's 50 years since Panorama pulled off the most celebrated April Fool's spoof and duped Britain - and beyond - about spaghetti crops in Switzerland. So what makes a great April Fool's joke?

Panorama's now infamous spaghetti-tree spoof is considered a broadcasting milestone as it is believed to be the first time television was used to stage an April Fool's hoax.

Made on budget of just £100, it told the tale of spaghetti harvesting in Switzerland and described how the seemingly bumper crop was at risk of late frosts, creating a disastrous situation for growers all over Europe.

For years and years afterwards I believed that spaghetti grew on trees Tony Frost Spaghetti spoof

The spoof documentary showed people in the Swiss Alps plucking strands of spaghetti from trees and laying it on the sun to dry. That it fooled so many was in part down to the fact that pasta, at the time, was deeply exotic in a nation reared on meat and two veg. Then there was the commentary provided in serious, hushed tones by that giant of broadcasting, Richard Dimbleby.

The hoax repeatedly tops lists of April Fool's gags, which typically include the one about moving Stonehenge to the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, plans to make the whole M25 run clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate days, the internet being shut down for cleaning for 24 hours, whistling carrots, left-handed hamburgers and Big Ben going digital.

Part of the charm of April Fool's is that it's an equal-opportunity day, say fans. From whoopee cushions to TV pranks broadcast across the world, almost everybody has the chance to join in. It is a global phenomenon, with most cultures having a version of it.

Fool's equation

But only a few gags achieve the longevity of the Panorama stunt, which is still talked and written about across the world 50 years on. So what makes a great April Fool's joke?

A really good gag needs to be both ridiculous and believable, say those who have studied the craft. It's a hard trick to pull off and most pranksters end up with jokes that are ridiculous, but not at all believable, says Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, California.

Do they know it's moving to Japan?

"The really good ones succeed at making us believe something that we recognise, in hindsight, we really shouldn't have believed because it's completely preposterous," he says.

"In a humorous way they teach us something about the limits of our own knowledge. They show us how unfamiliar many of the things around us - that we take for granted - are."

The question has employed some of the world's finest brains. The eminent wartime scientist Reginald Jones, who headed the Directorate of Scientific Intelligence at the Air Ministry during World War II, researched the perfect April Fool's gag. He came up with the equation: induction followed by incongruity.

'Trustworthy style'

"Basically he was saying lull them into a false sense of security, then drop in absurdities that just keep getting more and more extreme," says Martin Wainwright, author of the newly published Guardian Book of April Fool's Day.

Both Boese and Wainwright rank the Panorama prank as the best ever. It pulled off the trick of not only fooling the easily persuaded, but also left the sceptics with a nagging doubt about whether it was true or not.

The spoof cost £100 to make

One of the things that makes it so great is that it was executed by a programme synonymous with sober and serious reporting. Getting the authoritative figure of Dimbleby to do the commentary was also a master move.

"Television was limited in those days to one BBC and one ITV channel and it was possible for a programme like Panorama to hold the nation's attention in a way inconceivable nowadays," says Wainwright.

"Small details like the ageing wicker harvest baskets added to the realistic air. In his engaging and entirely trustworthy style, Dimbleby told the audience 'we end Panorama tonight with a special report from the Swiss Alps'. Cue the marvellous film, brilliant commentary and the swelling music."

Political prisoners

There was always the risk that it might offend, and some people did complain to the BBC, but most loved it. Tony Frost e-mailed the BBC's On This Day website with his memories of the hoax - he was eight at the time.

"It wasn't until many years later, when I was in my late teens, that I realised this was perhaps not the case [that spaghetti grew on trees]. Even now, as an adult, I'm hopeful of spotting one or two trees as I drive around the country and the Continent. It's one of the great April Fool's jokes and one I'll always cherish."

An indication of its quality is that every time it's shown, people still fall for it, says Wainwright.

Stop! It's a clockwise day

But there is a serious side to pulling off a successful prank. A gag should do no harm and should not place anyone in a dangerous situation, say the experts.

Disregarding these rules can have serious consequences. A town clerk in Canada had a heart attack after his colleagues played an April Fool's joke on him. They sent an e-mail saying the deadline for a big project he was working on had been moved forward a week. He survived, but the council passed a resolution banning April Fool's jokes.

This also applies to the emotional, as well as the physical, fallout. There is a fine line between catching someone out and humiliating them or hurting their feelings.

"In Romania, during the Ceausescu era, one newspaper printed an article as an April Fool's joke saying all political prisoners were being freed," says Wainwright.

"People started turning up at prisons and waiting for family and friends to be released. It didn't go down well when it was revealed to be a hoax."

Saddam Hussein's feared son Uday was also reportedly a big fan of the day and would pull pranks like telling people food rations were being lifted. Side-splitting stuff.

Online frenzy

The internet has given the day a whole new lease of life, says Wainwright.

Gags include advertisements for free coffee cup holders asking users to click their mouse on an on-screen button. This - somehow - makes their disk drive open, hence the free coffee cup holder.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia anyone can edit, is particularly exposed. Last year someone swapped the "protect" and "delete" buttons on every page, so that anyone trying to stop an article from being edited ended up deleting it.

But ultimately people either love it or loath April Fool's Day. For all the haters there is one consolation this year, it's not a work day so no mugs glued to desks and no phones covered with sticky tape - hopefully.

10 things we didn't know last week

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. The UK's national time signal is accurate to within 1,000th of a second of Co-ordinated Universal Time.
More details

2. Drinking, drug-taking teenagers are in the decline, according to a survey by the Information Centre.
More details

3. The average water temperature of the UK's rivers and lakes is 5C in winter, 18C in summer.

4. Eight of the 10 most crowded train journeys in the UK are outside London.

5. The average duvet is home to 20,000 live dust mites.
More details

6. Designer discount retailer TK Maxx is called TJ Maxx in the US.
More details

7. Having a baby can cost you up to two months sleep in the first year.
More details

8. Chimps and bonobos differ from humans by only 1% of DNA and could accept a blood transfusion or a kidney.
More details

9. Britain's peat bogs store carbon that is equivalent to 20 years' worth of national industrial emissions.
More details

10. Dogs can seemingly perform the Heimlich manoeuvre – a technique for helping someone who is choking.
More details

Sources: 3 - the Times, 26 March; 4 - the Times, 26 March.

Quiztime Launches QuizPod Blog

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A fake princess's part in history

Princess Caraboo's invented language fooled several experts

She turned up in Gloucestershire in 1817, claiming to be Princess Caraboo from the island of Javasu - saying she had been kidnapped by pirates before escaping and making her way to England.

And the fact that Mary Willcocks' tale was completely invented arguably makes her story no less remarkable.

The young woman who said she was a princess from a faraway island was later proved to be a 26-year-old cobbler's daughter from Devon, whose exotic foreign dialect had been a fictitious language.

But her place in Bristol folklore has been recognised this week with the unveiling of a blue plaque in a street in Bedminster, the suburb where she spent the last 11 years of her life.

The supposed princess arrived in the Gloucestershire village of Almondsbury, near Bristol, on 3 April 1817, wearing a black turban and black dress, with her possessions wrapped up in a small bundle.

Publicity her downfall

She appeared exhausted and starving and was speaking a language nobody in the village could understand.

The villagers thought she was a foreign beggar and she was taken to the home of Samuel Worrall, the local county magistrate.

Mary Willcocks should be an inspiration to anyone who feels held back by their position in society Brian Haughton, historian and Princess Caraboo expert

His wife was keen to find out more about her and, after taking her in to stay, managed to work out that her name was Caraboo and she had come to England by ship.

After various attempts to identify the language she was speaking, a Portuguese sailor said he understood the language and translated Caraboo's story.

He said she was a princess from an island called Javasu who had been abducted by pirates and taken on a long journey by sea which ended when she jumped overboard in the Bristol Channel.

Once the Worralls realised they had a foreign princess in their house, they began to exploit the fact, inviting guests round to be entertained by the exotic Caraboo and her strange language and behaviour.

Newspapers began to ran stories on her, but it was this publicity which would bring Miss Willcocks' spell as a princess to an end.

Phoebe Cates played the part of Princess Caraboo on film

After two months, the owner of a Bristol lodging house saw a picture of her in a newspaper and realised "Princess Caraboo" was the same young woman who had stayed with her earlier in the year - and entertained her daughters with an invented language.

But rather than being the end of her time in the limelight, the truth extended it further, with Miss Willcocks now being hailed as a working class heroine who had deceived high society.

She was sent to America and spent seven years there, but found herself hailed a heroine in her Princess Caraboo role and made public appearances as her - just as she did when she returned to England in 1824.

She spent the last few years of her life back in Bristol, making a living selling leeches to the city's hospital, before dying at the age of 75 in 1864.

A film of Mary Willcocks' life was made by Disney in 1994 - titled Princess Caraboo and starring Kevin Kline and Jim Broadbent and with Phoebe Cates in the title role.

'Dared to escape'

Brian Haughton, a historian who has written about Princess Caraboo, agrees that she is worthy of recognition - and was as much a class-warrior inspiration as a cheeky hoaxer.

He said: "In an age when women were second class citizens, and working class women had practically no rights at all, Mary Willcocks managed to break out of her class and into high society and beat them at their own game.

I'm proud to be from where Princess Caraboo lived and to walk on the streets she walked on Christopher Orlik, Blue Plaque organiser

"Through a combination of her own unique talents and her appeal to the romanticism of the upper class, Mary was treated like the exotic princess she claimed to be.

"This Devon servant girl achieved this during a period of English history when people were being transported to Australia for stealing a petticoat.

"That Mary dared to escape her menial position and perpetrate such a complicated hoax is, I believe, nothing short of wondrous.

"Mary Willcocks should be an inspiration to anyone who feels held back by their position in society."

Christopher Orlik, a former member of Bristol City Council who is involved in organising the city's blue plaques, agrees the hoax princess deserves her recognition.

He said: "I think she's part of Bristol's history. In an age where there was no entertainment in the way of radio, television or cinema, she provided a lot of entertainment for people, and she didn't do any harm.

"We've got 47 blue plaques now and she may not be as famous as some of the other people but she's the only one who has had a full length film made about her.

"It creates pride in the city - I'm proud to be a Bristolian and I'm proud to be from where Princess Caraboo lived and to walk on the streets she walked on."

30th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1981: President Reagan is shot President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded when a lone gunman opens fire in Washington.
	1979: Car bomb kills Airey Neave Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave is killed by a car bomb as he leaves the House of Commons car park.
	1951: Rosenbergs guilty of espionage An American electrical engineer and his wife are found guilty by the Federal Court in New York of passing secrets about the atomic bomb to Russia.

Many planets may have double suns

In the film Star Wars, Luke Skywalker gazed at a twin sunset from his desert homeworld Enlarge Image

The dual suns that rise and set over Luke Skywalker's homeworld in the film Star Wars may be more than just fantasy, according to data from Nasa.

In a classic scene from the 1977 movie, the hero gazes into the distance as two yellow suns set on the horizon.

Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope has found that planetary systems are as common around double stars as they are around single stars, like our own Sun.

Details of the research have been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

The number of potential sites for planets has just increased enormously David Trilling, University of Arizona

In the study, a team of researchers used an infrared camera on the Spitzer telescope to search for so-called dusty discs around binary, or double, stars.

Dusty discs are made from the leftover debris of planet formation.

"We knew the stars would be there, the question was whether there was a planet to be the place where you could stand and see these sunsets," said Karl Stapelfeldt, a scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

"The inference is getting stronger now that there must be such planets based on what Spitzer has found."

The presence of planets in dusty discs is thought likely, but is by no means certain.

Click here to see which binary systems might have planets

"In our Solar System, asteroids collide with each other and produce showers of dust and that is, we assume, what we're seeing in these other discs - the dust produced by the collision of two bigger bodies," lead author David Trilling, from the University of Arizona, told BBC News.

"We can infer that there are bigger bodies like asteroids. The next logical leap is that if there are processes that formed these bigger bodies like asteroids, those same processes may also have formed planets."

Planets could be commonplace around binary stars

The team looked for dusty discs in 69 binary systems between about 50 and 200 light-years away from Earth.

The data show that about 40% of double systems had dusty discs - slightly higher than the frequency for a similar sample of single stars.

This finding suggests that planetary systems are at least as common around these binary stars as they are around single stars like our Sun.

In systems where stars are 50-500 astronomical units (50-500 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun) apart, dusty discs circle one of the pairs of stars.

Close-knit stars

But the researchers found no discs in binary systems where stars were 3-50 astronomical units (AU) apart.

In these double systems, Dr Trilling suggests, gravitational forces may kick debris out into deep space, preventing the formation of planets.

Nasa's Spitzer infrared telescope More details

When the team looked at even more closely spaced binary stars - positioned at three to zero astronomical units distance - they were surprised to find that dusty discs were common, occurring in about 60% of cases.

In these systems, a dusty disc circles both stars, rather than just one. Any planets orbiting these close-knit star systems would experience sunsets similar to the one depicted on the fictional desert world of Tatooine in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

"The number of potential sites for planets has just increased enormously, because now we know these multiple star systems may be commonly associated with planetary formation," said Dr Trilling.

Habitable zones

Dr Trilling said that if planets did exist in dusty discs around these binaries, they might be at distances where the conditions could be hospitable for life.

"The Luke Skywalker picture is science fiction. But I don't see anything that's astronomically incorrect about it," said the University of Arizona researcher.

"With some of our systems, you could play with the geometry, put a planet there, get the temperatures right and make it look just like [Tatooine]."

"Of course, we don't know anything about planets in these systems - it's all imagination - but it looks fine."

The UK's Simplest Website Index

This site has links to the most popular and most useful websites.
Click on any of the logos you see to go directly to the website or click one of the categories to see more website links.

Makes a Great Homepage!!!

Pub News

Top stories:

D-Day for Wales as smoking ban looms

Licensees brace themselves for smoking ban

Welsh smoke ban enforcement to be "non-confrontational"

First Minister told thepublican.com ban is of "great significance"

Peers reject Manchester supercasino plans

The House of Lords have voted 123 voted to 120

Licensee calls for tougher action on fake IDs

A licensee who confiscated forged cards from youngsters has criticised police for failing to act quickly

Pub Poker league launches legal action

Nuts Poker League has instructed its solicitors to issue proceedings against West Mercia Police.

100 day countdown to smoke ban

DoH will send out guidance and free signage to all businesses

more news

Other news this week:

• Des Lynam is Proud of Pubs
• Lewes Arms protestors given lifeline
• Underage drinkers in Hull to be fined
• FAPL warns pubs over legal rulings
• Can you spot the April fool?
• Clubs' fears over smoke ban
• BEDA rejects calls for legal age to rise to 21
• SBPA speaks out over door worker fee
• Scots smoke ban an "overwhelming success"
• Coke to launch range of new products
• Police chief calls for more training to curb under-age drinking
• Employers receive maternity guidance from government
• Best Bar None gives free training to licensees
• Are you the pub trade's energy efficiency champion?
• Triple triumph for the Fence Gate Inn
• Marston's unveils licensee workshops
• Thwaites shows a good heart
• Drinkaware hunts for its first chief
• Home Office launches migrant resource website
• CAMRA launches B&B guide
• Save the Children calls for more licensees

more news

Chris Maclean: cask beer never better

No tank-tops, beards or sandals at CAMRA - and no more flat, cloudy, warm beer for me

more features

29th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1971: Calley guilty of My Lai massacre Lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of murder at a court martial for his part in the My Lai massacre which claimed the lives of 500 South Vietnamese civilians.
	1981: Triumph at first London Marathon Thousands of people jog through the normally quiet Sunday streets of the capital to try and cross the finish line of the first ever London marathon.
	1971: Manson sent to gas chamber Charles Manson and three members of his hippy cult are sentenced to death in Los Angeles.

Bond author's gun fetches £12,000

Although a powerful weapon, Bond never used the Colt Magnum

A revolver owned by James Bond author Ian Fleming has been sold at auction in London for £12,000.

The engraved Colt Python .357 Magnum was specially made for the author and presented to him by the Colt Company.

It was accompanied by a letter from the firearms company and a copy of the 1959 Bond novel Goldfinger, in which villain Scaramanga uses a Colt gun.

Fictional spy Bond shunned the Colt in favour of a weapon that could be easily concealed under a dinner jacket.

The Colt, which is still in working condition, is engraved with the words: "Presented To Ian Fleming By Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co".

Fleming was a journalist and banker, before working in Naval Intelligence during World War II, where he rose to the rank of Commander Fleming and was right-hand man to spymaster Admiral John Godfrey.

After the war, he went to Jamaica for a naval conference and fell in love with the island, where he wrote the Bond novels at his home, Goldeneye.

C4 in digital radio licence bid

C4's Popworld features on the channel's internet radio station

Ten new digital radio stations could be launched, if plans by a consortium whose partners include Channel 4 and BSkyB are given the go-ahead.

The proposed national stations, including Channel 4 Radio and Sky News Radio, will cover music, entertainment, speech and children's programming.

The consortium, named the 4 Digital Group, also includes Emap Radio, Chrysalis Radio and Carphone Warehouse.

National Grid Wireless has submitted a rival bid which will offer 12 stations.

Its partners include the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and Premier Christian Radio.

'Future of radio'

The second national digital radio licence will be awarded by media regulator Ofcom in the summer. Services are expected to launch next year.

Nathalie Schwarz, chairman of 4 Digital Group, said her team "would secure the future of radio".

"We will serve a broad spectrum of audiences - from mainstream to niche, minority groups to children - in both speech and music," she added.

Announcing its bid last year, Tony Moretta, general manager of broadcast at National Grid Wireless, said: "We are confident that we can provide an open, non-competitive platform that will enable digital radio to achieve the next stage in its development."

Channel 4 set up its own internet radio station last year, Channel4radio.com.

Portugal opens major solar plant

The solar power plant is in one of Europe's sunniest areas

Portugal has inaugurated what it says is the world's most powerful solar power plant.

The array of electricity-generating solar panels covers about 60 hectares (150 acres) in one of Europe's sunniest areas in southern Portugal.

Officials say the plant should produce enough energy to supply 8,000 homes.

The plant is part of Portugal's efforts to cut its reliance on imported fuel and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that add to global warming.

The plant is also meant to bring development and jobs to the Alentejo region 200km (125 miles) southeast of Lisbon, a poor area traditionally dominated by cork and olive production.

Renewable energy drive

The 11-megawatt plant has 52,000 photovoltaic modules, which will produce 20 gigawatt hours of power each year.

Burning fossil fuels to generate the same amount of energy would result in 30,000 tons of greenhouse gases being emitted over the course of a year.

"This project is successful because Portugal's sunshine is plentiful, the solar power technology is proven [and] government policies are supportive," said Kevin Walsh of Renewable Energy GE, which built the project.

The facility was designed by PowerLight which will also operates and maintains it.

Portugal is developing wind, solar and wave power projects as part of a plan to invest $10bn (£5bn) in renewable energy over the next five years.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates has said he wants 45% of Portugal's power consumption to come from renewable energy by 2010.

D - List Picture Quiz

Punters lay bets on a summer 'scorcher'

With temperatures soaring to levels higher than Rome and Barcelona, Britons yesterday enjoyed the first real taste of the summer sunshine to come.

Beaches from Brighton to Portsmouth and Bournemouth basked in the heat, while the temperature peaked in London, at 65F (18C) - warmer than in many holiday destinations including Corfu, Ibiza, Lisbon, Madrid and Majorca.

The Met Office said that temperatures would begin to fall tomorrow. However, the clouds and rainy weather would start moving away again on Friday, clearing the way for a brighter weekend.

A Met Office spokesman said: "That's what you get this time of year - big swings."

It was enough for William Hill to cut the odds of the temperature exceeding 100F (38C) this year from 10/1 to 8/1 after punters, apparently driven by the lovely weather, began laying bets on a "scorcher" to come.

A spokesman for the bookmaker said: "We would not have expected to see money for temperatures to exceed 100F so early in the year, but the glorious weather over the last 24 hours seems to have driven punters into the betting shops."

Britons fall for allure of long-distance love

Almost a million Britons are in long-distance relationships with lovers abroad - with Swedes and Italians proving the nation's favourites, a survey shows.

For British men Swedish and French women are considered more desirable than British women, according to the study by Orange Broadband.

The next most-popular countries for alluring women are Spain, Italy, the Republic of Ireland, the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Scotland, Germany and Denmark.

For women, the promise of Italian flair in the bedroom surpasses the charms of British men, the survey of 2,376 adults found.

The other preferred destinations for the men of their dreams are the Republic of Ireland, Spain, France, Wales, Greece, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

Spinster leaves art treasures to the nation

A reclusive spinster has bequeathed to the nation a collection of 51 paintings including works by Turner, Constable and Gainsborough.

	Margate Pier by Turner. Miss Scharf was 'besotted' by the Victorian master and would scrimp to buy his works

Few people had seen the £5 million collection that Dorothy Scharf amassed at her two-bedroom flat and left to the Courtauld Institute in her will.

The paintings had hung on the walls of her home in a former council block with only the cleaner and close family friends allowed in to see them.

But now the life of one of the world's least-known art collectors can finally be revealed as the gallery prepares to exhibit them.

The institute has described the collection as "the most significant single addition to the Courtauld's distinguished collection of works on paper for over 25 years".

It covers the period 1750-1850, the so-called Golden Age of British watercolour painting and includes works by Richard Wilson and Cozens.

The eight paintings by Turner include Seelisburg by Moonlight and Margate Pier, which was once owned by the US president Franklin D Roosevelt.

	Dorothy Scharf: reclusive

Miss Scharf, who came from a family of art collectors, lived off her late father's wealth and began collecting in the 1970s. She was "besotted" with Turner and used to "scrimp" to buy his paintings.

Her mother, Josephine - or "Peppi" - was Jewish and in 1937 she and her husband, Freddie, fled to London from their native Czechoslovakia to escape the rise of the Nazis.

They emigrated to Australia where Mr Scharf was the agent for the wireless firm Grundig. After he died in 1970, mother and daughter returned to London.

Peppi was over-protective of Dorothy and lived in a flat opposite her in St John's Wood. And she indulged her in her passion for art. Occasionally, Miss Scharf would loan works to galleries but on condition that she remained anonymous.

Peter Barber, Miss Scharf's cousin, has described seeing the paintings at her flat. "It was amazing" said Mr Barber, 58. "She even had paintings in the kitchen. She had real passion and a real eye. But she was tremendously protected and not given the chance to take a job. Her parents had always been extremely anxious about her and felt she could not really cope. This was the great pity.

"She could not have stood the publicity now. You have no idea how reclusive and shy she was. She was petrified of people even to the extent of her cleaner. She would have nothing to do with her. She ran away from everybody."

In December 2004, Peppi, who was 90, died in hospital with her daughter by her side.

Miss Scharf, 62 and diabetic, went home and was later found dead from an insulin overdose. Mr Barber believes it was suicide.

Andrew Wyld, former director of the watercolour department at Agnew's, described Miss Scharf as "one of the most astute and demanding collectors I have dealt with". He said: "I developed a great respect and fondness for this forceful duo: the elderly and frail Mrs Scharf behind the wheel of an enormous Mercedes chauffeuring her daughter back and forth from St John's Wood to the West End. Dorothy was always eager to see what was new in. Communication, including fierce negotiation, was often carried on between us via her mother. Once the price was right, and details of attribution and provenance agreed, a sense of calm would descend."

The Turners are due to be exhibited in October next year.

Weekly Quick Quiz Challenge - Week 9

1. Which country does golf legend Seve Ballesteros come from?
2. In Britain, how many days after Halloween is Bonfire Night?
3. The Church Of Scientology was founded in which country?
4. The seeds of which plant, with the botanical name Papaver somniferum, are used to top bread and rolls?
5. How much would the phone bill be in pounds and pence if you made eighty local calls at four pence each?
6. In geography, 'crest' and 'breaker' are both terms used to describe what?
7. Name the 1980's British romantic comedy, which starred Paul Nicholas as Vince Pinner and Jan Francis as Penny Warrender?
8. Bauhaus was a school of architecture in which European country?
9. Which of these cities is further from London by plane: Rome or Salzburg?
10. In literature, which Nick Hornby novel reveals the intricacies of British football?
11. In nature, what is the name for the grasslands of Asia?
12. What is the surname of Charles, the Scottish chemist who took out a patent for waterproof clothing in 1823?
13. In geography, which city stands near the mouth of the River Eden in Cumbria?
14. In classical music, tabla are drums from which country?
15. In TV, who played Jaime Sommers in the action programme 'The Bionic Woman'?
16. In theatre, the play 'A Man For All Seasons' is about Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor to which English monarch?
17. In which British city is Holyrood House, associated with Mary, Queen Of Scots?
18. In football, which West Midlands club is nicknamed 'The Blues'?
19. According to the Roman calendar, which month was the tenth month of the year?
20. Which American singer has UK number one singles with 'Magic Moments' and 'Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes' during the 1950's?
21. Which American author won the Nobel Prize For Literature in 1962?
22. In gardening, 'checkerboard' is a variety of which flower?
23. In maths, if a train travels at 80 miles per hour, how far does it go in two and a quarter hours?
24. Stanley is the capital of which group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean?
25. In the animal kingdom, a 'gosling' is a young what?
26. In which fictional small American town is the 1987 film about three witches set?
27. In which sport is Laura Davies one of the leading female competitors?
28. Which historical English town is home to Jesus Green and Midsummer Common?
29. Whose 1979 'Off The Wall' album became the first to contain four US top ten hits?
30. What geological term for a steep-sided gorge cut by a river?
31. In science, which element appears in charcoal, coal and diamonds?
32. In food, 'nouvelle cuisine' was developed in which country?
33. In the animal kingdom, what is an edible mollusc that is known to produce pearls?
34. In human biology, which hollow, muscular organ has contractions that pump blood throughout the body?
35. In geography, Tiananmen Square is in which country?
36. The word 'tripartite' means divided into how many parts?
37. In which European country would you find the resort of Marbella?
38. In science, on the Richter scale, which of the following is classed as 'catastrophic': One or Twelve?
39. In which country would you kiss the Blarney Stone?
40. In politics, Margaret Beckett is associated with which party?

Answers posted on Wed 4th April
http://quiztimeuk.multiply.com

Weekly Quick Quiz Challenge - Week 8 Answers

1. Which TV personality had government minister John Nott walk out on him during an interview in 1983?
Sir Robin Day
2. Who appeared on TV in 1974 as she held up a bank in San Francisco?
Patty Hearst
3. Which series ended when Tara King sent the main character into space?
The Avengers
4. Which soap saw Jason Gioberti die in its first episode?
Falcon Crest
5. What feature was dropped from 'The Great Egg Race' in 1981?
The Actual Egg Race
6. Who rescued Bet when the Rovers Return caught fire?
Kevin Webster
7. In addition to the 'Blue Peter' team, who took part in the 1971 safari?
Princess Anne
8. Who was ditched by Dame Edna for being boring?
Sir Cliff Richard
9. How many people died in the 'Crossroads' motel fire?
One
10. Who sat on a protesting lesbian during the 6 O'Clock News in 1988 and who continued to read the news?
Nicholas Witchell And Sue Lawley
11. Which soap's first death was May Hardman on December 31st, 1960?
Coronation Street
12. In which year were subtitles first included in the Queen's speech?
1981
13. What TV first did Gareth Jones achieve during a live transmission?
He Died
14. Whose was the first televised royal funeral?
George VI
15. Which newsreader's drugs for epilepsy made him appear to be drunk?
Reginald Bosanquet
16. Which 'Blue Peter' team member was knocked out by a flying marrow?
John Noakes
17. Which news programme was first to enter the Top 10 ratings in 1967?
News At Ten
18. Who stopped an interview when asked about the money he had made from his memoirs?
Harold Wilson
19. Who presented the first British TV programme of birds in their natural habitat?
Sir Peter Scott
20. How did camerawoman Lee Lyon die whilst filming 'Survival'?
Charged By An Elephant
21. Whom did Malcolm Ryder try to poison so as to claim insurance?
Meg Mortimer
22. Which 'Eastenders' received a marriage proposal from Benny Bloom?
Ethel Skinner
23. Who admitted that her face erupted when she first used Camay soap?
Katie Boyle
24. Who was the first British politician to have a televised state funeral?
Sir Winston Churchill
25. What did Stephanie Rahn do in 'The Sun' in 1970 to find herself on TV, to become the first what?
Topless Page 3 Girl
26. Which sporting event was the first programme to be in colour?
Wimbledon
27. What did Brian Connell have that no other newsreader had?
Beard
28. Which DJ hosted 'First AIDS', which gave condoms to the audience?
Mike Smith
29. Who was the first British newsreader to lose an earring on television?
Angela Rippon
30. Whom did Connie Hall stab in 1988 in 'Dallas'?
Ray Krebbs

Falkland Islands Quiz

It's 25 years since the Falklands conflict, but how much do we know about this slice of the UK that lies thousands of miles away?
GO TO QUIZ

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Inventors in the frame

Inventors' blueprint: The creative powerhouse hired by the Patent Office "Britain's foremost inventors", Wallace and Gromit, are spearheading a Patent Office project to encourage young inventors. When Oscar-winning animator, Nick Park, was eight years old he'd already decided on his career. "I really wanted to be an inventor," he says. Inspired by film versions of stories by HG Wells and Jules Verne, he says he planned "to build a time machine and visit the dinosaurs". Nick Park says that he always wanted to be an inventor And by way of practical preparation for such an ambitious project, he kept a "Box of Useful Things" under his bed. "I collected bits of old toys, electric motors, clockwork things, mainly broken bits and pieces. I don't think I ever used any of them." If this all begins to sound like the slippers and surrealism world of his most-famous creations - Wallace and Gromit - he says that this is no coincidence. Nick Park finds such imaginative tinkering irresistible - and even when not making films he says he's likely to be in a corner with his sketchpad coming up with ideas for Wallace to invent. 'Cracking ideas' This passion for invention is being harnessed by the Patent Office - for a project to promote creativity and inventiveness in primary schools. One man and his dogged pursuit of an idea Wallace and Gromit, described by the Patent Office as "Britain's foremost inventors", are spearheading the Cracking Ideas initiative, which will invite youngsters to come up with their own inventions. Wallace, the creator of automated trousers and elaborate knitting machines, follows in the long tradition of "eccentric inventors", says Mr Park. It's also part of his own family story. He says that it was only after making A Grand Day Out that "I suddenly realised that I'd made a film about my dad". "He liked to build things - like a shed or a caravan. He had the attitude 'Why buy it when you can make it?'" This inventiveness also reflects a rather obsessive attention to detail. Mr Park says he has designed his first board game, featuring Shaun the Sheep and a sheep-rustling story, but it's taken him 10 years to make it. "That makes me a bit of an eccentric, doesn't it? It took me ages to think up the mechanism. The best board games are very well worked out and also very simple." Animators might only generate two seconds of film each day - and the first Wallace and Gromit film took seven years to create, he says, so much so that "making the films themselves is a bit like being a mad inventor". "With anything creative, you get fired up and absorbed by the idea - the invention takes over the inventor." Creative control It also requires a "single-minded and stubborn" streak to make sure that the original vision is kept intact. Big budgets and Oscar-sized expectations can make this even tougher - and he says that the ending of production company Aardman's partnership with the US studio, Dreamworks, should make it easier to stay in "creative control". His current project is another Wallace and Gromit short film, (he says he's not sure if it'll be for television or cinema), with an expected release date at the end of next year. The model motorbike and development sketches from A Close Shave This will use his trademark plasticine modelling rather than computer generated images - and he says "we don't mind the fingerprints, it has its own charm". The downside of the sleekly-designed computer images, he says, is that "it can look like the characters are wearing rubber masks". With such well-established figures as Wallace and Gromit, he says the real challenge is to guard against becoming predictable. "It's something that's on my mind, I have to constantly challenge myself to keep a sense of originality all the time," he says. The Patent Office project for primary schools also includes a competition - with schools being invited to send in their best inventions - with the winner to be turned into a model by the Aardman studios. There is a serious side to the project, says the Patent Office's Miles Rees. There has been much talk about the struggle to get youngsters interested in science - and he hopes that this will help young children to think creatively about innovation. It will also show them the need to protect ideas - and he says there have been cases where young people have come up with brainwaves, which have then be swept up by commercial operators. Any decent ideas will be patented, he says. In terms of what to expect, Mr Rees says an early suggestion has been for a purpose-built ladder for spiders to get out of the bath. What would Wallace come up with? "Probably something like a solar-powered torch. You know, something that wouldn't actually work at night time," says Mr Park.

Toads' Australian march quickens

'Toadzilla' captured

The march of the cane toad across Australia is likely to prove more relentless than previously believed, according to a new study.

Writing in the Royal Society's journal Proceedings B, scientists say the toads will double their current range, and spread along most of Australia's coast.

Cane toads were introduced from Hawaii about 70 years ago and are poisonous to some indigenous wildlife.

The new research suggests they are adapting to warmer conditions.

Currently, the toads occupy about 1.2 million sq km (460,000 sq miles) in the northeast of the country, but that is likely to increase to two million sq km (770,000 sq miles), colonising much of the eastern and western coasts as they spread south.

These areas, the researchers note, constitute "a region where most of the continent's human population and biological diversity are concentrated.

"If the cane toad's advance continues, this prolific and problematic species is likely to cause further harm to Australia's unique wildlife and economy," they write.

Toxic terror

Controlling the further expansion of cane toads in Australia remains a daunting task Mark Urban and colleagues

Cane toads (Bufo marinus) were introduced to the sugarcane fields of Queensland in 1935 in an attempt to control the cane beetle, an agricultural pest.

Quickly they acquired a taste for other creatures, such as smaller frogs and birds, and began to spread. Their current range extends south of the Queensland capital, Brisbane.

There may be as many as 200 million in the country now.

Tough, hardy and equipped with a poisonous skin, not many predators can kill them. Many, including crocodiles, can die from eating them and the toxins they produce.

Just this week a particularly huge example, a 20cm (8 inch) specimen, nick-named "Toadzilla", was discovered in the Northern Territory.

Beyond the homeland

Previous attempts to predict the likely limits of their march started by estimating the extent of Australian territory where the climate and ecology were similar to conditions where the amphibians had evolved in Central and South America.

But the scientists involved in the new research - headed from Yale University in the US by Mark Urban, and including colleagues from Sydney University in Australia - believe the toads have already adapted to conditions beyond those of their "homeland".

In particular they are able to survive where temperatures rise above 37C.

The team also believes that the creatures have evolved to disperse further and faster. Road-building is also making it easier for them to spread, and they appear to thrive in urban environments.

All of this means, the scientists calculate, that previous research has under-estimated the likely scale of the toads' advance.

If they are right, cane toads will become common in major Australian cities such as Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth, with possibly calamitous effects on wildlife.

Can they be stopped? The researchers are pessimistic: "Controlling the further expansion of cane toads in Australia remains a daunting task," they write.

"Future range expansion could devastate Australia's endemic species."

World's tallest man gets married

Mr Bao placed advertisements across the world Enlarge Image

The world's tallest man has married a woman who is 25 years younger than he is - and two-thirds of his height.

After a global search for a suitable bride, herdsman Bao Xishun ended up marrying a saleswoman from his home city of Chifeng in northern China.

Mr Bao, who stands at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in) tall, tied the knot with Xia Shujian, 29, several days ago.

The 54-year-old gained fame last year when he saved two dolphins by pulling dangerous plastic from their stomachs.

He used his long arms to remove shards that the animals had swallowed at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.

News of Mr Bao's wedding has delighted commentators in China.

The Beijing News reported: "After sending out marriage advertisements across the world and going through a long selection process, the efforts have finally paid off."

Mr Bao was confirmed as the world's tallest living man by Guinness World Records last year.

He overtook the previous holder, Radhouane Charbib of Tunisia, by just 2mm.

Guinness World Records say Mr Bao was of normal height until 16 but then put on a spurt that doctors were unable to explain, reaching his full height in seven years.

28th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1979: Nuclear leak causes alarm in America Radioactive steam has leaked into the atmosphere at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania prompting fears for the safety of the plant's 500 workers.
	1991: Family anger at Hillsborough verdict A jury returns a verdict of accidental death at the end of the inquest of 95 Liverpool football fans crushed to death in Sheffield.
	1965: Thousands join Dr King in Alabama rally Martin Luther King leads protests to the steps of the state capital of Montgomery in Alabama.

27th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1977: Hundreds dead in Tenerife plane crash At least 560 people die when two jumbo jets collide on a runway in the popular holiday destination of Tenerife.
	1980: North Sea platform collapses At least 120 oil rig workers are feared dead as a North Sea accommodation platform collapses during gales.
	1963: Railways to be slashed by a quarter A far-reaching report giving the first full description of the state of the railways recommends the closure of large sections of the network.

C - List Picture Quiz

Ofcom warns of TV quiz complaints

Ofcom says it is investigating a number of phone-in shows

Media regulator Ofcom has warned broadcasters about a "growing trend in complaints" about phone-in quizzes.

It called for "rigorous" procedures to prevent the broadcast of "challenges that are almost impossible" and "inaccurate and/or misleading clues".

Trust could be lost between the broadcaster and audience, it warned.

Ofcom has launched an inquiry into the use of premium-rate phone lines on TV, while phone services regulator Icstis is investigating several programmes.

Ofcom says it currently has over 20 investigations underway into TV phone-ins but some of those relate to the same show.

An Ofcom statement said it was "essential that the demands of any competition on its audience are reasonable".

"We consider it necessary to remind broadcasters that they must take particular care in ensuring that there are rigorous compliance procedures in place," it said.

Code breaches

The regulator has just ruled against the Word Association show on Channel 4's now defunct Quiz Call channel.

Viewers were asked to name "things in Australia", and given the clue "Alice *******".

The presenter also indicated that the answer was fairly easy - before revealing the solution as Alice Springs Camel Cup.

Ofcom ruled this game was not conducted fairly and breached its Broadcasting Code

It also said the Quiz Call programme, made separately for Five, had breached its fairness code by describing a complex mathematical question in its Piggy Bank section as "very simple".

Icstis is investigating how phone lines were operated on 15 separate shows, including Channel 4's Richard and Judy and BBC One's Saturday Kitchen.

Gardens 'attract fewer songbirds'

Robins are among the birds spotted less in gardens this winter

Fewer songbirds visited UK gardens this winter than last year - with the numbers for some species at a five-year low, a survey for the RSPB suggests.

The number of song thrushes spotted in gardens has fallen 65% in a year, while the number of blackbirds fell by 25%.

The RSPB blamed the mild European winter and a bumper countryside fruit crop, meaning the birds did not have to visit UK gardens for food as often.

Some 6.5m birds were counted in 236,000 gardens for the RSPB on 27-28 January.

More than 400,000 people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch.

Many birds will struggle to cope with the altered weather patterns Ruth Davis RSPB Chaffinch tops Scotland poll

Some 41,000 children participated in the Big Schools' Birdwatch, involving 1,200 schools.

The RSPB's head of climate change policy Ruth Davis said birds will adapt their behaviour to suit changing conditions.

"A snapshot in winter gives only part of the picture, but the varying birds visiting our gardens is one example of the impact climate change is having on the natural world," she said.

"Although the mild winter seems to have provided more food for song thrushes in the countryside this year, as changes to our climate become more extreme many birds will struggle to cope with the altered weather patterns."

The number of robins spotted has also fallen, according to the survey.

It suggests the house sparrow is the most common garden bird, followed by the starling and the blue tit.

26th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1979: Israel and Egypt shake hands on peace deal In a ceremony at the White House� Israel and Egypt end 30 years of war with a handshake� after the signing of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
	2000: Pope prays for Holocaust forgiveness Pope John Paul II� visiting Jerusalem� has prayed for forgiveness for those involved in the Holocaust.
	1981: 'Gang of four' launches new party The Social Democrats launch their new political party pledging to 'reconcile the nation' and 'heal divisions between classes'.

25th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1975: Saudi's King Faisal assassinated King Faisal of Saudi Arabia has died after a gun attack despite the efforts of doctors to keep him alive.
	1975: National Front rallies against Europe Members of an extreme right-wing UK party� flanked by 2�000 police officers� march through north London protesting against integration with Europe.
	1980: Britain will go to Moscow Olympics The British Olympic Association votes by a large majority to defy government requests and send athletes to the Olympic Games in Moscow.

FinalBurner 1.14

Free disc burning suite

Platform Windows 2000, Windows XP
Type freeware
Manufacturer ProtectedSoft
Size 5.2MB
Free download

FinalBurner is a freeware alternative to expensive CD and DVD burners. This 4-Mb application enables you to create data, audio, DVD disks and burn them onto any type of media, such as CD R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD DL.

You can also create an ISO image of a disk. FinalBurner combines all the elements of a professional CD recorder, delivered with a convenient user interface that pleases the eye. Final Burner is designed without any extraneous features. It restricts the complex process of CD recording to a few mouse clicks, which is ideal for typical users. Now you can produce high quality output on the fly without any deep knowledge of CD recording technologies. Power users will benefit from the opportunity to be in full control of many settings that affect the burning process and the quality of the result.

Depending on the project type (audio, video, etc.), you click on the appropriate tab and open its window, where the project is displayed as a folder tree. Then, using the built-in explorer, you add a file or several files to the project, select the drive, writing speed, and start the burning process. While the recording is in progress, you can view its current status at the bottom of the window.

emailSTRIPPER

Remove annoying formatting marks from emails

Platform Windows 2000, Windows XP
Type freeware
Manufacturer Paper Cut
Size 454KB
Free download

Most email programs insert > marks to show text quoted from previous emails. This is a good idea in principle but a long email conversation can end up with so many marks as to make the email unreadable. emailStripper is a simple utility for removing these marks.

Installation is very easy and there is not much that needs describing about the interface. There is a text box for the email and three buttons. The text of the email must be copied into the clipboard, either by selecting copy from the Edit menu or by pressing Ctrl and C together. Click on the paste button in Email Stripper, then Strip It! and finally Copy to put the stripped text back into the clipboard.

10 things we didn't know last week

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. The are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.
More details

2. Alan Sugar is a big fan of Masterchef.

3. It's possible to map a 248-dimensional structure.
More details

4. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.
More details

5. The Quakers invented the modern protest campaign - in calling for an end to the slave trade – deploying petitions, consumer boycotts, images, a logo and a slogan.
More details

6. The Legal limit for flying a plane is 20mg of alcohol.
More details

7. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.
More details

8. NHS hospitals took more than £95m in car parking charges in 2004/2005.
More details

9. Alcohol and tobacco are more "harmful" than cannabis, ecstasy and LSD according to a new ranking drawn up by the Lancet.
More details

10. Tony Blair isn't a bad comedy actor, judging by his performance on Comic Relief.

Time change marking end of an era

The change to BST marks the end of an era for British timekeeping

British timekeeping will mark the end of an era when the nation switches to summer time in Sunday's early hours.

It will be the last time a British time change will be signalled from Rugby, in Warwickshire, which has been the source of the time signal since 1927.

From 31 March, the long-wave signal, used to keep the "pips" heard on BBC radio services accurate, will start to be broadcast from Anthorn, Cumbria.

The contract to transmit the signal is switching from BT to VT Communications.

Users of the signal, such as emergency services, banks and mobile phone networks, should not notice any change.

"The signal is already up and running and they are swapping between the two," said Fiona Auty of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which has responsibility for the time signal.

"So there are times when people are picking up the signal from Cumbria without even knowing it."

World clock

The national time signal is accurate to within 1,000th of a second of Co-ordinated Universal Time.

It is controlled by two caesium atomic clocks housed at the antenna in Rugby.

Peter Whibberley uses atomic clocks to keep British time accurate

"They are typically accurate to tens of nanoseconds, or billionths of a second, over a day," said NPL's Dr Peter Whibberley.

These are kept in line by comparing them to GPS signals and a suite of reference clocks at NPL in Surrey.

"That allows us to get a good measure of whether those clocks are changing - we can then apply an adjustment if necessary," said Dr Whibberley.

The master clocks at NPL are in turn kept in check by comparing them with measurements from atomic clocks around the world, a task co-ordinated by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), near Paris.

Changing hands

The national time signal underpins many aspects of society.

"It's used incredibly heavily by police, the ambulance service, the fire brigade, in speed cameras on the road and clocks in train stations," said Miss Auty.

In addition, many home users have the relatively inexpensive receivers in appliances such as digital TV boxes.

All receive the MSF 60 kHz signal, as it is known, currently transmitted from the Rugby Radio Station by BT under contract from NPL.

But the telecom company's contract has now expired, and responsibility for broadcasting the signal has changed hands to VT Communications.

Their mast, located on a Ministry of Defence site in Anthorn, on the west coast of Cumbria, will be easier to maintain than the older antenna in Rugby.

It will start broadcasting the national time signal around the clock from midnight on 31 March, one week after the switch to British Summer Time.

24th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1989: Exxon Valdez creates oil slick disaster An oil tanker� the Exxon Valdez� has run aground off the Alaskan coast� releasing crude oil into the sea.
	1978: Tanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two Violent seas split the wreck of the super tanker destroying any hopes of salvaging any remaining oil.
	1953: Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness Her Majesty Queen Mary� the Queen's grandmother� dies in her sleep after a lengthy illness.

B - List Picture Quiz

How 'Mad' King George's heirs put the Empire together one piece at a time

Kew Palace slotted an important piece of its royal history back into place yesterday when it unveiled a cabinet of jigsaw maps used to teach King George III's children.

	This jigsaw map of Scotland is one of many used to teach geography to King George III's children

The mahogany cabinet houses a collection of dissected maps – precursors of the jigsaw puzzle – and was a main feature in the nursery at Kew, the King's main home, in the mid-1700s.

It was through assembling the carved wooden pieces that a young George IV and William IV first learned the geography of Europe, the Empire, Africa and the American colonies they believed they would one day head.

With their father chiefly remembered for going mad from porphyria and losing America, however, ruling those colonies was not to be. But the treasure, ordered for her royal charges by their devoted governess, Lady Charlotte Finch, was almost lost.

Hidden for centuries, it passed through her family into a private collection and was snapped up by a foreign buyer in 2000 who wished to export it to the US. Today it is back in its rightful place after the Government placed an export ban on the maps.

The Art Fund charity stumped up the £120,000 to buy the cabinet and contents and donated it to Kew Palace and the V&A's Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, east London. Rarely seen – it was once put on public view in the 1920s – it will now be displayed at both venues at different times.

A note pinned inside the cabinet records its royal provenance and claims Lady Charlotte Finch was "the inventor of dissecting maps … always used in teaching Geography to George the fourth, his Brothers and sisters".

However, Sebastian Edwards, curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said: "Recent research would seem to indicate she has overstated her claim". Of the 16 maps, a few were made by the engraver John Spilbury in the 1760s, others were hand-drawn by Lady Charlotte or the royal children, but the majority are of French origin.

It is likely Lady Charlotte got the idea from an acquaintance – a Madame Le Prince de Beaumont, a French governess living in London.

"It is wonderful to see these little pieces of history returning to Kew, where we imagine the royal children and their beloved governess would have played and learned from them," said Mr Edwards.

David Barrie, director of The Art Fund, said rescuing the cabinet and maps had been "a big victory".

"This extraordinary cabinet contains some of the earliest jigsaw maps in existence showing us the world as it would have been seen by the young George IV."

The cabinet and maps will be on show in the Breakfast Room at Kew from March 24.

YouTube for grown-ups is born

Some of America's best loved television shows, including The Simpsons, House and 24, are to be made available for free on a new video-sharing website that threatens to challenge the might of YouTube.

	Homer and Marge: set to challenge YouTube

The as-yet unnamed service, due to be launched this summer, is the creation of NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - two of the world's most influential broadcasting companies.

Funded by advertising, it will let users watch clips, entire programmes and films owned by the two media giants for free. Users will also be able to post video playlists and create "mash-ups" - clips of films, songs and TV shows edited by the public.

The new service is designed to challenge the popularity of YouTube, the Google-owned do-it-yourself video site used by millions of people every day to post and watch videos.

Although YouTube is intended as an outlet for amateur videos, it has become an unofficial archive of television shows, films and pop concerts.

Last week, Viacom, which owns MTV, sued Google for more than one billion dollars, claiming "massive intentional copyright infringement" for allowing programmes to be posted on the YouTube site.

News Corporation, which owns the Fox television network and the movie studio 20th Century Fox, and NBC Universal described their new service as the "largest internet video distribution network ever assembled".

The move will give the two media companies far greater control over how their programmes and films are accessed on the internet. The new service will offer a legal alternative to illegal file-sharing websites and pirated videos posted on other websites.

Because of existing licensing agreements with broadcasters outside America, the service is initially being targeted at American audiences. Last night it was unclear when the service would be available to Britain and rest of the world.

Peter Chernin, the president and chief executive operating officer of News Corporation, said: "This is a game changer for internet video.

"We'll have access to just about the entire US internet audience at launch. And for the first time, consumers will get what they want - professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live."

From its launch, the site will show clips and full episodes from programmes including Heroes, 24, Prison Break, The Simpsons and The Tonight Show. Films such as Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will also be available for free, along with the sorts of bonus documentaries usually found on DVDs. The site will be funded by advertising, with Cadbury Schwepps, Cisco Systems and General Motors among the companies to have signed up.

The site's owners have struck a deal with AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! to distribute the service available to most US internet users.

A spokesman for News Corporation confirmed that the service could come to Britain. However, British broadcasters such as Channel 4 and ITV have exclusive deals to show many of the programmes owned by News Corporation and NBC Universal. Making them available for free online could cause problems.

Other TV networks are expected to join the alliance over the next few months. News Corporation, which owns MySpace, the social networking site, and NBC Universal already make their programmes available to download on to Apple iPods.

23rd March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1987: 30 hurt as car bomb hits Army base More than 30 people are injured in a car bomb explosion at the UK Army headquarters in Rheindahlen� West Germany.
	1983: Reagan launches Cold War into space President Reagan has unveiled plans to combat nuclear war in space.
	1981: New measures to contain farm disease The government bans all animal transport to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Whale fossil is found in vineyard

Palaeontologists say the skeleton appears to be complete

The biggest whale fossil ever discovered in Italy has been found in one of the country's finest vineyards.

The five-million-year-old skeleton, 33ft (10m) in length, was dug up in the northern grape-growing area of Tuscany.

The vineyards of Castello Banfi, where the bones were uncovered, produce the famed Brunello de Montalcino wine, one of Italy's most prized.

The whale remains were discovered by a fossil hunter who was given special permission to poke around the vines.

Rich soil

The skeleton appears to be complete and, for the last month, palaeontologists from the University of Florence have been carefully digging around the terraces to extract it in one piece.

Millions of years ago, Tuscany was under water and Castello Banfi was the sea bed.

The vineyard owner, Cristina Mariani, is delighted.

"It reminds us "that this rich soil is composed of nutrients and minerals deposited millions of years ago," she says.

"It's that special earth that gives complexity to our wines."

So, if you are lucky enough to ever taste a Brunello, just savour it for that extra moment, and remember that beneath the old vines that produced it - there was an even bigger old whale.

The People's Quiz

The People's Quiz has published all the questions that will be asked during the early stages of the competition in sets of 2007.
Download links below -

Question set 1

Question set 2

Question set 3

Question set 4

Question set 5

Question set 6

Question set 7

Question set 8

Question set 9

Question set 10

Question set 11

Question set 12

Question set 13

Question set 14

Question set 15

Question set 16

Question set 17

Question set 18

Question set 19

Question set 20

Question set 21

Question set 22

Question set 23

Question set 24

Question set 25

Question set 26

Question set 27

The downloads are in PDF format, which requires Adobe Acrobat.

You can download this software for free from Adobe.

If You Are Going To Write A Soccer Review -

Jasper dangles Carrott

Comedian Jasper Carrott has hit upon a new-format TV quiz that he is confident will build footfall in pubs.

IT’S TIME to get off the couch and go to the pub! That message, delivered by comedian Jasper Carrott, is a sentiment no publican will disagree with.
The call to action comes from Jasper’s new business venture Innterplay, which will be launching a live Sunday night quiz programme on a dedicated, pub-only entertainment TV channel this summer.
Jasper will be at Publican Live, taking place at Olympia in London from April 2 to 4, where visitors will have the first chance to find out about the new gameshow, Cash Inn. Hosted by Jasper, it will offer pub customers the chance to win cash prizes, with around £25,000 in total up for grabs initially.
Jasper, a shareholder and director of Innterplay, says: “I’m very excited about Cash Inn. It’s a great opportunity for pubs to attract new customers following the smoking ban.”
Cash Inn is effectively a full evening’s entertainment, with half an hour of build up to the first round of questions at 8pm, and another half- hour’s wind down after the last round finishes at 10pm. There will be suitable breaks between rounds, giving players and spectators plenty of time to get to the bar.
Players take part by responding to multiple-choice questions, pressing one of four coloured buttons on a pad to pick the right answer. They can compete as individuals, as a team representing the pub or as part of company or national leagues. Cash Inn is free for players to enter, while pubs pay a fee to take part.

Millionaire technology

If the multiple choice format sounds familiar, it’s worth recalling that Jasper was a founder of Celador, which created Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The award-winning technology used by Innterplay was originally developed for a live stage version of Millionaire.
Jasper says: “I get a lot of wacky ideas put to me, whether it’s game shows or gadgets, and to be honest, most of them go in one ear and out the other. But I like pub quizzes, and when this was put to me, I thought it had legs.”
A number of pub groups have already shown strong interest, and Innterplay estimates that 800 pubs playing on the first night will enable it to offer two £10,000 prizes and five £1,000 prizes, with the pot increasing as more pubs take part.
“One thing I liked about the idea is that it’s free for the punters, which makes a change from quizzes that expect them to use their mobile phones,” says Jasper. “You don’t have to be Stephen Hawking to take part, a lot of it is down to the speed at which players answer.”
While pubs pay a facility fee, Innterplay believes this compares favourably with the cost of pay-per-view football, live entertainment or a conventional pub quiz. If Cash Inn takes off as the company expects, pubs will benefit from the extra footfall.
There is also clearly the possibility of running games and quizzes on the bespoke Innterplay system at other times.
If Innterplay helps to revitalise community pubs in the post-smoking ban era, Jasper for one will be celebrating. “Pubs are a great social asset. I know a lot are worried about the smoking ban, but I think it will transform pub culture in this country,” he says.
Jasper started his a career performing on the folk club circuit in the Midlands, most of which were held in pubs. “It wasn’t so much about who you had on, people came every week because it was a great social occasion. Later it was the same with comedy clubs in pubs, but that’s died away now too. Pubs were a big part of my life,” he says.
In those early days, Jasper was an Ansells Mild drinker, while today he enjoys a Magners or Grolsch, or increasingly, a glass of wine with a meal. “I tend to use pubs for eating now, because when you’ve got a famous face it can be difficult to just sit at the bar.
“The choice of pub food is amazing today – I remember the old Berni Inns where it was 7/6d for a steak and if you wanted fish there might be something at the bottom of the freezer. There’s such a wide choice of pubs now – if you want a quiet local you can find one, if you want to have your ears blasted in a music venue, that’s there too.”

MY COMMENT - Although the Prize Money can not be equalled by a normal quiznight - you can not beat a local quizmaster armed with well researched and fun questions. It is he or she who gets to know the strengths & weaknesses of the regular quiz goers. It is also the regular quiznight with a real human quizmaster that adds to the atmosphere in the pub and not a giant inanimate object such as a TV screen. When will the true Pub Quizmaster earn the real recognition they diserve and maybe be given sponsorship by breweries etc to provide better prizes instead of pandering to ideas such as this which will come and go as quickly as others who've gone before. God bless Jasper as he obviously has kept his sense of humour!

Pub News

Top stories:

Scottish pubs under threat from smoking ban

A year on from the smoking ban the SLTA brands claims it would be good for trade as "clearly wrong"

Trade groups slam Budget duty rise

BBPA brands it a "slap in the face"

Pubs urged to act over Ofcom investigation

Grogan says inquiry is "big opportunity" for pubs to complain about Sky

The Publican Award winners are...

Dame Edna Everage was celebrity host at the Publican Awards, held on Tuesday, which recognised the best in the pub trade

Call for High Court ruling on foreign satellites

Solicitor involved says definitive ruling will be "better for all concerned"

FLVA calls for ban on supermarket newspaper ads

The trade association has written to the DoH calling for action

more news

Other news this week:

• Grogan: "great thrill" to be first Proud winner
• Bed tax ruled out
• Pubco "considers position" over Cheers threat
• SBPA given £19,000 over glass ban
• Daphne, 73, fails personal licence test
• Pubs reap rewards of St Paddy's Day
• Meet our champions at Publican Live
• St Austell brewer to complete charity row around Cornwall
• Make it Big with a charity quiz night
• Top physician calls for crackdown on alcohol
• Three quarters want Scots smoke exemptions
• CAMRA celebrates pub interiors
• Spirit barmaid is driven to success
• Pub launch for "wine for the birds"
• Wadworth's Perfect Pint pub awarded
• Peter Shilton pours the first pint at Wembley
• Orchid aims to "Bring Back Jugs"
• Fuller's manager wins praise from Jack Charlton
• Punch gears up for smoke ban
• Marston's prepares to steam clean its Welsh pubs
• The Publican's Brands Report 2007 published this week

more news

Features:

One year on: the Scottish smoking ban

Licensees there have faced the new laws with varying success, Roy Beers investigates

Jasper dangles Carrott

Comedian Jasper Carrott has hit upon a new-format TV quiz that he is confident will build footfall in pubs.

more features

22nd March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1956: King convicted for bus boycott Civil rights leader� the Reverend Martin Luther King� has been convicted of organising an illegal boycott by black passengers of buses in the US state of Alabama.
	1979: British ambassador assassinated in Holland British ambassador in Holland Sir Richard Sykes is shot dead outside his Dutch home.
	1963: Profumo denies affair with model The Secretary of State for War� John Profumo� denies any impropriety with Christine Keeler.

A - List Picture Quiz

For sale: air-to-air missile, never used

A skyflash missile, once carried by RAF warplanes, is to be sold at auction, and could be come the talking-point centrepiece in somebody's minimalist loft.

The air-to-air weapon, produced by British Aerospace in the 1980s, was carried on F4 Phantoms, Tornados and F16 fighters and was capable of knocking out targets 30 miles away.

It was guided by Marconi's mono-pulse system and was capable of Mach 4 - almost 3,000mph. It was also designed to evade electronic counter-measures.

Now it is the star of an auction of "Gentleman's Items" at Woolley and Wallis auction house in Salisbury, Wilts, on April 3.

The decommissioned missile for sale has no warhead and has been chromed and set on a stand. It has attracted interest from collectors of militaria and from art enthusiasts who see it as a sculpture. Some may regard it as a huge "corporate toy". Originally Skyflash cost £250,000, but the version coming up for auction has an estimate of £20,000.

The auctioneer, Michael Jefferey said: "I have never come across one of these before - my job usually involved ceramics and glass.But it is a good time to sell because the market for large, one-off sculptures has grown.

"People seem to want a large, striking centrepieces for minimalist interior designs.

"I can see this in someone's home, or as a huge corporate toy in a company's foyer.

"There has also been interest from collectors of militaria, so it has appeal for many different reasons.

"It has been chromed and is shiny so who ever buys it will probably need a cleaner to polish it."

Revenue bays for tax from eBay earnings

Buyers and sellers are not the only people surfing online auction sites: the taxman is watching who is making money this way, says Alison Steed

Be careful not to surf into the phishers' nets Users of internet auction sites such as eBay are being targeted by HM Revenue & Customs in a crackdown on tax evasion. Making money through eBay? The Revenue is using high-tech methods of catching online tax evaders Traders who are buying and selling goods online but are not declaring the income to the Revenue are being told to register their activities within three months of starting to trade, or face a £100 penalty and interest charges on unpaid tax. The rules apply to all sole traders, whether they use the internet or not, but with the explosion in popularity of auction sites such as eBay, the Revenue is making a beeline for those trying to hide their trades in the ether. Traders need to pay income tax, National Insurance and, depending on their earnings, VAT, and it is their responsibility to tell the Revenue. The Revenue has produced an online guide for those who are not sure whether they should register to pay income tax and National Insurance. Stuart Hartlib, the Revenue's director of risk and intelligence, says: "In the new guidance, there are examples to help you work out if you have to pay tax when you sell items online. You can also access information related to online trading about issues such as capital gains tax and VAT. "This site is designed to make registering and paying tax easier, so you can work out whether you are self-employed and need to file a return." Everyone has a personal allowance of £5,035 that they can earn this tax year before they start paying any income tax at all, but if you are already employed then you will probably have exceed that limit. People making the odd trade online to get rid of unwanted Christmas presents or personal possessions are not considered traders, says Hartlib. But anyone who is specifically buying goods to sell for a profit online, making items to sell and make a profit, selling or buying goods on behalf of others for a commission, or providing a service and receiving payment in cash or in kind is trading. It is down to the individual to make sure they are paying the right amount of tax, and the Revenue will expect anyone who is self-employed to fill in a self-assessment tax return each year. Even if you are employed elsewhere and make extra money using the internet, you would still have to declare this on a tax return, says the Revenue, and you would be penalised if you failed to do so. For the period since January 31 - when you should have filed your tax return and paid any tax due for the 2005-06 tax year - you will be charged interest at 7.5 per cent in addition to receiving a £100 penalty for non-filing. Says eBay, one of the world's biggest internet auction sites: "It is clearly stated in our user agreement that all eBay users, particularly those who are self-employed, are responsible for ensuring that they meet their legal tax requirements for any money made on the site." The website adds: "Once users have registered with us as a business, then they are given advice on how to meet their tax obligations." If you are trading through eBay, or in any other medium such as a market stall or car boot sale, you should declare your income, says Mike Warburton of accountants Grant Thornton. He adds: "There is nothing wrong with buying and selling, but if you are buying and selling and making a profit without declaring it, then the system is designed to catch you. Honest, hard-working taxpayers who pay all of their taxes would say that it is quite right." The Revenue set up a Tax Evasion Hotline in October 2005, and since the end of September has already had around 100,000 referrals for those people who are not registered to pay tax and should be. It has resulted in an extra 8,000 self-employed registrations to date. Says the Revenue: "We know that there are still some people who deliberately don't want to pay their taxes or claim more than they are entitled to. This is unfair to the majority of taxpayers who are compliant. "We use a number of methods to find out about those that should be paying but do not. The Tax Evasion Hotline gives the general public the chance to tell us about people they suspect of cheating the system, and gives us information that we might not otherwise have got. "The honest taxpayer has absolutely nothing to fear from the existence of the hotline. For anyone not complying, the best advice is to get up to date now and we will do everything we can to help to make the process as simple as possible." And, reflecting the high-tech way more people are making money, the Revenue too is starting to use high-tech methods of catching online tax evaders, with software that will work through sites such as eBay to identify people who are making regular trades. It then checks its records to determine whether the correct amount of tax has been paid - and contacts the individual if the answer is no. "The software identifies websites of interest to us and collects information from the internet to assist in our inquiries. It is much more efficient than trying to do the same thing manually as we have in the past," says the Revenue. More information Online trading guide: www.hmrc.gov.uk/findout If you need to register as an e-trader who has started a new business, you can do so over the phone via the Revenue's self-employed helpline on 0845 915 4515. If you want to blow the whistle on a tax evader you can call the Tax Evasion Hotline anonymously on 0800 788 887 from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday. HMRC also operates the Customs Confidential Helpline 0800 59 5000 for anyone with information about smuggling or any other suspicious activity.

Quiztime Quiz Challenge 008

1. Which TV personality had government minister John Nott walk out on him during an interview in 1983?
2. Who appeared on TV in 1974 as she held up a bank in San Francisco?
3. Which series ended when Tara King sent the main character into space?
4. Which soap saw Jason Gioberti die in its first episode?
5. What feature was dropped from 'The Great Egg Race' in 1981?
6. Who rescued Bet when the Rovers Return caught fire?
7. In addition to the 'Blue Peter' team, who took part in the 1971 safari?
8. Who was ditched by Dame Edna for being boring?
9. How many people died in the 'Crossroads' motel fire?
10. Who sat on a protesting lesbian during the 6 O'Clock News in 1988 and who continued to read the news?
11. Which soap's first death was May Hardman on December 31st, 1960?
12. In which year were subtitles first included in the Queen's speech?
13. What TV first did Gareth Jones achieve during a live transmission?
14. Whose was the first televised royal funeral?
15. Which newsreader's drugs for epilepsy made him appear to be drunk?
16. Which 'Blue Peter' team member was knocked out by a flying marrow?
17. Which news programme was first to enter the Top 10 ratings in 1967?
18. Who stopped an interview when asked about the money he had made from his memoirs?
19. Who presented the first British TV programme of birds in their natural habitat?
20. How did camerawoman Lee Lyon die whilst filming 'Survival'?
21. Whom did Malcolm Ryder try to poison so as to claim insurance?
22. Which 'Eastenders' received a marriage proposal from Benny Bloom?
23. Who admitted that her face erupted when she first used Camay soap?
24. Who was the first British politician to have a televised state funeral?
25. What did Stephanie Rahn do in 'The Sun' in 1970 to find herself on TV, to become the first what?
26. Which sporting event was the first programme to be in colour?
27. What did Brian Connell have that no other newsreader had?
28. Which DJ hosted 'First AIDS', which gave condoms to the audience?
29. Who was the first British newsreader to lose an earring on television?
30. Whom did Connie Hall stab in 1988 in 'Dallas'?

Answers posted Wed 28th March -
http://quiztimeuk.multiply.com/

Weekly Quick Quiz Challenge - Week 7 Answers

1. Which bird has a red breast?
Robin
2. Which birds can be barn, tawny or snowy?
Owls
3. What two colours is a magpie?
Black And White
4. Which birds are associated with the Tower Of London?
Ravens
5. What colour is a female blackbird?
Brown
6. The teal belongs to which family group?
Duck
7. What word can go in front of sparrow or martin to name a bird?
House
8. Which bird lays its eggs in the nests of others?
Cuckoo
9. Which bird has the same name as a chess piece?
Rook
10. Which bird featured in the film 'Kes'?
Kestrel
11. Which part of the golden eagle is gold?
Neck Feathers
12. Which part of a bird was used as a pen?
Feather
13. An early riser is said to be up before which bird?
Lark
14. What colour is the plumage on the head of a male mallard?
Green
15. What is special about a swallow's tail?
Forked
16. Which bird starts its name with the word 'Bull'?
Bullfinch
17. The jay is a member of which family?
Crow
18. Which seashore bird has a colourful triangular bill?
Puffin
19. Which reddish brown songbird sings just before dawn or after dusk?
Nightingale
20. What colour is a tufted duck?
Black And White
21. Which game bird is a word meaning grumble?
Grouse
22. Which bird is the symbol of peace?
Dove
23. Which bird was said to deliver babies?
Stork
24. Which bird is so called because of its fast flight?
Swift
25. What is the largest bird in the world?
Ostrich
26. Which flying toy shares its name with a bird?
Kite
27. What is a baby swan called?
Cygnet
28. Which letter of the alphabet sounds like a bird's name?
Jay
29. What is Britain's smallest bird?
Wren
30. Is a fledgling a young or old bird?
Young

Swiss dig world's longest tunnel

The new link will cut Zurich-Milan journey times dramatically

For centuries, the Alps have served as a natural trade barrier between northern and southern Europe.

Sending Italian wine to the Netherlands, or German washing machines to Greece, means a long, slow journey along narrow alpine valleys, through tunnels and over passes.

The amount of freight crossing the Alps in heavy goods vehicles has risen sharply over the last two decades. In 1990 an estimated 40m tonnes went by road, in 2001 that had risen to 90m tonnes, with further big increases expected by 2010.

But concerns for the Alpine environment and fears over safety have led to big pressure to move freight off the roads and onto the railways.

Both Switzerland's Gotthard road tunnel and France's Mont Blanc road tunnel have suffered major fires in the last 10 years in which many died.

Faster than flying

As long ago as 1994, the Swiss voted in a nationwide referendum to put all freight crossing their country onto the railways. Naturally, such an ambitious plan was not going to happen overnight, but now the project dubbed the engineering feat of the 21st Century is slowly taking shape.

Deep beneath the Alps, the Swiss are building a high-speed rail link between Zurich and Milan. It will include, at 57 kilometres (35 miles), the world's longest tunnel.

A key feature of the project, which is new to alpine transport, is the fact that the entire railway line will stay at the same altitude of 500 metres (1,650ft) above sea level.

This will allow trains using the line to reach speeds of 240km/h (149mph), reducing the travel time between Zurich and Milan from today's four hours to just two-and-a-half. That would make the journey faster than flying.

To see the work in progress, it is necessary to travel two kilometres underground, to the construction site between the southern Swiss towns of Faido and Biasca.

The scale of the work going on is enormous: 2,000 people are working on the tunnel, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Besides the two main railway tubes, the construction workers have to dig access tunnels for people and equipment.

Huge fans ensure a fresh supply of air and cool things down. Yet the temperature is above 30C.

"We've got two-and-a-half kilometres of Alps above us," explains engineer Albert Schmid. "That means millions and millions of cubic tonnes of earth pressing down on us, that increases the pressure and the temperature."

Difficult work

It also means that every time the workers dig out another few metres of the tunnel, mother nature tries to close it up again. Along the tunnel's length, reinforced steel rings have to be inserted, to prevent it collapsing in on itself.

Building the tunnel requires a variety of techniques. At one section the workers are blasting away the rock, and the air reeks of ammonia from the explosives.

At another section the world's biggest tunnel-boring machine is in operation; it is ten metres in diameter and covered in dozens of rock-cutting blades, which as the machine turns, hack away at the rock face.

"With this machine, in good conditions, we can excavate 40 metres in a day," says Mr Schmid. "That's an absolute record."

But conditions are not always good. The tunnel workers have run into serious geological problems; in some areas the rock is as soft as butter, making digging it out more complicated.

"In poor rock conditions, where the rock is very soft, we can only excavate around half a metre a day," says Mr Schmid. "So in these situations, the work is delayed, and the costs rise."

Soaring costs

In fact the price tag for the entire rail link has soared from about $8bn (£4bn) to almost $15bn and final completion is unlikely to be before 2018.

But that has not stopped the alpine communities from supporting the project, and from trying to ensure that the rail link brings some social benefits too.

The tiny village of Sedrun, population 1,500, lies along the tunnel's route, and while residents are pleased to be relieved of the heavy lorries, they are concerned that the tunnel may marginalise their community.

"The thing about this tunnel is that it makes the Alps disappear," explains local architect Arthur Loretz. "At the moment, when you drive from Zurich to Milan, you get a beautiful panoramic view. But this tunnel turns the Alps into a big black hole."

Alpine gateway

The original plans for the tunnel involved trains rushing beneath the Alps without stopping. But in Sedrun a 1,000-metre elevator and underground railway station have been built just to get the workers to the construction site.

"All the infrastructure is already there," points out Arthur Loretz. "What we want to do is use it in the future." The plan is to create a station, deep in the mountains, known as "Porta Alpina" (Gateway to the Alps).

Tourists will be able to arrive by train in the Alps in record time, and then be whisked up to fresh mountain air by way of the world's longest elevator.

"I think it will have great benefits," says Mr Loretz. "Not just for tourists, but for us. Look, over that mountain people speak Italian, and over that one there they speak German."

"And here we speak Reto Romansch - a language only spoken by around 50,000 people. Traditionally the mountains have divided us, but with this rail link, and with Porta Alpina, we can bring people together."

21st March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1960: Scores die in Sharpeville shoot-out More than 50 Africans die and 169 are injured as police open fire in the South African township of Sharpeville.
	1991: Heseltine unveils new property tax The government has revealed plans for a new property tax in place of the controversial poll tax.
	1999: Comedy genius Ernie Wise dies One of Britain's most loved and most successful comedians� Ernie Wise� dies aged 73.

Private rocket reaches the stars

This is the second attempt to loft the rocket

Privateer Elon Musk has launched his budget rocket, Falcon-1, from Omelek Island in the South Pacific.

The 21m-long vehicle lifted off at 1810 California time (0110 GMT) and rose to an altitude of 200 miles (320km).

Mr Musk, who co-founded the internet financial system PayPal, wants to lower the cost of access to space.

The flight did not achieve all its goals, but the businessman said it demonstrated the vision of his Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

The mission was the second attempt to loft the rocket; the first ended when a fire fed by a fuel leak shut down the main-stage engine just 29 seconds after lift-off

On the latest flight, the second stage did not achieve its full orbital speed, but Mr Musk said this problem could be fixed once flight engineers checked the data.

The Falcon-1 is the first in a line of vehicles the SpaceX company hopes will shake up rocket services.

It is a two-stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. The first stage is designed to parachute into the ocean to be recovered and used again.

With the relatively low price of about $7m (£4m) per flight, the Falcon-1 is making a serious attempt to undercut other players in what is an overcrowded launcher market.

The largest rocket planned by SpaceX is the 53m-long Falcon-9, which should be able to carry about 25,000kg (551,000lb) into low-Earth orbits.

This would put it in a similar class to current American vehicles such as the Delta 4 or Atlas 5, and the European Ariane 5.

Take a stroll, 4,000ft above the Grand Canyon

Video: Construction of the Skywalk In pictures: A stunning view Standing over a 4,000-foot drop with only a four inch plate of glass beneath your feet is a strange sensation. The U-shaped glass walkway juts 70ft over the edge of the Grand Canyon and is 4,000ft above its floor But that is the experience developers hope will lure visitors to a new attraction at the Grand Canyon, a horseshoe-shaped glass walkway jutting out from the western rim. Yesterday, a man with a head for heights, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, was hired to make the inaugural walk at the official unveiling. He described it as "magnificent - it felt wonderful. Not exactly floating on air but a wonderful vision - a truly magical view". The £15 million Skywalk, which extends 70ft beyond the canyon's edge, is grandly billed in publicity as "the most magnificent landmark on Earth" by the Las Vegas businessman who conceived and funded the venture. David Jin, originally from Shanghai, is giving the walkway to the Indian tribe, the Hualapai, on whose land it has been built. He will share the profits with the tribe for the next 25 years. The designers promise that with thick glass, shock absorbers to prevent wobbling and enough space to hold 120 people at a time, the new attraction is very safe. The walkway is said to be able to survive winds of more than 100mph, as well as an eight magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. The bridge's deck, supported by steel beams driven 46ft into the canyon wall, is 10ft wide and has 5ft-high glass walls. Mark Johnson, the architect, said the Skywalk could hold the weight of several hundred people. The development was proposed in 1996 by Mr Jin and construction began in 2004. But the project has split the impoverished 2,200-strong Hualapai tribe. Some members, who believe their ancestors emerged from the earth of the canyon, claim that it intrudes upon sacred land. "We have disturbed the ground," said Dolores Honga, a tribal elder who regularly performs traditional dances at the canyon edge. Workers on the walkway, which is surrounded by sacred archaeological and burial sites, often complained to her about nightmares. "Our people died right along the land there. They blend into the ground. It's spiritual ground. This is why they're awakened," she said. Don Habatone, 46, a tour guide and member of the tribe, said most of the Hualapai were opposed and that the walkway had "shaken up the community". The tribe did not accept the "commercialisation" of their land and he at first rejected the idea. "But in time people will grow to accept it, as some of the benefits start to come in." Kieran Suckling, an environmentalist at the Centre for Bio-Diversity, complained about the creation of a gleaming architectural marvel on the site of one of the natural wonders of the world. "The Eiffel Tower is an architectural wonder," he said. "But do I want the Eiffel Tower on the edge of the Grand Canyon? No." The Skywalk opens to the public next week but still looks unfinished. Artists' impressions show the walkway surrounded by a visitor centre and cafes but none of this has been built and the structure sits on its own surrounded by scrub and rocks. The attraction is a near three-hour drive from Las Vegas, the last 20 miles across a rock-strewn track. It remains to be seen how many visitors will actually be drawn.

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Going for gold

Before Athens there were endless stories of unfinished buildings

A POINT OF VIEW By Clive James

Will the London Olympics be ready on time? The worry is always the same, whatever country hosts the global event. But instead of pouring billions into building new stadiums and sporting arenas, focus on getting the television coverage right - that's all people want, says Clive James.

After the success of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the Australian media instantly forgot that they had spent four solid years predicting doom and disaster all the way up until the opening ceremony.

The same scenario was played out in the prelude to the Athens Olympics in 2004, with the whole world's media running unending stories about unfinished buildings, until finally it turned out that the same people who had built the Acropolis could still build a basketball stadium, even if they had to set the concrete with a hair dryer.

Olympics budget is increasing to £9.35bn

In both Sydney and Athens, the Olympics went off as well as the Olympics ever do. Not even Atlanta in 1996 was quite the shambles the world's press made out. Most of the facilities in Atlanta were actually finished, even if a few of the buses from the Olympic village delivered some of the athletes to the stadium after their event had started, or to Mexico after it was over.

For reasons of newsworthiness the press would always prefer it if the Olympic Games collapsed in utter chaos, but with the understandable exception of Munich in 1972, they haven't done so yet. Why is it that one feels if they do, it will be in London in 2012?

Well, the chief reason one feels they might, is that they're already facing the prospect of a gargantuan overspend. Let's say, for purposes of illustration, there is a sport called piano-lifting and the new Wembley piano-lifting theatre - to a design by the internationally-famous maverick architect Nestroy Berserk - had an initial budget of £10m.

Artistic vision

Now, with only a few stacks of bricks and a concrete mixer actually in evidence on the site where the magnificent building is destined to stand, it turns out the cost has already gone up to £20m. This is because nobody told Senor Berserk the floor - which he had designed to be built out of Peruvian balsa - would be required to bear the impact of pianos dropping vertically when the piano-lifter failed to complete the required clean and jerk.

Offended by this philistine insult to his artistic vision he resigned in a huff, to be replaced by the even more volatile post-modern, pre-sane architectural genius Whacko Rubric. Herr Rubric, having disdainfully scrapped everything that had already not been built, has started again.

BBC NEWS: AUDIO Hear A Point of View on Radio 4 in the BBC Radio Player

He is building something even more expensive, a translucent carbon-fibre cube with a randomised laser-lit roofline that reflects the resonance of a Croatian piano-lifter's bulging neck as he holds a Bechstein concert grand briefly aloft.

And the piano-lifting theatre is just a minor example. Don't even ask about the synchronised underwater squash court, which, after three years of digging, is only six inches deep, and is costing £1m a week to keep free of water while scholars argue about whether the Roman ruins that have been uncovered were once a temple, a military brothel or - as the majority opinion now holds - a synchronised underwater squash court.

Pessimism

The second reason for the prevailing pessimism is closely related to the first. Ever since World War Two, big British projects have acquired a reputation for not only going many times over budget, but for not actually getting done.

Unless you're my age or even older, you probably won't remember Britain's post-war ground-nut scheme. You certainly won't remember the nuts, because hardly any nuts were produced. What was produced was a large deficit, thereby establishing the rule that a bad project takes longer to stop if the money being spent previously belonged to the taxpayer.

Private enterprises like giant aircraft went badly enough, however, and almost always there came a time when the government had to support them with public funds, pending the day they could go into service and start losing money on a commercial basis.

Much of the 1936 Olympics' coverage focused on the iconic Owens

The Bristol Brabazon and the Saunders Roe Princess double-decker flying boat - even in faraway Australia I was collecting pictures of them - never got beyond the stage of being photographed. The prototypes would appear at Farnborough year after year, always in a different livery to suggest all the world's airlines were clamouring to buy them, while elsewhere the Americans were getting on with the business of dominating the sky.

The biggest airliners in the world but also the slowest, the Brabazon and the Princess laid down the development pattern for the fastest airliner in the world but also the smallest. Concorde eventually got into service, but only after going monumentally over budget while failing ever to be a viable financial proposition for the luckless airlines that got involved with it.

As for the British weapons systems, if you regard war as a bad thing you should be pleased at how often the country's defence contractors built weapons that didn't work. Blue Streak, Blue Steel, Skybolt: always the impressive name, rarely the effective result, and never a prayer of being either on time or on budget.

Ambition

This was the culture that eventually led to the Millennium Dome. The soaring ambition and the technical expertise were always there. What was never there was the clear-sighted ability to put together a good committee.

British committees had once successfully fought the German bombers, night-fighters and V1s by sheer analytical brainpower. But somehow, in the post-war era, that ability had been lost. Which makes it all the more remarkable that one of the Millennium Dome's most stalwart apologists, the writer Simon Jenkins, has come up with the answer, or part of the answer, to the Olympics fiasco.

He loyally went on calling the Dome an exciting construction even as its empty interior resonated to the hollow whistle of millions of pounds being sucked into oblivion. But uniquely among his fraternity he gained in wisdom from his discomfiture.

London getting the Olympics was greeted with unbridled glee

He now points out that the way to forestall disaster with the Olympics is to put up fewer new buildings and rely more on the fact that the television transmission is what counts. He's almost right. He'd be completely right if he said the trick is to put up no new buildings at all and think in television terms exclusively.

That last part is really what happened in Sydney. I was there to cover the Sydney Olympics and I soon found out that for the city's population the cool thing to do on a hot night was to watch the show on the giant screens in the streets.

Apart from the tourists, nobody went out to the stadium except old-age pensioners and the unemployed, and really not even the opening ceremony needed a building that big. There was no reason why the whole thing couldn't have been staged entirely to suit television and there's no reason why London shouldn't think that way now.

After all, London has already got the games. The International Olympic Committee might threaten to take them back, but the International Olympic Committee could always be told to take a running triple jump. The only true internationalism of the Olympic Games, after all, lies in the beauty of human bodies.

Internationalism

In 1936 in Berlin, Hitler got stuck with staging the Olympics because the date had been set up before he came to power. He didn't like internationalism - he liked nationalism - and the more racist the better. But for once he had the sense to soft-pedal the mania and let the film director Leni Riefenstahl shoot whatever she liked.

She paid particular attention to the supreme physical beauty of the American black athlete Jesse Owens. The enchanting spectacle of Owens on the move was the central motif of her film Olympia and it's still true today that the Olympic events that count are the ones that look good.

I invented the sport of piano-lifting because I didn't want to insult people who are sincerely interested in weightlifting, but I've never met any except people who are weightlifters themselves.

The naysayers are starting to challenge the cheerleaders

You don't have to be in the same building with many of them before you realise that there's not much room for anybody else. You don't have to watch them in action for very long before you come to the conclusion that weightlifting is of interest only to weightlifters and the brave people who marry them.

Nevertheless I'm sure the weightlifting venue for the London Olympics will be built on time, will be an inspiration to all the world's weightlifters and will come in useful in the future as a facility for turning young people away from knives and guns and towards lifting weights.

But I'm equally sure that when you add up the cost of all the new Olympic facilities, it will turn out to be a very expensive way of regenerating the area they cover.

With the money you saved from not building hopelessly specialised facilities for sports more boring than a shopping channel for machine tools, you could actually regenerate an area on purpose instead of just incidentally, and you could also put on a really good-looking televised Olympics. I don't mean with a lot of close-ups of girl gymnasts sticking their toes in their ears. I'm past all that.

But I do mean the Olympics have to be made less like the Academy Awards, where even the grace is ruined by the vulgarity and money gets into everything like a drug. But we won't even mention drugs.

A Point of View is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2050 on Friday and 0850 on Sunday.

20th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	2003: US launches missiles against Saddam American missiles hit the Iraqi capital� Baghdad� signalling the start of the US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein.
	1993: Child killed in Warrington bomb attack One boy is dead and more than 50 people are injured as two bombs explode in the centre of Warrington.
	1989: Senior RUC men die in gun attack Two senior RUC officers negotiating cross-border security co-operation in south Armagh are ambushed and shot dead by the IRA.

248-dimension maths puzzle solved

The structure is described in the form of a vast matrix

An international team of mathematicians has detailed a vast complex numerical "structure" which was invented more than a century ago.

Mapping the 248-dimensional structure, called E8, took four years of work and produced more data than the Human Genome Project, researchers said.

E8 is a "Lie group", a means of describing symmetrical objects.

The team said their findings may assist fields of physics which use more than four dimensions, such as string theory.

Lie groups were invented by the 19th Century Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie (pronounced "Lee").

It's as complicated as symmetry can get David Vogan

Familar structures such as balls and cones have symmetry in three dimensions, and there are Lie groups to describe them. E8 is much bigger.

"What's attractive about studying E8 is that it's as complicated as symmetry can get", observed David Vogan from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

"Mathematics can almost always offer another example that's harder than the one you're looking at now, but for Lie groups, E8 is the hardest one."

Professor Vogan is presenting the results at MIT in a lecture entitled The Character Table for E8, or How We Wrote Down a 453,060 x 453,060 Matrix and Found Happiness.

Fundamental force

Conceptualising, designing and running the calculations took a team of 19 mathematicians four years. The final computation took more than three days' solid processing time on a Sage supercomputer.

Lie groups were invented by the Norwegian Sophus Lie

What came out was a matrix of linked numbers, which together describe the structure of E8. It contains more than 60 times as much data as the human genome sequence.

Each of the 205,263,363,600 entries on the matrix is far more complicated than a straightforward number; some are complex equations.

The team calculated that if all the numbers were written out in small type, they would cover an area the size of Manhattan.

In addition to facilitating further understanding of symmetry and related areas of mathematics, the team hopes its work will contribute to areas of physics, such as string theory, which involve structures possessing more than the conventional four dimensions of space and time.

"While mathematicians have known for a long time about the beauty and the uniqueness of E8, we physicists have come to appreciate its exceptional role only more recently," commented Hermann Nicolai, director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (the Albert Einstein Institute) in Germany.

"Yet, in our attempts to unify gravity with the other fundamental forces into a consistent theory of quantum gravity, we now encounter it at almost every corner."

GM mosquito 'could fight malaria'

The GM mosquitoes could be identified by their green fluorescent eyes Enlarge Image

A genetically-modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.

It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over.

The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite.

Details of the work by a US team appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

In the laboratory, equal numbers of genetically modified and ordinary "wild-type" mosquitoes were allowed to feed on malaria-infected mice.

As they reproduced, more of the GM, or transgenic, mosquitoes survived. After nine generations, 70% of the insects belonged to the malaria-resistant strain.

The scientists also inserted the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the transgenic mosquitoes which made their eyes glow green.

This helped the researchers to easily count the transgenic and non-transgenic insects.

'Fitness advantage'

Dr Mauro Marrelli and his colleagues from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, wrote in PNAS: "To our knowledge, no-one has previously reported a demonstration that transgenic mosquitoes can exhibit a fitness advantage over non-transgenics."

The modified mosquitoes had a higher survival rate and laid more eggs.

However, when both sets of insects were fed non-infected blood they competed equally well.

For resistant mosquitoes to be useful in the wild, they must survive better than non-resistant mosquitoes even when not exposed to malaria.

Even so, the researchers concluded: "The results have important implications for implementation of malaria control by means of genetic modification of mosquitoes."

GM mosquitoes that interfered with development of the malaria parasite would make it more difficult for the organism to become re-established after it had been eradicated from a target area, they said.

Malaria, spread by the single-celled parasite Plasmodium, is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, and central and south America.

The organism is passed to humans through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. Each year it makes 300 million people ill and causes a million deaths worldwide.

Some 90% of cases are in sub-Saharan Africa, where a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.

A380 prepares for tour around US

The arrivals in New York and Los Angeles were eagerly anticipated Airbus in flight

The Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger plane, is preparing for a tour of the US after touching down in the country for the first time.

With about 500 people on board, the superjumbo arrived in New York from Frankfurt on Monday to be greeted by a large crowd of enthusiastic spectators.

Later it will circle Manhattan before returning to at John F Kennedy airport.

Stops are also planned at a string of airports to which, it is anticipated, the A380 will eventually regularly fly.

Dulles International, the main international airport serving Washington DC, and Chicago's O'Hare Airport are among those on the schedule.

'Sheer magnitude'

The maiden flight to the US - flying between Frankfurt and New York's JFK airport - was billed as the first time it has carried a near-normal number of passengers.

It will be noticed. It is dramatic Edmund Greenslet Airline Monitor

However, most were staff of Airbus and German airline Lufthansa.

A second A380, flying under a Qantas flight number, landed later in Los Angeles but without any passengers.

"When you see it fly, even hardened aeroplane hands stop and look,", Edmund Greenslet of trade magazine Airline Monitor told the New York Times.

"It will be noticed. It is dramatic. To see it is to be impressed by its sheer magnitude."

The test flights were being used to monitor everything from how easily the plane docks at the terminal gate to the way the in-flight dining and entertainment services work.

It is also being seen as a public relations exercise for Airbus, given that - despite its popularity with planespotters - no US airline has yet placed an order for the A380.

Job cuts

Airbus has orders for 156 of the planes from 14 carriers, though some have threatened to cancel orders.

Welcome to America...

Earlier this month, it said it was suspending work on a freight version of its A380 superjumbo, to focus on the main passenger version of the troubled project.

Delays have dogged the 73m-long A380. Deliveries to Singapore Airlines, its launch customer, are not due until October - two years late.

The delays have already cost Airbus more than $6bn (£3.3bn) and the company has warned there could be additional charges to come. The problems are largely behind a recently-announced restructuring programme at Airbus, called Power8, which will see about 10,000 jobs go and several factories sold to partners.

France will be worst hit with 4,300 job losses. Germany will see 3,700 jobs go, while the UK and Spain will see 1,600 and 400 jobs cut respectively.

London icon or 'bashed-up relic'?

More than 50 years since they appeared on London's streets, the Routemasters are still running - but not everyone is delighted.

Routemasters are still rolling on in the age of the Oystercard

The veteran vehicle with its curvy design and its open platform has been called "the last bus to be a proper bus".

Many Londoners remember fondly how they used to hop on and off them and pull the string to ring the bell.

But a Disability Rights Commission spokesman says it is "a bashed-up old relic from a bygone age" and the fact that it is still running on two central London heritage routes is "a disappointment".

A programme of repurchase and refurbishment - begun after the election of Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2000 - stopped in 2003-4, and the last full-scale route - the 159 - withdrew its Routemasters in December 2005.

What remained was the heritage routes - though only in the hours from 0930 to 1800 and only on the central part of two routes, the 9 (Albert Hall to Aldwych) and 15 (Tower of London to Trafalgar Square).

So if you want to get a bus along Piccadilly or Knightsbridge, what comes along may well be a Routemaster - painted in its original livery inside and out. Still rolling along in the age of the bendy-bus and the Oystercard.

Enthusiasts

Transport for London calls the 50-year-old model "a design icon synonymous with London" and invites passengers to "take a trip on a London landmark" by using the heritage routes.

Meanwhile, enthusiasts spend thousands of pounds to own one and drive them across Britain to attend rallies.

Although we're improving the bus network by introducing new, more accessible buses, Routemasters will not be disappearing completely Transport for London Still waiting for the bus

They hail them as the climax of a series of buses designed in London, for London. Supporters point to their lightness, their new environmentally-friendly engines and their fuel economy compared with later, heavier double-deckers.

But wheelchair users cannot get on them - and some people dislike them a lot.

Transport consultant Andrew Braddock says Routemasters are "quirky - as is almost anything built to a design effectively laid out in 1912 and around for nearly three times its expected life".

"We've stated to Transport for London that we're not happy about the heritage routes," says Disability Rights Commission spokesman Patrick Edwards.

He stresses that in 2017 it will be illegal to have public transport that is inaccessible and "TfL are opening themselves to legal action".

Routemaster platforms are fun for some, impossible for others

TfL points out that the heritage Route buses are in addition to the normal schedules on the 9 and 15, and disabled people can access low floor, wheelchair-accessible buses on both routes.

Mr Edwards is not impressed with the argument that many disabled, elderly and frail people may have preferred Routemasters because they had conductors.

That is suggesting that disabled people can only get around London "with the goodwill and behest of a helping hand", he believes.

Andrew Braddock, formerly head of access and mobility at Transport for London, accepts that "the total number of wheelchair users is inevitably small... but the number of trips being made by this previously ignored group is growing all the time".

Transport for London says it encourages disabled people to use public transport and its bus fleet is wheelchair accessible - if you don't count the 16 Routemasters on the heritage routes - but, says Mr Braddock, "disabled people need to gain confidence that all the links in the chain will work when they make any journey."

What of the future? Andrew Morgan, chairman of the Routemaster Association, regrets the abrupt way in which Routemaster services in London were terminated.

"The original idea in 2001 was absolutely right in my opinion," he said.

Mayor Ken Livingstone had promised to retain the Routemaster and increase the number of bus conductors.

Ultimate

"That would have given him breathing space to design a suitable replacement, not buy the next available thing out of the factory. Now we have things off the shelf and German bendy-buses, and the travel experience has not improved. It's gone backwards," says Mr Morgan.

He claims the Routemaster was "the ultimate design.. so well built, so well engineered that it kept going for more 50 years, and at the beginning of the 21st century it was re-engineered again up to modern standards."

THE LAST BUS? KEY FACTS Routemasters first entered service in 1956 In total, 2,876 were built Some 1,300 still exist London Transport said they would be phased out by 1978 They were last used on a regular route in 2005 The bus in Summer Holiday was not a Routemaster It was an RT - the previous model

A worthy successor would have the same merit of lightness, built in aluminium with no chassis, and would have a conductor - as well as having a low floor for accessibility.

Would it have an open platform for jumping on and off? "Where appropriate," says Andrew Morgan. Doors could be included and closed on some sections of the route, but left open elsewhere.

For the Routemasters, apart from rallies and private functions, only the heritage routes now remain.

TfL says it is pleased with the level of interest in the Heritage routes and no changes or extensions to them are being considered at present.

Andrew Morgan thinks they are "moderately successful". He believes disability campaigners' attitude to them may be "sour grapes, because they didn't quite win the battle".

Andrew Braddock feels the buses' limited role on the heritage routes makes sense, but adds: "Whether American and Japanese tourists really perceive a Routemaster to be something different from the other 6,000 or so red double-deckers I frankly doubt."

How to claim back penalty charges

Here's a step-by-step guide to claiming back your bank account, credit card and store card penalty charges. We have also provided you with templates for form letters that you can send to your lender.

Penalty charges can be incurred for the following: unauthorised overdrafts, unpaid items such as cheques, direct debits or standing orders. These are also known as returned or bounced items.

You can claim the last six years of charges, or five if you live in Scotland (for claiming back your fees in Scotland, see the special entry below).

Some lenders have threatened to close the accounts of people after they have claimed back their charges. This is rare and unlikely to happen but if you are worried you should open an account with another bank, just in case.

You have all your statements from the past six years

• Highlight all the penalty charges in your last six years of account statements.
• Add up the total and then fill in all the information on the document in the box below, called '14 day letter'.
• Next, post this letter by Recorded Delivery, to the branch address of your bank/lender including a photocopy of the highlighted statement pages.
• The bank/lender will usually respond to the letter by either refusing to meet your claim or by offering to settle in part, or in full.

DOWNLOAD THE LETTER Bank charges '14 day' letter [14KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

• If the claim is small, the bank/lender may want to settle it quickly to reduce its legal and administration costs. If the claim is large, it is more likely the bank/lender will do nothing - waiting until you actually go ahead and file a claim at court.
• Check online with the Post Office to confirm the date that the bank/lender received your letter and then allow 14 days from that date for it to respond.
• If, after 14 days, you have received no response at all, or are unhappy with the bank/lender's response then the next stage is to file a claim at your local small claims court (see section titled 'File at Court' below). There is a fee to file a claim. If your bank pays up, this fee is refunded at the point of settlement.
• The bank/lender is then obliged to defend its case before the judge or else to pay the amount you are claiming against it. If it chooses not to defend itself, as well as paying the full amount of your claim, it will also refund your court fee. So far no bank/lender, we are aware of, has defended its penalty charges in court. (see section titled 'File at Court' below).

You have only some statements from the past six years

You can submit an estimated claim if you genuinely believe you have been charged during a period for which you have no statements. Calculate all the charges from the statements you have and if you believe the missing statements would also record similar charges, then estimate the missing amount by doing the following equation:

• If one year's statements show £70 of charges then you can estimate the total amount of charges for 6 years will be: £70 x 6 = £420.00
• If you have 5 months of statements and these show that you have accumulated £150 of charges in that time, then you can calculate that you have been charged on average £30 a month. (£150 divided by 5 = £30). There are 72 months in six years so 72 x £30 = £2,160.00 (if your account hasn't been open for the past six years then only multiply the average amount by the number of months the account has been open).
• Fill in the necessary details in the template for the "estimated charges letter" in the box below and post it Recorded Delivery to your bank/lender's branch address.
• Your bank/lender will almost certainly work out how many charges you have actually incurred in the past six years. It may contact you within 14 days to either make you an offer, in part or in full, or to state that it has refused to refund your money.

DOWNLOAD THE LETTER Bank 'estimated charges' letter [14KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

• If the claim is small, banks/lenders tend to settle the claim quickly to reduce their legal and administrative costs, but each organisation reacts differently. If the claim is large, then it is more likely the bank/lender will do nothing until a claim is filed at court.
• Check online with the Post Office to confirm the date that the lender received your letter and then allow 14 days from that date for it to respond.
• If, after 14 days, you have received no response at all, or are unhappy with the bank/lender's response then the next stage is to file a claim at your local small claims court (see section titled 'File at Court' below). There is a fee to file a claim. If your bank pays up, this fee is refunded at the point of settlement.
• The lender is then obliged to defend its case before the judge or else to pay the amount you are claiming against it. If it chooses not to defend itself, as well as paying the full amount of your claim, it will also refund your court fee. So far no bank/lender we are aware of has defended its penalty charges in court. (see section titled 'File at Court' below).

What to do if you have no - or very few - bank records

Check to see how far back you can access your statements through your bank's or lender's website.

If all your statements are not available online, then phone the bank or lender to ask for the relevant information. You may be charged for this.

If the charge is more than £10 and you are unhappy to pay it, there is the option of submitting a Data Protection Act (DPA) disclosure request (see section below titled Data Protection Act disclosure request for further information).

When the statements arrive, follow the advice from the first section "You have all your statements from the past six years".

Data Protection Act Disclosure request

This request is made under the Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998 and refers to the "right of subject access" under the acts.

DOWNLOAD THE LETTER Data Protection Act letter [14KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

Use the draft Data Protection Act letter in the box on the right as it has been written to avoid confusion and delay. Using the DPA route does delay the process of claiming back penalty charges by as much as 40 days. It is therefore a last resort.

Make a note of any calls you make and what the lender tells you. Also note when you post letters etc as this will make it much easier to keep track of everything.

Once the statements or charge details arrive, then follow the advice from the section entitled "You have all your statements from the past six years".

Filing a claim in the Small Claims Court (England & Wales)

If you are unhappy with your lender's response to your "14 day letter", then the only option left is to go to court.

First check that the lender received your recorded letter and that 14 days have passed, then download the form from the link below.

You can access the Claim From online, using the links in the box below.

SMALL CLAIMS COURT FORMS N1 claim form for the Small Claims Court HM Courts Service guidance HM Courts Service: how to make a claim Money Programme guide on filling in form N1 [15KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

• Print out the form and make two additional copies.
• Take all three copies and register the claim at your local County Court.
• You can find the address of your local County Court by calling the High Court on 0845 456 8770.
• If you have all your statements, attach a highlighted copy of them to each claim form.
• If you don't have all your statements and you are estimating your claim then include a copy of the statements you do have that show a charge to each of the claim forms.
• When you file a claim, you are entitled to claim interest on all the penalty charges your bank/lender has levied against you - from the date they were originally deducted from your account. If you decide to claim the interest, attach a copy estimating the interest to each of your three N1 claim forms.

The time it takes a lender to settle claims can vary.

If you are in Scotland

DOWNLOAD THE FORM Scottish small claim form [102KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

In Scotland, you can claim back five years of penalty charges, not six.

You need to fill out a Small Claim Summons document and take it to the Sheriff Court.

There will be a charge for filing the claim.

Guidance Notes on how to fill out the form can be found here:

Sheriff Court guidance notes

No time but still want to claim?

If you don't have the time or inclination to claim back penalty charges yourself, there are several companies on the internet that will do it for you. They usually keep a percentage of your claim as their fee.

All the advice given and enclosed documents are courtesy of Stephen Hone and his website www.penaltycharges.co.uk and have been used with his consent.

Beetle re-emerges after 60 years

Enlarge Image

A beetle thought to be extinct in the UK since the 1940s has been rediscovered in south Devon.

The short-necked oil beetle was found by an amateur entemologist during a wildlife survey on National Trust (NT) land between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail.

The beetles were last recorded at Chailey Common, Sussex in 1948.

Up to 40 of the insects, which survive by hitching rides on miner bees as larvae and then eating the bees' eggs, were found at the Devon site.

It's great that this oil beetle has survived against all the odds David Bullock, National Trust

The beetle, which gets its name from the highly toxic oil secretions it produces when threatened, is also known as Meloe brevicollis.

The adult beetles, which live for about three months, lay up to 1,000 eggs in a burrow in soft or sandy soil and eggs hatch in the following spring.

Once they have hatched the young larvae crawl up on to vegetation, often lying in wait in flowers, where they hitch a ride on mining bees and are involuntarily taken back to the bee's nest.

SHORT-NECKED OIL BEETLE Adult beetles are flightless, large and slow moving The bodies (especially of females) are swollen The wing cases are short and rudimentary The young larvae are known as triungulins after their three claws

They then devour the bee's egg and also the protein rich pollen stores the bee intended to provide for its own larvae.

But the flightless creature's natural habitats and the populations of bees they rely on have been decimated by intensive farming practices.

The NT said the coastal strip of land where the oil beetle was discovered by Bob Beckford had been managed less intensively as farmland, creating a habitat where the beetle could survive undisturbed.

This site will now be monitored and the lifecycle of the beetle examined in more detail so the land is managed in a way that helps the insect flourish.

David Bullock, head of nature conservation at the NT, said: "The discovery of a beetle that was thought to be extinct for nearly 60 years is an amazing story of survival, particularly for a species with such an interdependent lifecycle.

"It's great that this oil beetle, with its fascinating lifestyle, has survived against all the odds and is back in business on the south Devon coast."

19th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1976: Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon to split Buckingham Palace announces that Princess Margaret will separate from Lord Snowdon after 16 years of marriage.
	1982: Argentine flag hoisted on Falklands A group of Argentines land at the British colony of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic and plant their nation's flag.
	1970: Willi and Willy meet in East Germany Crowds of East Germans cheer West Germany's Chancellor Willy Brandt as he meets East Germany's leader Willi Stoph for the first time since the two countries were divided.

PEOPLE'S QUIZ - THE NIT-WITS

IT'S a show which will tests the wits of the nation.

But the National Lottery People's Quiz has also highlighted the astonishing lack of general knowledge displayed by some members of the public.

Myleene Klass will join Jamie Theakston, Kate Garraway and William G Stewart on the BBC1 show, which gives ordinary punters the chance to win £200,000.

They have trawled the country to find contestants who can answer questions on subjects from Posh and Becks to party politics.

Only those who answer ten correct questions in a row make it through to the next round - and the chance to pocket some cash.

The open auditions will be broadcast this Saturday - and include some hilarious slip-ups.

Here are some of the public's worst answers......

Q: According to the nursery rhyme, little girls are made of sugar and spice and what?

A: Jelly Delights

(correct answer: All things nice)

Q: The four Gospels of the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke and what?

A: Harry

(correct answer: John)

Q: How many letters in the word five?

A: Five

(correct answer: Four)

Q: Pug, Pointer and Pekinese are all breeds of which animal?

A: Penguins? Birds? Fishes?

(correct answer: Dog)

Q: Who composed Handel's Water Music?

A: Beethoven

(correct answer: Handel)

Q: What is the penultimate letter of the alphabet?

A: A

(correct answer: Y )

Q: What does the 'G' stand for in G&T?

A: Guinness

(correct answer: Gin)

Q: Which animal is often described as the ship of the desert?

A: Rat

(correct answer: Camel)

Q: In which city is Casablanca set?

A: Tangiers

(correct answer: Casablanca)

Q: Finish the title of the 80s song 'Last Night A DJ....what'?

A: Swan

(correct answer: 'Saved My Life')

Q: In the tale the Princess and the Pea what did the queen put under the mattress?

A: A ring

(correct answer: A pea)

Q: How many stars are there on the Union Jack?

A: Six

(correct answer: None)

Q: What type of food is a macadamia?

A: A sausage

(correct answer: A nut )

Q: Who is Elizabeth Windsor?

A: A dinner lady

(correct answer: the Queen )

Q: Who wrote Handel's Messiah?

A: Jane Austen

(correct answer: Handel)

Q: How many legs does a spider have?

A: One...nine....I've never really counted

(correct answer: Eight )

Q: What type of boot is named after the victorious general at the Battle of Waterloo?

A: Ugg boot

(correct answer: Wellington)

Q: A, p, e, is an anagram of which tiny vegetable?

A: Pie

(correct answer: Pea)

Q: How long did the six-day war between Egypt and Israel last?

A: Four days

(correct answer: Six days)

Q: In which US city is LA Law set?

A: San Francisco

(correct answer: Los Angeles)

Q: What is a Maris Piper?

A: The one from Doctor Who

(correct answer: A potato)

Q: Who wrote Shakespeare's Macbeth?

A: Hamlet

(correct answer: Shakespeare)

Q: In Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa's hair was made up of which creatures?

A: Cows

(correct answer: Snakes )

Q: In dating, what does the abbreviation GSOH stand for?

A: Get some over here?

(correct answer: Good sense of humour )

- The National Lottery People's Quiz will be start on BBC1 on March 24 at 7.35pm.

'Marilyn given suicide drug by Rat Pack friend'

Marilyn Monroe's apparent suicide could have been the result of an elaborate plot that tricked her into killing herself hatched in the knowledge of Robert Kennedy, her sometime lover and US attorney general, claim secret FBI files.

	The report suggests Marilyn Monroe was encouraged to stage a suicide attempt

A detailed three-page report is said to implicate members of Monroe's inner circle in the conspiracy "to induce" her suicide. These include her psychiatrist, publicist and housekeeper as well as her friend, the British-born Hollywood actor Peter Lawford.

The document, found by an Australian film-maker, Philippe Mora, in files released under freedom of information laws, also suggests Kennedy was aware of and possibly even involved in the scheme.

Conspiracy theorists have long speculated that Monroe's death was more than a simple suicide and possibly linked to Kennedy and his brother, President John F Kennedy.

The 36-year-old screen idol was found face down and naked on her bed on Aug 5 1962, a victim of acute barbiturate poisoning.

The report says the alleged conspiracy was apparently masterminded by Lawford, a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack and husband of the Kennedys' sister, Patricia.

It states: "Peter Lawford, [censored words blacked out] knew from Marilyn's friends that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy."

It suggests Monroe was encouraged to make another attempt. She was told she would be found in time and her stomach pumped but was instead allowed to die.

The reason for the plan is not spelled out but the document hints that it could have been motivated by Monroe's threats to make public their "romance and sex affair" after she realised Robert Kennedy had no intention of carrying out a promise to leave his wife.

The report details aspects of Kennedy's on-off affair with her, including sex parties and a lesbian involvement, says Mr Mora.

It covers her fraught departure from 20th Century Fox, Kennedy's promise to "take care of everything" and the "unpleasant words" they exchanged when nothing happened.

The plan was allegedly for Monroe unwittingly to commit suicide with Seconal. According to the report, Lawford made "special arrangements" with her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, for him to prescribe the drug to her.

"He prescribed Seconal tablets and gave her a prescription for 60, unusual in quantity especially since he saw her frequently," the report states.

"On the date of her death . . . her housekeeper put the bottle of pills on the night table. It is reported that the housekeeper and Monroe's personal secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, were co-operating in the plan to induce suicide."

The document also states that on the same day, "Robert Kennedy made a telephone call to Peter Lawford to find out if Marilyn was dead yet."

Lawford rang and spoke to Monroe "then checked again later to make sure she did not answer".

Entitled simply Robert F Kennedy, the file was sent to the FBI on Oct 19, 1964.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Mora describes the document, as "undoubtedly genuine". But he adds: "Is all this the elaborate dirty tricks of Kennedy haters from decades ago, or are we getting closer to the historical truth?"

18th March

ON THIS DAY NEWS FROM THE BBC ARCHIVES
	1967: Supertanker Torrey Canyon hits rocks The supertanker Torrey Canyon has run aground between Land's End and the Scilly Isles� leaking oil into the sea.
	1979: Three die in Golborne mine blast Three die and eight are seriously injured in an explosion at a colliery in Lancashire.
	1974: Violent border clashes at Golan Heights Two Israeli soldiers are killed and three others injured along the Golan Heights.

Vehicle warning system trialled

Cars or bikes will pass useful information to vehicles behind them

Vehicles may soon be swapping information about road conditions to warn drivers about jams and dangers.

A German research project on show at hi-tech trade fair Cebit envisions a peer-to-peer network for vehicles on a road passing data back and forth.

Cars or bikes experiencing problems would pass data that would ripple down the chain of vehicles behind them.

Information would be conveyed to drivers via a dashboard screen or through a mobile phone headset.

Dr Anselm Blocher - a researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence who is co-ordinating the project - said the ad hoc communication system could mean that drivers found out about dangers or jams ahead much more quickly than they do now.

For spotting dangers and jams, the system would use data from sensors that were likely to be fitted to cars, bikes and trucks in the future, Dr Blocher added.

When the motorbike comes after to the point of danger, information has been spread out by wireless network and the danger will be propagated to the driver in the motorbike Dr Anselm Blocher

For example, cars could spot oil on the road by combining temperature readings with wheel traction information, he said.

A wheel slipping on the road even though the temperature was not low enough for frost or ice would suggest oil or another slippery substance was present.

Once a car detected this sort of danger, information about it would be generated and passed down the line of vehicles approaching the patch of oil.

"When the motorbike comes after to the point of danger, information has been spread out by wireless network and the danger will be propagated to the driver in the motorbike," said Dr Blocher.

Dashboard warning

The system was smart enough to recognise how busy a driver was and would adjust warnings to take account of the "cognitive load" a driver was under, he said.

If a driver was executing a series of fast manoeuvres, such as a motorbike driver leaning to go fast round a bend, the system would not use a blaring alarm to warn them of the upcoming oil patch.

Instead, he said, it might generate a warning on the dashboard of the bike or mark the danger point on a digital map.

By contrast, if a driver was driving at low speed along a straight road, the system may use visual cues on a dashboard screen as well as telling the driver about the problem via a headset.

As well as giving information about dangers, drivers could also ask the SmartWeb system for information about traffic jams, speed traps, parking availability and other problems in natural language.

Starting a query would kick off a web search for the area a car was travelling through which would generates requests to vehicles ahead or nearby.

The SmartWeb project is being co-ordinated by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence but has 16 other partners including BMW, Siemens, Daimler Chrysler, Deutsche Telekom and the European Media Lab.

Digital lock's rights and wrongs

In the 80s, according to record companies, home taping was killing music. Fast forward some 20 years and the devices we use to listen to music may have changed, but the recording industry is still claiming that the illegal copying of their product harms future production.

When a piece of music is purchased you might assume you can listen to it in on any number of different devices: at home, in the car or on a portable music player. But, in the UK at least, you would be wrong.

"You can't copy any form of music or film without the copyright owner's consent," explained copyright lawyer Hamish Porter.

FOR DRM MP3 is fine, but what is not fine is taking artists' work and then swapping it with a large number of people over the internet for free Richard Gooch, IFPI BBC Click debates DRM

"So if you buy a CD from a record shop, even copying that CD onto your iPod is unlawful unless you have the copyright owner's consent."

In practice, stopping consumers making CD backups has proved impossible to enforce. But our habits are changing; around 10% of purchased music is now downloaded. This raises different issues.

AGAINST DRM It may have the effect of popularising music and leading to more sales Becky Hogge, Open Rights Group BBC Click debates DRM

"When you download an electronic copy of a musical work or a film from a website," said Mr Porter, "the copyright owner, as part of the contract under which you have downloaded it, has allowed you to copy that file onto a laptop or an iPod or onto a hard disc.

The problem, some believe, is that the music labels have made these contracts pretty restrictive by using something called Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Flaws

David Roundtree, the drummer with Blur told us: "The idea is that DRM is supposed to allow you to control the copying of your music.

"That's the point of it all. You're supposed to be able to sell something to somebody and restrict what they do with it after that."

Most digital music is ripped directly from CDs

Software is embedded in downloaded music, restricting which devices it can be used with and how many copies can be made.

Many in the recording industry claim DRM is necessary to fight music piracy.

"The problem that we really face at the moment is unfeted filesharing, free copying of MP3s," explained Richard Gooch from the International Federation of Phonographic Industry which represents all the major record labels.

"MP3 is fine, but what is not fine is taking artists' work and then swapping it with a large number of people over the internet for free."

DRM is the solution, the music industry says.

But Simon Wheeler, the Director of Digital Beggars Banquet Records, disagrees.

"DRM can allow copyright holders to protect their intellectual property but considering that over 90% of the music sold in the music market today is on a non-DRM format called the CD, then that's not necessarily an answer."

David Roundtree also has misgivings: "I think the fundamental problem with it is that it doesn't work. If it did work we would be having a rather different conversation.

"It's best summed up by the old computer security maxim: whatever you can do in software, you can undo in software. In the case of music, whatever complicated system you have in place, the music has to come out of two wires that you have plugged into a loud speaker.

"I can just as easily plug those into a recording device as a loud speaker, so the whole concept is fundamentally flawed."

Incompatible

There are two main kinds of DRM. One is based on Microsoft code and is used by most of the major download services.

But the one store which dominates the market, Apple's iTunes, uses a completely different and incompatible DRM system called FairPlay.

I believe that if music was sold without DRM there would be less confusion for the consumer Simon Wheeler, Beggars Banquet

FairPlay allows music downloaded from the iTunes store to be played on computers running iTunes that have been authorised by the consumer and only one portable device, iPods.

Users can copy downloaded songs to a CD and then copy the disc back on to the computer so that the songs can then be moved to other portable devices - but the quality of the music is affected.

"I think the problem that we've got with DRM at the moment is the most popular music player on the market, the iPod," said Mr Wheeler.

"If you buy digital music outside of iTunes or an MP3 based service then you're not going to be able to put the music on your iPod. I think that confuses consumers more than anything else."

The fight back against DRM has already begun. In Europe, Apple's system is under fire for being anti-competitive and is facing legal action in various European countries.

Consumers are also making their voices heard through various organisations which oppose DRM, which they term Digital Restrictions Management.

While the major labels are still largely behind DRM, the independent sector prefers a different approach. Sites like E-Music and Audio Lunchbox sell DRM-free tracks, all of which come from Indie labels.

"I believe that if music was sold without DRM there would be less confusion for the consumer," said Mr Wheeler. "They wouldn't have to worry whether the track they brought from service X would play on player Y."

"They could buy with confidence knowing that they could take their music with them on whatever portable device they wanted.

"I think this growth in confidence for the consumers would lead to market growth and I think that's a real benefit for the industry."

DRM-free or otherwise, at least some more imaginative approaches to music services have been appearing. Spiralfrog promises ad-supported downloads - when or if it eventually launches.

Aimee Street has launched. Here, the price of each track is decided by its popularity. Less popular or new tracks are free, rising to a maximum of 98 cents if their popularity increases. At the moment it deals almost exclusively in independent music.

Gaffe mars Scooch Eurovision win

Scooch was in a final "sing-off" with Cyndi Winner announced

Foursome Scooch have won the contest to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, despite a blunder over the announcement of the final winner.

There was confusion in the studio when Making Your Mind Up hosts Terry Wogan and Fearne Cotton simultaneously announced different winners.

Seconds later Cotton said Scooch had won the public vote and not soloist Cyndi - also in the final "sing-off".

A BBC statement later apologised for the gaffe but confirmed Scooch had won.

"This is live TV and unfortunately sometimes these things do happen," it added.

Camp dancing

No explanation was given as to why the show's hosts first announced different winners.

The blunder comes in the wake of the enquiry into the trustworthiness of premium rate phone-ins on TV shows.

The group's airline themed tune Flying The Flag (For You) and camp dance routine beat five other contenders vying for the chance to represent the UK at Eurovision.

Justin Hawkins was the favourite for his duet with Beverlei Brown

They included the bookies' favourite former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins and Liz McClarnon of Atomic Kitten.

Scooch had a top 10 hit in 2000 with More Than I Need To Know, but split the same year.

Cyndi - full name Cyndi Almouzni - was hoping to represent the UK even though she is French.

Her career began when she won a local talent contest in Marseille aged 14. She went on to sign a record contract in the US while still at school.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Helsinki on 12 May.

Last year, Finnish heavy metal band Lordi won in Athens with the UK's Daz Sampson finishing 19th with Teenage Life.

Two guys and two girls haven't done that well in the competition since 1981 Daz Sampson

He said he did not expect Scooch to fare much better.

"I've got more chance and I'm not going. Two guys and two girls haven't done that well in the competition since 1981," he told BBC's Five Live.

However, Katrina Leskanich, the last UK entrant to win, said the group was fun and memorable and she could understand why it was chosen.

The 2007 event's qualifying round will take place on 10 May, in which 28 countries will compete for 10 places in the final.

The UK is the last of 42 countries taking part in this year's contest to select their song.

The UK has a guaranteed berth in the final two days later as one of the biggest financial contributors to the contest, along with France, Germany and Spain.

________________________________________________________________________________

The draw for the Semi-Final

Delegation heads from respectively Austria, Andorra, Latvia, Slovenia and Turkey were drawn to decide their position in the running order themselves.

01	Bulgaria	11	Albania	21	Andorra
02	Israel	12	Denmark	22	Hungary
03	Cyprus	13	Croatia	23	Estonia
04	Belarus	14	Poland	24	Belgium
05	Iceland	15	Serbia	25	Slovenia
06	Georgia	16	Czech Republic	26	Turkey
07	Montenegro	17	Portugal	27	Austria
08	Switzerland	18	FYR Macedonia	28	Latvia
09	Moldova	19	Norway
10	The Netherlands	20	Malta

The top-10 of the Semi-Final will proceed the to Final.

The draw for the Final

Delegation heads from Armenia, Ukraine and Germany were drawn to decide their position in the running order themselves.

01	Bosnia & Herzegovina	09	Lithuania	17	Semi-Final qualifier
02	Spain	10	Greece	18	Ukraine
03	Semi-Final qualifier	11	Semi-Final qualifier	19	United Kingdom
04	Ireland	12	Sweden	20	Romania
05	Finland	13	France	21	Semi-Final qualifier
06	Semi-Final qualifier	14	Semi-Final qualifier	22	Semi-Final qualifier
07	Semi-Final qualifier	15	Russia	23	Armenia
08	Semi-Final qualifier	16	Germany	24	Semi-Final qualifier

The 10 open spots are reserved for the top-10 of the Semi-Final.

ALBANIA Frederik NDOCI - Hear My Plea

ANDORRA ANONYMOUS - Salvem El Món

ARMENIA Hayko - Anytime You Need

AUSTRIA Erik PAPILAYA - Get A Life, Get Alive

BELARUS Koldun - Work Your Magic

BELGIUM The KMG's - LovePower

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA Maria ŠESTIĆ - Rijeka Bez Imena

BULGARIA Elitsa TODOROVA & Stoyan YANKOULOV - Water

CROATIA DRAGONFLY feat. Dado TOPIĆ - Vjerujem U Ljubav

CYPRUS Evridiki - Comme Ci, Comme Ça

CZECH REPUBLIC KÁBAT - Mála Dáma

DENMARK DQ - Drama Queen

ESTONIA Gerli PADAR - Partners In Crime

FINLAND Hanna PAKARINEN - Leave Me Alone

FRANCE LES FATALS PICARDS - L'amour À La Française

FYR MACEDONIA Karolina - Mojot Svet

GEORGIA Sopho - Visionary Dream

GERMANY Roger CICERO - Frauen Regier'n Die Welt

GREECE Sarbel - Yassou Maria

HUNGARIA Magdi RÚZSA - Unsubstantial Blues

ICELAND Eiríkur HAUKSSON - Valentine Lost

IRELAND DERVISH - They Can't Stop The Spring

ISRAEL TEAPACKS - Push The Button

LATVIA BONAPARTI.LV - Questa Notte

LITHUANIA 4FUN - Love Or Leave

MALTA Olivia LEWIS - Vertigo

MOLDOVA Natalia BARBU - Fight

MONTENEGRO Stevan FADDY - Hajde Kroči

NETHERLANDS Edsilia ROMBLEY - On Top Of The World

NORWAY Guri SCHANKE - Ven A Bailar Conmigo

POLAND THE JET SET - Time To Party

PORTUGAL Sabrina - Dança Comigo (Vem Ser Feliz)

ROMANIA TODOMONDO - Liubi, Liubi, I Love You

RUSSIA SEREBRO - Song #1

SERBIA Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ - Molitva

SLOVENIA Alenka GOTAR - Svet Z Juga

SPAIN D'NASH - I Love You Mi Vida

SWEDEN THE ARK - The Worrying Kind

SWITZERLAND DJ Bobo - Vampires Are Alive

TURKEY Kenan DOĞULU - Shake It Up Shekerim

UKRAINE Verka SERDUCHKA - Dancing Lasha Tumbai

UNITED KINGDOM SCOOCH - Flying The Flag (For You)