10 things we didn't know this time last week

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

1. The record score in rugby union is 350-0, made when one team was protesting against suspensions.
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2. Naked rambling is legal in Switzerland.
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3. Members of the House of Lords cannot be expelled or suspended.
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4. There is an Apostrophe Protection Society.
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5. Cows who are given names produce more milk.
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6. Poland pays 94% of the funding for the Auschwitz Museum.
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7. Thinking too much makes your golf worse.
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8. The brain chemical serotonin causes locusts to swarm.
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9. Cricket at altitude is potentially dangerous.
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10. Putting nuclear reactors near areas prone to earthquakes was banned in the UK. Now it's not.
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Quiztime Picture Board - 300109

Attachment: Quiztime Picture Board - 300109.pdf

Quiz-A-Day - 014

1 What colour is traditionally associated with Roman Emperors? = PURPLE
2 What name is given to the flap of cartilage which prevents food from entering the windpipe? = EPIGLOTIS
3 What sort of fruit is a Laxton Superb :- Apple : Strawberry : Plum? = APPLE
4 Under what name did Lord Tweedsmuir write several novels? = JOHN BUCHAN
5 What is the more common name for grape-sugar? = GLUCOSE
6 What would you do with a LABRET :- Eat it : Play it : Wear it? = WEAR IT (Lip ornament)
7 Areas of what are connected by a line called an isohyet on a map? = RAINFALL
8 In which American state are there towns called Anaconda and Moscow and the Salmon River = IDAHO
9 In which sport is there competition for the America's Cup? = YACHTING
10 Which British island about 80 feet across is in the Atlantic, 230 miles west of the Hebrides? = ROCKALL
11 What was supposed to flow in the veins of Greek Gods? = ICHOR
12 In which film did POW's use a vaulting horse to disguise the digging of an escape tunnel? = THE WOODEN HORSE
13 Which drink was advertised by Leonard Rossiter & Joan Collins? = CINZANO
14 What was the name of the ageing rock band in the TV series Tutti Frutti? = THE MAJESTIKS
15 Which straits separate Sri Lanka from India? = THE PALK STRAITS
16 True or False Glyndebourne Opera House is in West Sussex? = FALSE (EAST SUSSEX)
17 Who designed the tapestry which hangs behind the altar in Coventry Cathedral? = GRAHAM SUTHERLAND
18 Which animal gives us nutria fur? = COYPU
19 Who said "It's a funny old world - a man's lucky if he gets out of it alive"? = W C FIELDS
20 What is the collective word for a group of foxes? = SKULK
21 In which novel did Michael Henchard sell his wife for 5 guineas? = THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE
22 For which King George did Handel compose his Water Music? = GEORGE I
23 What colour was Alexander Dumas' Tulip? = BLACK
24 What is the square root of 729? = 27
25 On what material does a Topiarist work? = HEDGES & SHRUBS
26 In which club did Arthur & Terry drink in the TV series Minder? = THE WINCHESTER
27 Which famous adventure story was originally titled The Sea Cook? = TREASURE ISLAND
28 Mainly which creatures belong to the order ARACHNIDA? = SPIDERS
29 From which country did the Bashi Bazouks come :- Morocco, Persia, Turkey? = TURKEY
30 What fruit did Columbus discover on the island of Guadeloupe? = PINEAPPLE
31 Who played the named character in the following films : Darby's Rangers, Mister Buddwing & Marlow? = JAMES GARNER
32 True or False : There is actually a country called Cape Vered? = TRUE
33 Which Christian name derives from the Gaelic for Handsome? = KENNETH
34 From what affliction did the patient Job suffer in the Bible? = BOILS
35 What is the family name of the Dukes of Wellington? = WELLESLEY
36 In which city were the 1896 Olympics Games held? = ATHENS
37 With which sport do you mainly associate Sabina Park? = CRICKET
38 In MACBETH who was Banquo's son? = FLEANCE
39 Who had a 1972 pop hit with Sylvia's Mother? = Dr. HOOK
40 Which football team plays its home games at Roots Hall? = SOUTHEND

Trivia Times - Issue 38

Broadband 'in every home by 2012'

All UK homes should have access to broadband and faster download speeds by 2012, the government has said.

An interim report on the UK's digital future also looked at plans for public service broadcasting.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said digital technology was as important today as "roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th Century".

Road Signs - Picture Quiz

Attachment: ROAD SIGNS PICQUIZ.pdf

Beer sales down by 130 million pints in last quarter of 2008

Pubs and bars served 130 million less pints in the final quarter of last year – a drop of nearly 10 per cent – compared to the same period in 2007.

The UK Quarterly Beer Barometer also showed a 6.5 per cent drop in off-trade sales in the last three months of 2008.

Overall beer sales, across the on and off-trade, are down 8.3 per cent - the highest fourth quarter fall since records began in 1997.

And on-trade beer sales for the whole of 2008 fell 9.3 per cent, according to the figures, published by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).

However, overall, off-trade sales for the year only dropped 0.2 per cent.

Rob Hayward, the BBPA’s chief executive, said the figures highlighted the “extreme economic pressures hitting Britain’s beer and pub sector” and claimed the government’s beer tax revenues are now down £181m since last March’s Budget.

The alcohol tax escalator was only “making a difficult situation worse”, he added, and by 2012 the tax on a pint of beer will have shot up by 40 per cent.

“We are not asking for a tax handout, like other sectors,” he said. “We just don’t want our tax burden to be made worse. When it comes to stimulating the UK economy, the government should not and must not turn a blind eye to Britain’s beer and pub sector.

"The industry’s Axe the Beer Tax – Save the Pub campaign has seen a surge of public support for our beleaguered sector.

"It’s time for the government to respond to these calls and support a great British industry.”

Keep Up To Date With All The Latest from THE PUBLICAN ONLINE

Beer on offer for 1p

A pub chain is offering what is probably the country's cheapest beer at just 1p a pint.

The Stockton-on-Tees based Dukedom Group, has slashed the cost of a pint of beer to 1p as part of a new promotion.
The chain, which owns 32 venues across the UK, is offering a pint of Tetley's at the bargain price to customers who buy a glass of house spirit. The offer is available at six pubs across the North of England.

Operations manager Russell Vickers said the promotion was designed to help people through the credit crunch. “We want to give our customers the chance to enjoy two drinks for under £2. These are difficult times for everybody and many people are having to think before enjoying a social evening out.”

He added he was aware that the promotion could attract criticism for encouraging binge drinking but said: “The offer is restricted to a pint of beer and a spirit, which are not typically the choice of young drinkers.

“Our staff are trained to refuse to serve anybody who they think might have had too much to drink and we will be introducing refresher training in the pubs where the offer is running.

“This is a genuine attempt to give our customer the chance to have a drink on us during a period of difficulty for household budgets. We have always tried to find ways of giving value for money in our premises while retaining a safe and comfortable environment.”

Do You Get That Sinking Feeling

Quiztime Picture Board - Commentators

Attachment: Picture Board - Commentators - 270109.pdf

Quiz-A-Day - 013

1 - Does your hair grow faster in summer than in winter?
2 - What is the best time of day to see Betelgeuse?
3 - How many natural lakes are there in Scotland?
4 - Name five TV dramas or sitcoms starring David Jason.
5 - According to the Bible, Adam and Eve had three sons. Name them.
6 - Is Franz Ferdinand a Spanish author, a Scottish rock band, an Italian renaissance painter or a Portuguese politician?
7 - An insect has how many pairs of legs?
8 - DAB radios are the latest thing. What do the initials stand for?
9 - Rearrange enraged to make three new words.
10 - The following clues give answers beginning with "Tap" - a) sweet pudding, b) hooved jungle animal, c) savoury Spanish snacks, d) woven wall hanging.
11 - Which is more - the number of keys on a piano or the amount of Meredith Willson's trombones?
12 - What is the literal meaning of the word gospel?
13 - Which fictional detective has an older brother called Mycroft?
14 - Name the four Chancellors before Gordon Brown.
15 - What word can follow nail, air and pop?
16 - Does camomile tea make a good bedtime drink?
17 - If you were given a flageolet what would you do with it?
18 - What is the most popular fruit in the UK?
19 - Name the longest serving presenter on BBC Radio 1.
20 - What is the tallest variety of grass in the world?

1 - Yes. When it's hot the blood capillaries dilate increasing blood flow, bringing oxygen and nourishment to the follicles.
2 - Night, because it's the name of a star in the Orion constellation.
3 - Just one, the Lake of Menteith, near Aberfoyle.
4 - Any five from: Open All Hours, The Darling Buds Of May, A Touch Of Frost, Only Fools And Horses, A Bit Of A Do, Porterhouse Blue, The Quest, etc.
5 - Cain, Abel and Seth.
6 - It's a Scottish rock band.
7 - Three pairs.
8 - Digital Audio Broadcasting.
9 - Any three from: Angered, derange, grandee or grenade.
10 - a) Tapioca, b) tapir, c) tapas, d) tapestry.
11 - There are 88 piano keys and 76 trombones in the well-known song.
12 - Good news.
13 - Sherlock Holmes.
14 - Kenneth Clarke, Norman Lamont, John Major, Nigel Lawson. 15 - Gun.
16 - Yes, it aids relaxation.
17 - You could eat it (it's a variety of green bean) or play it as it's also a small flute.
18 - Bananas. Around 760,000 tonnes of bananas are shipped to the UK each year.
19 - John Peel. He's been there since 1967, the year it started.
20 - Bamboo, which can reach 130 feet and more

David Beckham's backside: lucky to touch?

I'm tempted to stay at AC Milan, says Beckham

The Sun has christened David Beckham 'Goldenbuns' after reporting that his backside is considered a lucky charm by AC Milan team-mates.

The LA Galaxy midfielder, who is on loan at the Serie A club, scored his first league goal for Milan against Bologna last night and was rewarded with a pat on the cheek from Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf.

According to the paper, a club insider said: "Everyone knows Beckham has a golden touch and he has proved that since he arrived. Italy is a superstitious country and people often touch things for luck - the players are doing the same with Beckham and touching his bottom because he is seen as a lucky mascot."

We thought perhaps the story was just a way of justifying the use of the picture, but apparently it's also a source of amusement for the player, as he revealed in an interview with Corriere della Sport.

"This morning we saw a photo in the paper in which, after my goal [against Bologna], Seedorf came and touched me on my bottom," Beckham said. "We were laughing and joking about it. We're not very serious in the dressing-room. I didn't realise he had touched me, but I would be happy if Clarence did it again after another goal. He is allowed to do that."

As dubious goal celebrations go it is pretty harmless, but some team-mates can overdo it:

International Soccer Stars

Attachment: Picture Board - International Footy - 270109.pdf

Quiz-A-Day - 012

1 - Who sang the theme song to the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies?
2 - The following clues are for words beginning with "Mar" - a) ox-eye daisy, b) harbour for small boats, c) tropical American monkey, d) sweet fortified Sicilian dessert wine.
3 - Name four of the six murder weapons in the board game Cluedo.
4 - The first Brit Awards were held when - 1977, 1979, 1982 or 1984?
5 - What is produced in a ginnery?
6 - A firkin holds how many pints - 56, 67, 72 or 79?
7 - How many Celtic languages are there?
8 - Are firefighters allowed to have beards?
9 - Is a yaffle a woodpecker, a feather-tailed arrow, a beaded fringe or a honey-covered almond?
10 - Why do athletes run anti-clockwise round a track rather than clockwise?
11 - Which musical instrument means "jumping flea" in English?
12 - Name four fictional detectives whose surnames begin with M.
13 - Which Scottish glen reads the same when spelt backwards?
14 - How many animals do the Chinese use to represent years - 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18?
15 - What flavour is Grand Marnier liqueur?
16 - According to the proverb, fools build houses, but who buys them?
17 - Is a shrike a mythological spirit, predatory songbird, heavenly body or medieval weapon?
18 - Where was chess first played?
19 - Which is the only bird that can fly backwards?
20 - Is pogonology the study of rock formations, tropical diseases, beards or finger and toenails?

1 - Sheryl Crow.
2 - a) Marguerite, b) marina, c) marmoset, d) Marsala.
3 - Any four from candlestick, revolver, dagger, spanner, lead piping or rope.
4 - 1977, when they were known as The British Record Industry Awards.
5 - Cotton.
6 - 72 pints.
7 - Six. Scots gaelic, Irish gaelic, Manx, Cornish, Welsh and Breton.
8 - Generally, no, as they may interfere with breathing apparatus, but exceptions are made for religious reasons.
9 - It's a species of woodpecker.
10 - Because far more people are right-footed and it's more natural and comfortable for a right-footed person to lead with the right and lean slightly inwards on the left.
11 - Ukulele. It's a Hawaiian word.
12 - Any four from Perry Mason, Jane Marple, Philip Marlowe, Jules Maigret, Sam McCloud, Thomas Magnum, Morse, etc.
13 - Glenelg, on the west coast near Skye.
14 - 12 animals.
15 - Orange.
16 - Wise men.
17 - A predatory songbird.
18 - India and Persia (now Iran).
19 - The hummingbird.
20 - Beards.

Cold War in paradise

Some 50 years ago, thousands of excitable young servicemen landed on the white sands of a Pacific paradise to oversee Britain's testing of early nuclear bombs. But what happened next damaged them mentally and physically for life, some claim, and now they want to be compensated.

Dressed in overalls, white protective gloves and a balaclava, 21-year-old naval cook Dougie Hern was ordered to sit on the beach, back to the bomb, his knees pulled up, eyes closed and hands over his face. A countdown began... three, two, one.

"We saw a bright, brilliant light," he recalls. "It was as if someone had switched a firebar on in your head. It grew brighter and you could see the bones in your hands, like pink X-rays, in front of your closed eyes."

Seconds later, they were ordered to stand and turn towards the blast.

People were knocked off their feet, palm trees shook, birds were blinded and glass shattered as a mushroom cloud rose from the horizon, parting the clouds.

Moments later, the servicemen were told to stand down and resume their duties.

We knew what had happened in Japan - I thought it could not happen here, they would not do it to us Douglas Hern, former navy cook drafted to Christmas Island

It was all over in about 14 seconds, but Mr Hern, now 72, believes radiation exposure on that day and four others is behind his diabetes, the spurs growing on his sternum, and much worse, the death of his 13-year-old daughter from cancer.

For decades, British ex-servicemen who were stationed on Christmas Island in the South Pacific in the 1950s have been embroiled in legal battles, trying to win recognition for their work and compensation for poor health they say is the result of the nuclear tests.

Their latest attempt to sue the British government goes before the High Court on Wednesday, when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to argue the claims have been brought too long after the events.

If the MoD loses, the government could face its largest class action yet, involving claims for millions of pounds from 1,000 individuals, say the veterans' lawyers.

Compensation claims by members of the armed forces are not uncommon these days, but the events from the 1950s are unlikely to ever be seen again.

Against a backdrop of de-colonisation and the growing threat of the Cold War, Britain was desperate to establish itself as a nuclear power. The tests, which encompassed six nuclear blasts in all, sent a message of might to the world. But the apparent lack of concern for the wellbeing of servicemen has left shockwaves of anger in some.

"If they gave the order today, there would be wholesale mutiny on the ship," says Mr Hern.

"We had complete faith in our masters. We were trained not to ask questions. We knew what had happened in Japan. I thought it could not happen here. They would not do it to us."

BRITAIN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS US dropped first atomic bomb used in war on Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 About 20,000 servicemen from Britain and overseas involved in tests in Pacific and Maralinga, Australia in 1950s Six nuclear detonations took place on Christmas Island 1957-8 The island, part of Republic of Kiribati, also known as Kiritimati Bombs exploded in air, rather than on ground, to try to reduce fallout Tests led to Britain becoming a thermonuclear power

A job in the armed forces was about being "one of a number", according to Derek Chappell, who had to record data from the H-bomb from about 20 miles away.

Tony Stannage, a sapper in the Royal Engineers brought to the island to build living quarters, roads and the airstrip, says they had no choice.

"It was our duty. If they were going to do another test today, where would they do it?"

The take-it-in-your-stride attitude was so ingrained in Mr Stannage, it was not until a 2002 Christmas Island reunion with fellow servicemen that he spoke of the bombs. "My family and friends might have read about them but they would never have understood," he explains.

For others, the day Britain detonated its first H-bomb over Christmas Island is a story that has been told time and time again, some memories merging, others melting away.

"Everyone in my mind tells a different story but no one is telling lies," says Mr Stannage.

Shorts and sunglasses

The recollections of these three ex-servicemen suggest an island that may have looked like a tropical idyll but in reality was a place to make do and dream of home.

There was little food, land crabs roamed the island, coconut palms were used for fans and clothes were stored in orange boxes.

Orders were to dress only in long-sleeved shirts and full trousers to avoid the blistering heat.

On bomb test days, some servicemen were given the same protective gear as that worn by Dougie Hern, others wore just shorts and sunglasses.

Many complained of being at a loss for things to do, with sport and fishing the only leisure activities.

Mr Chappell, in the RAF, claims in his 50 days on the island, he did just one day's work, the day of the H-bomb.

He is convinced they were there as part of an experiment, a view shared by some fellow servicemen.

"We were lemmings," he says. "There was never any need for that many people to be there."

The Ministry of Defence will not comment on the allegations but did say in a statement that it recognised the "vital contribution" these men played.

It said compensation claims were considered on the basis of whether or not the MoD had a legal liability to pay compensation and were paid if a legal liability was proven.

Leukaemia 'link'

Three years ago, Mr Chappell, now 73, was diagnosed with polycythemia vera - a type of cancer that leads to the over-production of red blood cells - that he believes can be traced back to the 1958 bomb blast.

Links between nuclear testing and premature deaths and cancer among veterans have been contested for years.

The National Radiological Protection Board, now amalgamated into the Health Protection Agency (HPA), has been conducting a study of nuclear test veterans since the 80s.

It compares cancer and mortality rates among servicemen involved in nuclear testing with rates among a control group of servicemen without any nuclear test links.

Dr Colin Muirhead, the HPA's head of epidemiology in the radiation protection section, says his findings showed similar levels of mortality and cancer in both groups.

However, there is "some indication of a raised risk of leukaemia" among those who had worked with nuclear tests, he says.

The veterans may be used to battles. But this one, hindered by funding shortages and legal technicalities, has gone on longer than the Cold War during which it all began. Maybe now there is an end in sight.

UK will not legislate on piracy

David Lammy does not want to be heavy-handed with teenagers

The UK's Intellectual Property minister David Lammy has said the government will not force internet service providers to pursue file sharers.

There had been mounting speculation about government legislation on the issue as the music industry steps up its fight against the pirates.

Other countries, such as France, have supported tough action on file-sharers, who cost the industry millions.

But Mr Lammy said legislation would be too complex.

"We can't have a system where we're talking about arresting teenagers in their bedrooms," he told The Times newspaper.

Talk of the government forcing internet service providers to evict file-sharers from their networks grew last year as the British Phonographic Industry adopted a tougher stance.

The BPI, which represents the UK music industry, favours a "three strikes" policy, where file-sharers offenders are initially sent warning letters. Persistent offenders could be thrown off the network.

True potential

Feargal Sharkey thinks file-sharers would be prepared to pay

While some ISPs, most notably Virgin Media, initially signed up to the scheme, there was a muted response from many others.

According to analyst firm Forrester, a fifth of Europeans use file-sharing networks. Paid-for digital music services such as iTunes are used by just 10% and make up just 8% of overall music revenue.

Feargal Sharkey, ex-pop star and now head of the pan-industry body UK Music, has said that he believes 80% of file-sharers would be prepared to pay for a legitimate file-sharing service.

The challenge for the UK music industry was to find a way to "unlock the true potential of digital music", he said at an industry talking shop at the beginning of the year.

Some experts predict that Lord Carter's report on the state of Digital Britain, expected at the end of the month, to make recommendations about how to crack down on file-sharers without legislation.

Type 45 Daring class destroyer

HMS Daring can also provide supporting fire for troops on land

HMS Daring, the first of six Type 45 Anti Air Warfare Destroyers in production for the Royal Navy, is heading to its home port of Portsmouth for the first time.

It has been hailed by its creators as the most powerful and advanced vessel of its kind.

As a class of warship, destroyers have historically been small, agile ships designed to protect larger, slower convoys and strike groups from airborne and naval threats.

Since the end of World War II, destroyers have steadily grown, both in size and in terms of firepower.

HMS Daring is no exception to this trend. The Type 45 destroyer's primary mission is air defence, a role that its arsenal reflects.

The Principal Anti Air Missile System (Paams) is the Type 45's primary weapons platform and is designed to combat enemy missile attacks on ships.

Paams consists of a 48-cell vertical missile launcher that allows the destroyer to engage targets from 360 degrees.

The missiles themselves are a mix of Aster 15s and Aster 30s, which can strike targets at distances of up to 30km (19 miles) and 100km (62 miles) respectively.

They are radar-guided by the Sampson phased-array radar system perched, like the head of a snowman, atop the Type 45's mast.

The radar suite on the Type 45 can track targets for hundreds of miles around, on the sea and in the air.

TYPE 45 ANTI AIR WARFARE DESTROYER - HMS DARING 1. Bow sonar system 2. 114mm deck gun 3. Vertical launcher system 4. Aster15 Surface-to-Air Anti-Missile 5. Electro optical fire control for guns 6. Missile fire control radar and surveillance 7. 30mm gun 8. Long range radar 9. Navigation radar 10. Flight deck and hangar for helicopter Length - 152.4m Beam - 21.2m (max) Displacement - 7,350 tonnes Range - 7,000 nautical miles Stores - 45 days Max speed - 28+ knots Complement - 190 (max 235)

In addition to missiles, the Type 45 also has an electro-optically guided 114mm deck gun forward and 30mm weapons on the port and starboard sides.

While these weapons do not pose much of a threat to other naval vessels, they will enable the Type 45s to fulfil additional roles such as providing supporting fire for troops on land.

The destroyers can also host either Merlin or Lynx helicopters, which are armed with torpedoes and depth charges, and in the case of the Lynx, Sea Skua anti-ship missiles.

The Royal Navy is currently testing 155mm guns to replace the 114mm. As well as having greater destructive power, these guns would provide a 50% increase in range.

Fitness centres

The crew complement is 190 though there is room for 235 on board.

Amenities for improvements in quality of life seem fairly common on the Type 45; berths that were previously home to 30 or 40 men have been replaced by cabins which sleep six.

These will have internet access. Recreation facilities and fitness centres are also built into the vessels.

Construction on HMS Daring began in 2003. She was launched in February 2006, started sea trials in October 2007 and is expected to be commissioned into the navy in the next six months.

Since launching HMS Daring, BVT Surface Fleet Ltd has launched three more Type 45s, Dauntless, Diamond and Dragon.

Defender is expected to launch in October, 2009, leaving only Duncan of the original six Type 45s ordered by the navy.

Earth & Space Trivia

Uranus is visible to the naked eye.
Benjamin Franklin was first to suggest daylight saving.
The most abundant metal in the Earths crust is aluminium.
It snowed in the Sahara desert on 18 February 1979.
On average, an iceberg weighs 20 million tons.
The far side of the moon was first photographed by a Russian satellite in 1959.
Captain Cook was the first man to set foot on all continents except Antarctica.
The diameter of the Moon is 3 476 km.
The pressure at the Earths inner core is 3 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure.
200 million years ago Earth contained 1 land mass called Pangaea
At the deepest point, an iron ball would take more than an hour to sink to the ocean floor. ( 11.034 km )
The largest wave ever recorded was near the Japanese Island of Ishigaki in 1971. It was recorded at 85 metres high.
Antarctic means ' opposite the Artic '.
The largest iceberg recorded ( in 1956 ) was 200 miles long and 60 miles wide, larger that the country of Belgium.
The surface of the Dead Sea is 400 metres below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, which is only 75 km away.
The moon orbits the Earth every 27.32 days.
The country of Benin changed its name from Dahomey in 1975.
The Nova Zemlya Glacier in the (former) USSR is over 400 km long.
Canada ( 9 970 610 sq km) is larger than China ( 9 596 961 sq km) which is larger than the USA ( 9 363 130 sq km).
The coldest temperature ever recorded was -70 deg Celsius, in Siberia.
The second largest US state in the 1950's was California.
The US state Maryland was named after Queen Henrietta Maria.
The only country to register zero births in 1983 was the 'Vatican City'.
The US state of Florida first saw the cultivation of oranges in 1539.
The world's largest National park is 'Wood Buffalo National Park' in Canada.
The world's largest exporter of sugar is Cuba.
There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.
England's Stonehenge is 1500 years older than Rome's Colosseum.
In 1896, Britain and Zanzibar were at war for 38 minutes.
The Eskimo language has over twenty words to describe different kinds of snow.
Numbering houses in London streets only began in 1764.
More than 75% of all the countries in the world are north of the equator.
Less than 1% of the Caribbean Islands are inhabited.
On average, an iceberg weighs 20 million tons.
Fulgurite is formed when lightning strikes sand.
Mountains are formed by a process called orogeny.
Obsidian, used by American Indians for tools, weapons and ornaments, is dark volcanic glass.
It takes 8.5 minutes for light to get from the sun to earth.
82% of the workers on the Panama Canal suffered from malaria.
In May 1948, Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe, both in New Zealand, erupted simultaneously.
The Incas and the Aztecs were able to function without the wheel.
The tree dictated on the Lebanese flag is a Cedar.
Tokyo was once called Edo.
The Atlantic Ocean covers the world's longest mountain range.
In 1825 Upper Peru became Bolivia.
New York City contains 920 kilometres of shoreline.
There are 3 Great pyramids at Giza.
The southwestern tip of the Isle of Man is called 'The Calf of Man'.
The world's largest Delta was created by the river Ganges.
The Scottish city Edinburgh is nicknamed 'Auld Reekie' meaning 'Old Smoky'
The inhabitants of Papa New Guinea speak about 700 languages, approx. 15% of the world's total. ( including localised dialects, which are known to change from village to village )
The world's first National Park was Yellowstone National Park
60% of all US potato products originate in Idaho.
The northern most country claiming part of Antarctica is Norway.
The D.C. in Washington D.C. stands for District of Colombia.
The inhabitants of Monaco are known as 'Monegasques'.
The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory, was misnamed. It contains crocodiles not alligators.
New York's Central Park opened in 1876.
France contains the greatest length of paved roads.
The city of Istanbul straddles two separate continents, Europe and Asia.
At the nearest point , Russia and America are less than 4 km apart.
99% of the solar systems mass is concentrated in the sun.
Rio de Janeiro translates to ' River of January'.
The furthest point from any ocean would be in China.
The Tibetan Mountain people use yak's milk as their form of currency.
Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'.
Underneath the great icy plains of the Antarctic can sometimes be found little pools of unfrozen water.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The Spanish Inquisition once condemned the entire Netherlands to death for heresy.
The Sun's mass decreases by 4 000 000 tonnes per second due to conversion of Hydrogen to Helium by thermonuclear reaction, this conversion will continue for another 5000 million years before the Sun's energy supply is exhausted.
The River Nile has frozen over only twice in living memory - once in the ninth century, and then again in the eleventh century.
Earth is the only planet not named after a God.
The Angel falls in Venezuela are nearly 20 times taller than Niagara falls.
The Scandinavian capital, Stockholm, is build on nine islands connected by bridges.
La Paz in Bolivia is so high above sea level that there is barely enough oxygen in the air to support a fire.
The Forth railway bridge in Scotland is a metre longer in summer than in winter, due to thermal expansion.
The Channel between England and France grows about 300 millimetres each year.
In the Andes, time is often measured by how long it takes to smoke a cigarette.
On a clear night over 2 000 stars are visible to the naked eye.
Until the 18th century India produced almost all the worlds diamonds.
On 30 March 1867, Alaska was officially purchased from Russia for about 2 cents an acre. At the time many politicians believed this purchase of ' wasteland to be a costly folly '.
During winter, the skating rinks in Moscow cover more than 250 000 square metres of land.
As the Pacific plate moves under its coast, the North Island of New Zealand is getting larger.
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.
If you travel from east to west across the Soviet Union, you will cross seven time zones.
Sahara means 'desert' in Arabic.
On the 15 January 1867, there was a severe frost in London, and over 40 people died in Regent's Park when the ice broke on the main lake.
The water in the Dead Seas is so salty that it far easier to float than to drown.
The State flag of Alaska was designed by a 13 year old boy.
Every litre of water taken from the Red Sea would contain about 200 grams of salt.
Lighting strikes the Earth about 200 times a second.
Very hard rain would pour down at the rate of about twenty miles per hour.
Discounting Australia , which is generally regarded as a continental land mass, the world's largest island is Greenland.
No rain has ever been recorded falling in the Atacama desert in Chile.
The background radiation in Aberdeen is twice that of the rest of Great Britain.
About 2 million hydrogen atoms would be required to cover the full stop at the end of this sentence.
The southern most tip of Africa is not the 'Cape of Good Hope' but 'Cape Agulhas'.
Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.
The tower of London, during its lifetime has served many purposes, including a zoo.
There is a village near the Somme in France which is simply called Y.
The planet Uranus was only discovered 215 years ago, by Sir William Herschel on 13 March 1781.
Two minor earthquakes occur every minute somewhere in the world.
In the north of Norway, the sun shines constantly for about 14 weeks each summer.
The Polynesian country of Niue is a 170 square kilometre limestone rock emerging 60 metres from the Pacific.
Sahara means 'desert' in Arabic.
The United States, which accounts for six per cent of the population of the world, consumes nearly sixty per cent of the world's resources.
The temperature of the planet Mars can go as high as eighty degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and as low as minus one hundred and ninety degrees at night.
The world's longest fresh water beach is located in Canada.
Over the years the Niagara Falls have moved more than 11 kilometres from its original site.
The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia.
Yugoslavia is bordered by seven other countries.
Greenland, named this to attract settlers, was discovered by Eric the Red in the 10th century.
The Milky Way galaxy contains 5 billion stars larger than our sun.
Within a few years of Columbus' discovery of America, the Spaniards had killed one and a half million Indians.
Hawaii officially became apart of the US on June 14, 1900.
Hawaii's Mt Waialeale is the wettest place in the world - it rains about ninety per cent of the time, about 480 inches per annum.
If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
Our galaxy is 75 000 light years in diameter and our sun is 26 100 light years from the centre.
[C] Based on various cosmological techniques the universe is estimated at 10 - 18 gigayears old.
(1 gigayear = 1 000 000 000 000 years)
The smallest star found to date is a neutron star with a diameter of 59 km but a mass of 10 times that of our sun. This star is more commonly known as a black hole,
The earth's average velocity orbiting the sun is 107 220 km per hour.
The sun has a core temperature of 154 000 000 Kelvin
A day on Jupiter is about 9 hours, 50 minutes, 30 seconds at the equator.
[C] Because of a large orbital eccentricity, Pluto is closer to the sun than Neptune between January 1979 and March 1999.
Mars has a volcano (Olympus Mons) which is 310-370 miles in diameter and 16 miles high.
[C] The Future's Museum in Sweden contains a scale model of the solar system. The sun is 105 meters in diameter and the planets range from 3.5 mm to 6 km from the 'sun'. This particular model also contains the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, still to scale situated in the Museum of Victoria ... in Australia.
The maximum possible duration of an eclipse is 7 minuets and 31 seconds (when the observer is land based and stationary)
Carolyn Shoemaker has discovered 32 comets and approximately 800 asteroids.
The Earth is pear shaped, the North Pole radius being 44mm longer than the South Pole radius..
Scientists at Australia's Parkes Observatory thought they had positive proof of alien life, when they began picking up radio-waves from space. However, after investigation, the radio emissions where traced to a microwave oven in the building.
In 1908 the Moskva River in Russia rose nine meters, flooding 100 streets and 2,500 houses.
'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu'
is the name of a hill in New Zealand.
The book by Copernicus, which suggested that the Sun and not the Earth was the centre of the solar system, was banned officially banned by the Papacy until 1835.
There is about 200 time more gold in the worlds oceans, than has been mined in our entire history.
A quarter of Russia is covered by forest.
There is a Rocking Stone in Cornwall which, though it weighs many tonnes, can be rocked with ease.
South Africa produces two-thirds of the world's gold.
The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined.
The Earth is the densest planet in the solar system.
There is no point in England more than 75 miles from the ocean.
The Red sea is not mentioned in the Bible.
England is smaller than New England
Nearly a quarter of the population of Poland was killed in World War II.
The number of UFO sightings constantly increase when Mars is nearest the Earth.
The first city in the world to have a population of over one million was London.
Our own galaxy is minute compared to the radio galaxies being discovered at the edge of the universe.
There is a town in West Virginia USA called Looneyville
So far in the twentieth century, two objects have hit the earth's surface with enough force to destroy a medium size city. By pure luck both have landed in sparsely populated Siberia.
One of the greatest natural disasters of recent centuries occurred when an earthquake hit Tangshan, China killing three quarters of a million people.
New York was once New Amsterdam.
On Picarn Island, it is a criminal offence it shout ' ship ohoy' when there is in fact no ship in sight.
The Dead Sea is in fact an inland lake.
Icelandic phone books are listed by the given name not the surname.
Dirty snow melts quicker than clean snow.
It is illegal to swim in Central Park.
The fastest tectonic movement on earth is 240 mm per year, at the Tonga micro-plate near Samoa.
The earth's magnetic field is not permanent,
There are six million trees in The Forest of Martyrs near Jerusalem, symbolising the Jewish death toll in World War Two.
In 1980 Rhodesia became independent Zimbabwe.

Quiz-A-Day - 011

1 - What are Routemasters in London?
2 - Name three of the four members of Irish boy band Westlife.
3 - What is the geographical significance of Dunnet Head?
4 - Why are the aristocracy often referred to as the "upper crust"?
5 - Which charity uses the slogan, "We believe in life before death"?
6 - Do we eat more beef or chicken in the UK?
7 - Name three birds ending in "wing".
8 - What was the first programme on BBC2 in 1964?
9 - How many Prime Ministers have served under the Queen?
10 - Which two dances are used to clarify letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet?
11 - On a QWERTY keyboard, can the word "hijack" be typed using just one line?
12 - Rearrange SORE POKER CURES to find a useful kitchen object.
13 - What word can come before book, postcard and window?
14 - What name is given to a Government minister who has Cabinet status, but isn't in charge of a particular department?
15 - If a badger is Brock what is a fox?
16 - What is listed in Lloyd's Register?
17 - Is a chuckwalla a lizard, a shawl, a spear or a flower?
18 -Bursitis is a painful condition in your legs. What's it better known as?
19 - What colour of hair would a child with a dark-haired mother and red-haired father most likely have?
20 - Why is a large outdoor fire call a bonfire?

1 - The familiar, mostly red, double decker buses.
2 - Any three from Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily. Fifth member Bryan McFadden recently quit.
3 - It's the most northerly point on the British mainland.
4 - It was once customary to serve the upper crust, the best part of a loaf, to honoured guests.
5 - Christian Aid.
6 - More chicken.
7 - Lapwing, redwing, waxwing.
8 - Play School was the first proper programme on April 21 after the launch the previous evening was abandoned due to a major power failure.
9 - 10. Winston Churchill 1951-55, Sir Anthony Eden 1955-57, Harold Macmillan 1957-63, Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963-64, Harold Wilson 1964-70 and 1974-76, Edward Heath 1970-74, James Callaghan 1976-79, Margaret Thatcher 1979-90, John Major 1990-97, Tony Blair 1997-present.
10 - Foxtrot and tango.
11 - No, you need all three.
12 - Pressure cooker.
13 - Picture.
14 - Minister without Portfolio.
15 - Reynard.
16 - Ships.
17 - A lizard.
18 - Housemaid's knee.
19 - Dark hair, as that gene is dominant.
20 - Originally it was a bonefire - a way of getting rid of discarded bones after a meal.

Reg Gutteridge

Gutteridge was a well-respected figure in the world of boxing

Legendary boxing commentator and journalist Reg Gutteridge has died after a short illness aged 84.

An amateur boxer as a youngster, he turned to journalism after losing a leg when he stepped on a mine in Normandy during the Second World War.

He worked for the Evening News, in London, as its boxing correspondent for 40 years but made his name as ITV's voice of boxing before moving to Sky.

Awarded an OBE in 1995, Gutteridge also covered six Olympic Games.

Quiztime Picture Board - 250109

Attachment: Quiztime Pop Picture Board - 250109.pdf

Don't forget - as well as identifying the pictures you could ask questions about them as a round within your quiz.
Celebrity Trivia can be found at - http://www.celebritywonder.com/html/trivia.shtml

Quiz-A-Day - 010

1 - What makes curly hair curly?
2 - When did National Service end?
3 - How many letters are there in the Gaelic alphabet - 18, 20, 22 or 24?
4 - Chefs often refer to what as "the master spice"?
5 - Who would use petersham during their working day - a stockbroker, surgeon, dressmaker or chef?
6 - What is the maximum age for a new blood-donor?
7 - Robert Burns said that freedom and whisky do what?
8 - The answers to the following clues are colours with a pop connection - a) Prince's favourite, b) Boy band who duetted with Elton John, c) She's Trouble, d) Average band.
9 - What does the MI in MI5 stand for?
10 - What started at a baker's shop in Pudding Lane?
11 - In the current line-up of The Rolling Stones, who's the oldest?
12 - Who is Dr Frank N Furter?
13 - Identify these colourful garden flowers - a) vulpine mitten, b) worth six points in snooker, c) slowly moved up, d) pinch of winter weather.
14 - It means Aunt Mary in English, but by what name do we usually know this drink?
15 - Which word, when put in front of full and empty, makes them the same?
16 - From where does a Novocastrian hail?
17 - What type of gas means "new" in Greek?
18 - Michael Jackson started out singing with his brothers in The Jackson Five. Can you name them?
19 - Rearrange O ROSE HAD FLO'S NYLONS to find a classic TV comedy.
20 - If you suffer from diplopia do you have trouble with your teeth, skin, intestines or vision?

1 - It's to do with the shape of the follicle. Oval follicles produce wavy or curly hair. Straight hair grows from round follicles.
2 - 1960.
3 - There are 18 letters.
4 - Pepper.
5 - Dressmaker, it's a heavy corded ribbon used for stiffening material.
6 - 60. Regular donors can continue donating blood until they are 70.
7 - Gang thegither.
8 - a) Purple, b) Blue, c) Pink, d) White.
9 - Military Intelligence.
10 - The Great Fire Of London in 1666.
11 - Charlie Watts, who's 62. Ex-member Bill Wyman is 67.
12 - A character from the musical The Rocky Horror Show.
13 - a) Foxglove, b) pink, c) rose, d) snowdrop.
14 - Tia Maria.
15 - Half.
16 - Newcastle.
17 - Neon gas.
18 - Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine.
19 - Only Fools And Horses.
20 - Vision. It's double vision.

Cartoons & Charicatures

Police wish to speak to the man known only as Geoff, far right of picture.

See more gems at LINK

Quiz-A-Day - 009

1 - Which Scottish village holds the record for Britain's lowest recorded temperature?
2 - Is a woman's pulse rate at rest normally lower, the same or higher than a man's?
3 - Why do we say "Bless you" when someone sneezes?
4 - The following clues give answers containing the word thorn - a) Song by The Eurythmics, b) Richard Chamberlain TV series, c) Sam Neill's Omen character, d) children's jungle cartoon.
5 - Which two of the Ten Commandments don't begin with "Thou shalt"?
6 - Name the largest passenger liner ever built.
7 - On which part of our bodies is the skin thinnest?
8 - Do magnets work underwater?
9 - Why can't you tickle yourself?
10 - Michelle McManus won Pop Idol this year, but who was the runner-up?
11 - Whose motto is Dieu et mon droit (God and my right)?
12 - Saxon, Windsor and Four-in-Hand are all types of what?
13 - William Roache (Ken Barlow) is the longest serving member of the cast of Coronation Street. Who has been in it second longest?
14 - When was the halfpence coin taken out of circulation - 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986?
15 - Name the national bird of Britain.
16 - What is Britain's most popular outdoor activity?
17 - The British Commonwealth is made up of how many nations - 36, 46, 53 or 63?
18 - What's the main ingredient of Pontefract cakes?
19 - If you're suffering from euphobia do you fear - a) loud music, b) good news, d) making speeches, d) airborne germs?
20 - Why do we get goose pimples when we're cold?

1 - Braemar, with a temperature of -27.2 C, on January 10, 1982.
2 - Higher, 78-82 beats a minute, compared to 70-72 for a man.
3 - In medieval times when the plague was widespread throughout Europe, if someone sneezed people assumed the worst and blessed them.
4 - a) Thorn In My Side, b) The Thorn Birds, c) Damien Thorn, d) The Wild Thornberrys.
5 - Remember the Sabbath Day and Honour thy father and mother.
6 - The new Queen Mary 2.
7 - The eyelids.
8 - Yes.
9 - There's no element of surprise. Your brain knows it's coming, so dulls the sensation.
10 - Mark Rhodes.
11 - The British Sovereign.
12 - Ways of tying your necktie.
13 - Eileen Derbyshire who plays Emily Bishop. She first appeared in January 1961.
14 - 1984, on December 31.
15 - The robin.
16 - Walking.
17 - 53 nations.
18 - Liquorice.
19 - Hearing good news.
20 - It's a throwback to when people had more body hair. Tensing muscles at the base of hair shafts causes goosebumps, which makes hair stand on end to trap warm air.

An outrage that appalled a nation

Exactly 100 years after two robbers went on a shooting rampage in a London suburb, the dead victims are being officially remembered. But the shocking details of the "Tottenham Outrage" still offer parallels with current events.

PC Tyler was shot at point-blank range while trying to arrest the robbers

It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood movie - two outlaws rampaging through the streets chased by police and public, while firing more than 400 rounds of ammunition at their pursuers.

Throw in concerns about politically-motivated terrorists, uncontrolled immigration and police tactics not keeping pace with the villains' methods, and you have a thoroughly modern seeming incident.

But this was 23 January 1909. The two robbers killed a police officer and a 10-year-old boy in Tottenham, north London, as they tried to escape with the £80 wages they had snatched from a rubber factory.

The chase, which left 21 people injured, appalled the nation. The Times gave an indication of the shock generated by the incident when it reported thus: "An amazing series of outrages, singularly rare if not entirely without parallel in a civilized country, occurred on Saturday forenoon in the neighbourhood of Tottenham marshes."

The drama unfolded when two Latvian immigrants, Paul Hefeld and Jacob Lapidus, targeted Schnurmann's rubber factory, on the corner of Tottenham High Road and Chestnut Road.

When the chauffeur-driven car carrying the wages clerk arrived, they produced pistols and grabbed the cash bag, firing at the chauffeur before fleeing.

Pursuit

The commotion attracted the attention of PCs William Tyler and Albert Newman in the neighbouring police station, and a long chase with the chauffeur's car, plus people on foot and horseback, began.

Ten-year-old Ralph Joscelyne, who was helping a baker with his deliveries, was killed in the crossfire as he ran to take cover alongside the car at Mitchley Road.

Ordinary citizens joined in the chase in a display of civic values I'm not sure you would get today Martin Belam

PC Tyler managed to catch up with the men, shouting, "Come on, give in, the game's up." Hefeld shot him in the face at point-blank range, and the officer bled to death in a nearby house.

As the chase continued, it became more frenetic as the men commandeered a tram. Police jumped into another tram, and the occupants of the two vehicles exchanged fire.

After leaping from the tram, the men jumped onto a milk-cart and set off towards Epping Forest, while continuing to fire at their pursuers, but overturned it on a corner.

They then stole a greengrocer's cart but did not realise the brake was still on, so could not force the horse to travel any faster than an amble.

King's medal

Fleeing, the "anarchist robbers" were quickly cornered. Hefeld shot himself in the head to evade capture, and was taken to hospital where he died three weeks later.

Lapidus carried on running and locked himself in the bedroom of nearby Oak Cottage, where he used his final bullet to kill himself as officers fired through the door at him.

Flowers will be laid on Ralph Joscelyne's grave

As well as representing a shift in the history of criminality in the UK, the episode was remarkable for the response of the officers and passers-by, says local historian Martin Belam.

"You also have to think about how brave the police were. The two robbers were shooting to kill, over 20 people were injured. They were constantly firing back into the crowd.

"Ordinary citizens joined in the chase in a display of civic values I'm not sure you would get today."

In the aftermath there were questions over the police's ability to respond, with the modern revolvers possessed by the robbers contrasted with the police's lack of preparedness.

"The police couldn't get into their weapon cabinet because someone had lost the key. One of the policeman just got a weapon off someone in the crowd. People were going around packing heat. All these firearms started appearing."

When Pc Tyler's funeral was held half-a-million people and 3,000 police officers lined the two-and-a-half mile route. The blinds of all the houses en route were drawn, shops were closed for the day and flags flown at half-mast.

In the aftermath, questions were asked about the dangers of immigration.

The Daily Mirror reported the occasion on its front page on 30 January with the heading: "Police constable Tyler, who was murdered by alien terrorists at Tottenham, given a hero's funeral."

Gallantry medal

The Times quoted a much-travelled costumier, Charles Lee, who had been "astounded at the ease with which the roughest looking aliens landed on our shores". There were letters criticising the government's enforcement of immigration legislation.

"Across Europe at that time you had anarchists and proto-terrorists, these underground armed groups," says Mr Belam.

Half a million people and 3,000 police officers lined the funeral route

"[Members] had managed to get over to Britain and for the first time people realised the government didn't have much control over who was coming in.

"There is the fear that somehow immigrants are a fifth column in the country that are going to overthrow civilised values."

The outrage fed into already existing paranoia about immigration, connected to the 1905 Aliens Act, says Deborah Hedgecock, curator of the Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham.

"The outrage was particularly fuelled by the media. Lots of stories were being made up against immigrants who had moved into the area."

The incident sparked formal acknowledgement of police bravery. The King's Police Medal was established in recognition of the gallantry of the police officers who had chased the pair.

The citation said: "The commissioner is commanded to convey to the police officers engaged in the tragedy at Tottenham the King's high appreciation of their gallant conduct."

The incident will be remembered 100 years on as police and family members of those involved, plus pupils from Earlsmead School which Ralph Joscelyne had attended, will lay wreaths at the victims' graves.

They will then go to Tottenham police station to unveil a plaque in memory of Pc Tyler.

Deborah Hedgecock, curator of Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham, will give a talk on the outrage at 1930 GMT on Wednesday 28 January.

10 things we didn't know last week

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

1.In camel racing the jockeys are electronic robots.
More details

2. Ken Clarke doesn't own a mobile phone.
More details

3. Ancient Persians were the first to use chemical warfare against their enemies.
More details

4. Tony Hart designed the original Blue Peter badge.
More details

5. The bubonic plague still exists.
More details

6. Barack Obama's chief speechwriter is 27 years old.
More details

7. Demand for online pornographic movies peaks at 1116 GMT on Sundays.
More details

8. Film-maker Ridley Scott directed the advert for Apple's first Mac computer in 1984.
More details

9. English businesses do not have to accept Scottish banknotes.
More details

10. Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of edible frogs.
More details

Britannica reaches out to the web

Wikipedia is put together entirely with the help of its volunteer experts

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has unveiled a plan to let readers help keep the reference work up to date.

Under the plan, readers and contributing experts will help expand and maintain entries online.

Experts will also be enrolled in a reward scheme and given help to promote their command of a subject.

However, Britannica said it would not follow Wikipedia in letting a wide range of people make contributions to its encyclopaedia.

User choice

"We are not abdicating our responsibility as publishers or burying it under the now-fashionable 'wisdom of the crowds'," wrote Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica in a blog entry about the changes.

He added: "We believe that the creation and documentation of knowledge is a collaborative process but not a democratic one."

Britannica plans to do more with the experts that have already made contributions. They will be encouraged to keep articles up to date and be given a chance to promote their own expertise.

Selected readers will also be invited to contribute and many readers will be able to use Britannica materials to create their own works that will be featured on the site.

However, it warned these would sit alongside the encyclopaedia entries and the official material would carry a "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content.

Alongside the move towards more openness, will be a re-design of the Britannica site and the creation of the web-based tools that visitors can use to put together their own reference materials.

Britannica has unveiled a beta, or trial, version of what will become the finished Britannica Online website.

Download Junkie

Highlights This Week Include:
	VirtualBox 2.1.2 Freeware Host a virtual operating system 22 January 2009
	Apple QuickTime 7.6 Freeware Minor upgrade to the video player 22 January 2009
	NovaPDF Pro 6.0.286 Trial Software Create your own PDF documents 22 January 2009
	Cobian Backup 9.5.1 Freeware Backup and restore important data 22 January 2009
	KoolMoves 7 Trial Software Create your own Flash content 21 January 2009
	Ad-Aware Free Anniversary Edition Freeware Quickly share an interesting website or page with other users 20 January 2009
	Shareaholic 1.6 Freeware Keep in touch with other users from your web browser 20 January 2009
	LightSpeed 2.7 Trial Software Run your retail business from your Mac 18 January 2009
	AbiWord 2.6.6 Freeware Competent free word processor 18 January 2009
	Mailplane 2.0.1 Shareware Access & use Google Mail from within a standalone email client 19 January 2009

Recommended Downloads

TuneUp Utilities 2007 Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 SE Paragon Partition Manager 9 Express iolo Search and Recover 5 PC Tools Desktop Maestro 2 Iolo System Mechanic 8 Spyware Doctor 6 Starter Edition Paragon Drive Backup 9 Express Avanquest Connection Manager Wise-FTP 3 See more recommended downloads..

Japanese firms unveil 'robocop'

The T-34 is designed to launch a net over intruders

Two Japanese companies have unveiled a security robot that can be commanded from a mobile phone to hurl a net that traps suspected intruders.

The prototype T-34 was developed jointly by robot firm Tmsuk Co and security firm Alacom Co.

It moves at up to 10km/h (6mph), and can be controlled by someone seeing real-time images on a mobile phone.

The small robot is built on wheels and is equipped with sensors that can detect the movements of intruders.

"Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations," said a statement from the companies.

Italian Job conundrum is 'solved'

How did Caine's character get out of his fix?

The Royal Society of Chemistry has announced the winner of a competition to solve the conundrum at the end of the iconic UK film The Italian Job.

In the film, the robbers' coach almost drives off a cliff, ending up balanced precariously on the edge, with the gang at one end and their gold at the other.

The RSC asked for ideas to get the gold off the coach before it tips over.

John Godwin from Surrey came up with the winning idea which involves draining fuel from the vehicle.

In the conclusion to the 1969 movie, Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine, tries to reach the gold, but as he does so, the coach tips up dangerously.

Then gang leader Croker turns around and says: "Hang on a minute lads, I've got a great idea."

So what was the idea?

Some 2,000 members of the public put forward their own theories. Many of them were from children.

Twelve-year-old Thomas Nixon's homonym solution was for the gang to sing until they all got "frogs" in their throats. The frogs start to jump up and down which rocks the bus. They use the "rocks" to weigh down the end of the bus.

Eventually, the gang's throats become sore from the singing. And with the "saw" they cut the gold bullion in half. Because two halves make a whole - the gang could sneak the gold through the "hole".

But the winner, John Godwin from Surrey, had a more practical solution involving a three-stage process.

First, the coach needed to be stabilised. This involved smashing out the windows on the part of the coach overlooking the drop and smashing them inward at the front end to improve the weight ratio slightly.

One of the bullion raiders is then lowered outside and deflates the wheels to stop the coach from rocking.

Second, its weight distribution needs to be changed, particularly over the rear of the coach which is overlooking the drop. This involves emptying the fuel tank which John Godwin discovered was at the rear of the coach. This, he estimated, would contain 140kg of fuel.

Third, he would allow a member of the team to leave the coach and bring rocks in to the front of the vehicle to ensure it was stable and the gold could be removed.

"There're several sheets of maths here," said John Godwin.

"It was a good long day with a calculator. It's more than 20 years since I saw the film - I remember thinking there must be some way of getting that gold off the bus.

"I always had an idea of how they might solve this - so when the Royal Society of Chemistry put this out to the public as a competition it seemed like the ideal opportunity to see if it would really work or to see if it was hot air."

A billion frogs on world's plates

How amphibians are harvested around the world

In pictures

Up to one billion frogs are taken from the wild for human consumption each year, according to a new study.

Researchers arrived at this conclusion by analysing UN trade data, although they acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty in the figure.

France and the US are the two biggest importers, with significant consumption in several East Asian nations.

About one-third of all amphibians are listed as threatened species, with habitat loss the biggest factor.

But hunting is acknowledged as another important driver for some species, along with climate change, pollution and disease - notably the fungal condition chytridiomycosis which has brought rapid extinctions to some amphibians.

Absence of essential data to monitor and manage the wild harvest is a large concern Professor Corey Bradshaw

The new research, to be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Conservation Biology, suggests that the global trade in wild frogs has been underestimated in the past.

"Frogs legs are on the menu at school cafeterias in Europe, market stalls and dinner tables across Asia to high end restaurants throughout the world," said Corey Bradshaw from Adelaide University in Australia.

"Amphibians are already the most threatened animal group yet assessed because of disease, habitat loss and climate change - man's massive appetite for their legs is not helping."

Amphibians are farmed for food in some countries but these animals are not included in the new analysis.

Exporting extinction

Indonesia emerged from Professor Bradshaw's analysis as both the largest exporter of frogs - 5,000 tonnes per year - and a major consumer.

Frogs are liquidised to make a "health drink" in parts of South America

This has raised concerns that it may soon experience the declines induced by hunting that have been seen elsewhere in the world, notably in France and the US, where species such as the Californian red-legged frog have crashed.

The researchers suggest that the amphibian trade may mimic the situation with global fisheries.

"Harvesting seems to be following the same pattern for frogs as with marine fisheries - initial local collapses in Europe and North America, followed by population declines in India and Bangladesh and now potentially in Indonesia," said Professor Bradshaw.

"Absence of essential data to monitor and manage the wild harvest is a large concern."

The researchers suggest establishing a certification scheme so exporters would have to prove that their animals had been hunted sustainably.

However, a large portion of the trade in amphibians for the pet trade is conducted illegally, and experts say customs officials in many countries are ill-equipped to spot and deal with illegal consignments.

Smile!

Quiz-A-Day - 008

1 - Where can you find the Stone of Destiny?
2 - "I've got something to tell you, I've got something to say. I'm gonna put this dream in motion" is the beginning of which well-known song?
3 - What is MCMXC in Arabic numerals?
4 - What is a Mexican hairless?
5 - Why might Fayette Pinkney, Sheila Ferguson and Valerie Holiday remind you of a severe interrogation?
6 - Why do we call light-hearted facts and figures trivia?
7 - Once Captain Peacock, he's now in Last Of The Summer Wine. Name this actor.
8 - Add the number of players in an Australian Rules football team to the number of players in a Gaelic Football team.
9 - The following answers contain the word white - a) oatmeal recipe with chips, b) top snooker player, c) James Cagney film, d) harmless fib.
10 - You'll often see a demi-pension in France. What is it?
11 - Which three flavours make up a Neapolitan ice cream?
12 - In Irish folklore a wailing banshee is a sign of what to come?
13 - Name the world's top three most populous countries.
14 - What does "giga" mean in gigahertz and gigawatt?
15 - Which type of living creature has the largest eyes?
16 - What is the first creature listed in the dictionary?
17 - Funnyman Matthew Hall is better known to TV viewers as whom?
18 - Where is your zygomatic bone?
19 - Identify these vehicles - a) wheeled revolution, b) southern county, c) film extract, d) where pet goldfish might live?
20 - Which short word meaning manufactured is an anagram of a type of cheese?

1 - On display at Edinburgh Castle. It was brought up from Westminster Abbey in 1996.
2 - When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going. It was a chart hit for Billy Ocean and Boyzone.
3 - 1990.
4 - A breed of dog.
5 - The girls are The Three Degrees and a severe interrogation is the third degree.
6 - From Latin tri via, "three ways". In Rome, information kiosks were located at road intersections.
7 - Frank Thornton, who plays Truly in Last Of The Summer Wine, was Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?
8 - 18 plus 15 is 33.
9 - a) White pudding, b) Jimmy White, c) White Heat, d) white lie.
10 - A hotel providing bed, breakfast and one main meal a day.
11 - Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
12 - A death.
13 - China (1.2 billion), India (1.03 billion) and the USA (293 million).
14 - 1000 million.
15 - The giant squid. It's eyes are larger than footballs.
16 - The aardvark.
17 - Harry Hill.
18 - In your face, it's the prominent part of your cheek.
19 - a) Cycle, b) surrey, c) trailer, d) tank.
20 - Made (Edam)

Elementary!

Quiz-A-Day - 007

1 - We say a clue deliberately intended to mislead is a "red herring". Why?
2 - The following clues give answers containing the word "light" - a) Sunderland FC's home ground, b) song by The Doors, c) Canadian singer/songwriter, d) Doris Day film.
3 - Does the Sikh name Singh mean lion, bear, wolf or tiger?
4 - Which British Prime Minister said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it"?
5 - We've all heard of a peregrine falcon, but what does peregrine mean?
6 - The Statue of Liberty is situated on which island?
7 - Name the twins who came up with the idea of the Guinness Book Of Records.
8 - Are you breaking the law by driving at 64km an hour in a 50 mph area?
9 - If you were given three magnums of champagne, how many bottles would you have?
10 - "Each time we have a quarrel, it almost breaks my heart" is how which famous 1950s song begins?
11 - If someone is described as hirsute what are they?
12 - Which gland in our bodies produces tears?
13 - What shape is a balalaika?
14 - Add a J to the name of a car manufacturer to make a feature of Norway.
15 - How did the expression to "throw in the towel" originate?
16 - Unscramble OUR HOLE PLANS to recall a top BBC TV sitcom.
17 - Did the Bronze Age follow the Iron Age or vice-versa?
18 - How many US states begin with "new"?
19 - We've all heard of dalmatian dogs, but where is Dalmatia?
20 - Is it a good idea to carry your umbrella during a pluvial season?

1 - To confuse the hounds, hunt saboteurs would drag strong-smelling herrings, red because they'd been smoked over a fire, along the ground.
2 - a) Stadium of Light, b) Light My Fire, c) Gordon Lightfoot, d) On Moonlight Bay, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon or Where Were You When The Lights Went Out?
3 - Lion.
4 - Sir Winston Churchill.
5 - Wanderer or migratory.
6 - Liberty Island in New York harbour.
7 - Norris and Ross McWhirter.
8 - No, you're only doing 40 mph.
9 - Six, a magnum holds two.
10 - A Teenager In Love.
11 - Hairy.
12 - The lachrymal gland.
13 - Triangular. It's a stringed musical instrument.
14 - Ford and fjord.
15 - In boxing bouts, seconds will throw in a towel to concede defeat on their man's behalf.
16 - Open All Hours.
17 - Vice-versa. The Bronze Age came before the Iron Age.
18 - Four. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York.
19 - It's a region of Croatia.
20 - Yes, it means rainy.

Quiz-A-Day - 006

1 - Why are bruises so colourful?
2 - How much is a standard prescription item?
3 - Een, twee, drie, vier, vijf are the numbers one to five in which language?
4 - Name the six stars of the Scooby Doo cartoons.
5 - What are loops, whorls, and arches on our bodies?
6 - Identify the following "Andys" a) carpenter on TV's Changing Rooms, b) Looby Loo's friend, c) Solitaire singer, d) Scots TV football presenter.
7 - Why do we never see the seeds in carrots?
8 - What is the principal part of a lion?
9 - Do your fingernails really grow faster than your toenails?
10 - Which is more fattening - milk or plain chocolate?
11 - Do children usually learn to read or count first?
12 - Why is a spiked drink called a "Mickey Finn"?
13 - How long do you have to be missing before being presumed dead?
14 - Why might you take an Ishihara test?
15 - Name the longest serving UK Labour Prime Minister.
16 - Why are eggs egg-shaped?
17 - What does corned in corned beef mean?
18 - What's the difference between solid and sterling silver?
19 - In the legend of Robin Hood what was the occupation of Alan-a-Dale?
20 - What are dorgis?

1 - When blood leaks near the skin and skin isn't broken it can't escape. As you heal, the blood is broken down into its components, which are colourful.
2 - £7.10 (as of 1st April 2008)
3 - Dutch.
4 - Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo.
5 - Fingerprint patterns.
6 - a) Handy Andy Kane, b) Andy Pandy, c) Andy Williams, d) Andy Gray.
7 - Because they're harvested before the plant has a chance to produce seeds in its second year.
8 - The mane!
9 - Yes, three or four times as fast.
10 - Milk chocolate, which contains more fat.
11 - Usually counting first.
12 - Probably from Mickey (Michael) Finnish, a Chicago saloon-keeper who allegedly drugged his customers.
13 - The police never just assume someone is dead, but for insurance purposes it's seven years.
14 - To test for colour blindness. It's a series of dotty pictures.
15 - Harold Wilson (over two terms, from 1964-70, then 1974-76).
16 - They're more comfortable for the bird to lay than other shapes, fit together better in the nest and less likely to roll away than a ball shape.
17 - Salted, from the large grains or corns of salt.
18 - Sterling silver isn't pure silver.
19 - A minstrel.
20 - Crosses between corgis and dachshunds.

What's with Google's new mini icon?

What's the most recognised logo in the world? It would probably be Google's if only they could stick to one. Yet as the world's most popular search engine tries out a new favicon, Craig Smith says the old branding rulebook is being rewritten.

It's not the size that matters, it's how often you use it. So the thinking goes at Google, which has just revealed the design of its latest favicon - the tiny logo that shows any web user, on any web browser, anywhere in the world, precisely whose internet "real estate" they are currently residing upon.

An example of a favicon can be seen at the top of this page (so long as you are using an up-to-date enough web browser). Just in front of the URL http://news.bbc.co.uk/... there is a small BBC logo. That 16x16 pixel square is the size of the favicon in question, if not the scope.

Google's changing masthead 1998 (top) and now

Now consider that, at the website owner's discretion, the logo appears on every single one of its pages that the world's web population loads. For Google that amounts to upward of 1, 200 million individual searches. Every day.

Add to that its Google News, Google Images, mobile search and multitude of other online services. Suddenly the favicon takes on an importance that belies its fingernail-sized dimensions, and the motivation for Google to roll out its third design in less than a year, as it attempts to get its favicon right, becomes clear.

Google's journey to this latest multi-coloured graphic identity charts a course through some of the unique challenges of favicon design, and through those of logo design in general. The world's leading search engine, whose very name has been adopted as the generic term for finding pages on the web, has achieved web domination without ever having had an actual logo.

Magic Eye style

Think of Google visually and you will probably picture the letters that make up the word Google, picked out in bright primary colours. In the designer's lexicon, rather than being a logo, Google has a logotype - albeit a very successful one around which it is famed for creating ever-changing topical "doodle" themes.

DESIGN A FAVICON What makes a good favicon? Here, BBC designer Mick Ruddy suggests four key points 1. Keep it simple ­- use basic shapes 2. Use a limited colour palette 3. Avoid fine detail or lots of gradients 4. Keep it sharp ­- keep an eye on blurring Design a favicon for us

What Google has so far lacked is the sort of universally recognised icon that identifies a Mercedes-Benz car at distance or, in technology terms, the Apple computer or Yahoo web page - all logos that these brands use as their own favicon, not least because they fit the diminutive dimensions. The word Google, by contrast, would not reduce and still be legible.

Cue the new Google favicon - a rainbow of differently shaped blocks. A bit like one of those "hidden" Magic Eye pictures popular in the 1990s, not everyone will immediately see that the Google favicon blocks interlock to form a "g" shape.

That hardly matters. The design makes best use of favicon limitations and is a marked evolution of Google's previous iterations - a small blue "g" on a white background since June of last year, and a capital "G" before that.

While the old branding rulebook would discourage such regular, radical overhauls, reeking as it does of indecisiveness and inconsistency, in the digital world such rules are temporary, at best.

Steve Plimsoll, of brand consultancy FutureBrand, says the traditional rules on corporate identity are starting to look a little tired.

Mighty morphin logos

"Logos are set to become fluid, ever-changing, customisable, even personalised entities and Google is the first global brand that understands this," says Mr Plimsoll, who is head of digital.

"We are going to have to get used to the idea of our brands changing frequently, and when we do, every three months will seem like the dark ages."

Remind you of anything?

If you don't like the new look, then, you can wait or, more proactively, send the company your own design. When Google unveiled the small 'g' last year, the company's head of search products & user experience, Marissa Mayer, hinted at a transitory solution, saying "by no means is the one you're seeing our favicon final; it was a first step to a more unified set of icons" and inviting users to contribute ideas.

The new favicon is based on a design sent in by André Resende, a computer science undergraduate student at the University of Campinas in Brazil.

It may sound indecisive, even amateurish, but the fast-changing nature of Google's digital world dictates it. While the billions of pages of Google's branded "real estate" is the headline figure, its real focus is to keep pace with users' mobile phones, computer task bars and web bookmarks in such a way as to keep directing them effortlessly back to Google - using the favicon as their guide.

For the world's biggest search engine, the world's smallest signpost is one of its most valuable assets.

Ancient Persians 'gassed Romans'

Remains in the city wall suggest toxic gases were used in a siege on the city

Ancient Persians were the first to use chemical warfare against their enemies, a study has suggested.

A UK researcher said he found evidence that the Persian Empire used poisonous gases on the Roman city of Dura, Eastern Syria, in the 3rd Century AD.

The theory is based on the discovery of remains of about 20 Roman soldiers found at the base of the city wall.

The findings were presented the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting.

The study shows that the Persians dug a mine underneath the wall in order to enter the city.

They also ignited bitumen and sulphur crystals to produce dense poisonous gases, suggested Simon James, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester.

The Roman assault party was unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes Dr Simon James, University of Leicester

He added that underground bellows or chimneys probably helped generate and distribute the deadly fumes.

The Romans apparently responded with counter-mines in an effort to thwart the siege.

"For the Persians to kill 20 men in a space less than 2m high or wide, and about 11m long, required superhuman combat powers - or something more insidious," said Dr James.

"The Roman assault party was unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes."

Excavations showed that the soldiers' bodies were stacked near the counter-mine entrance by the attackers to create a protective barricade before setting the tunnel on fire.

"It is clear from the archaeological evidence at Dura that the Sasanian Persians were as knowledgeable in siege warfare as the Romans," said Dr James.

"They surely knew of this grim tactic."

Evidence also shows that the Persians dug their mine with the intention of collapsing the city wall and adjacent tower.

Although the mine failed to destroy the structures, the attackers eventually conquered the city.

However, how they broke into the city still remains a mystery because details of the siege cannot be found in surviving historical records.

Dura was later abandoned, and its inhabitants were slaughtered or deported to Persia.

In 1920, the well-preserved ruins were unearthed by Indian troops trying to dig defensive trenches along the buried city wall.

The structures were excavated in a series of campaigns in the 1920s and 1930s by French and American researchers.

In recent years, they have been extensively re-examined using modern technology.

Dr James and a colleague are currently investigating records and objects collected about 80 years ago.

Europe's lost mist 'boosts heat'

The changes have been seen across all seasons, and all of Europe Quite what Keats would have made of it is anyone's guess, but "mist and mellow fruitfulness" appears to be on the decline in Europe. The number of foggy, misty and hazy days is diminishing across the continent, say scientists who have analysed the meteorological data. The researchers found this clearing of the air in the past 30 years may have amplified the warming of Europe. They report their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience. The research was led by Robert Vautard at the Atomic Energy Commission, Gif sur Yvette, France. Since the 1970s, European temperatures have risen by about half-a-degree Celsius per decade. This warming rate is faster than the global mean change (roughly equal to 0.18C per decade) and the trend averaged over all the Earth's land (roughly equal to 0.27C per decade) during the same period. The regional climate models used by scientists have failed to simulate the European experience, say Vautard and colleagues; and they point to legislation that has cleaned up Europe's air as the probable cause. This has limited the presence of the tiny particles, or aerosols, in the atmosphere which help trigger the low-visibility phenomena. All seasons With fewer fogs, mists and haze, more of the Sun's energy has been reaching the surface, leading to a rise a rise in temperatures, they tell Nature Geoscience. The team's analysis suggests the clearer air's contribution to the background warming trend may have been about 10-20% across Europe as a whole; and in Eastern Europe specifically, it may have been as much as 50%. Some of the changes have recently begun to slow Air trends 'amplifying' warming The team looked at horizontal visibility data from 342 meteorological stations across Europe. The changes recorded affect all seasons and all distances from zero to eight km. However, the team says the data also indicates that the decline in the low-visibility phenomena has slowed since 2000. "We conclude that the large improvements in air quality and visibility achieved in Europe over the past decades may mean that future reductions in visibility will be limited, possibly leading to less rapid regional warming," the team write. The group says its findings emphasise the importance of ground-level atmospheric processes in understanding the differences in regional climates.

Sex smell lures 'vampire' to doom

The sea lamprey's mouth has garnered it the nickname "vampire fish"

A synthetic "chemical sex smell" could help rid North America's Great Lakes of a devastating pest, scientists say.

US researchers deployed a laboratory version of a male sea lamprey pheromone to trick ovulating females into swimming upstream into traps.

The sea lamprey, sometimes dubbed the "vampire fish", has parasitised native species of the Great Lakes since its accidental introduction in the 1800s.

The work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Great Lakes on the US-Canada border support recreational fishing worth billions of dollars a year, which the lampreys would wreck but for a control programme costing about £20m annually.

This is thought to be the first time that pheromones have been shown to be the basis of a possible way of controlling animal pests other than insects.

"There's been extensive study of pheromones in animals and even in humans," said lead researcher Weiming Li from Michigan State University in East Lansing, US.

It was one of the worst things to hit the Great Lakes in the history of European settlement Marc Gaden

"But most researchers have presumed that as animals get more complex, their behaviour is regulated in a more complex way, not by just one pheromone," he told BBC News.

Professor Li's team released the synthetic version of a lamprey hormone from a trap placed in a stream where lampreys come to breed.

Females scenting it would swim vigorously upstream until they found the source, some becoming trapped in the process.

Death wish

The sea lamprey's natural life cycle takes it from birth in a stream to adulthood in the ocean, where it gains its vampirical appellation.

Circular jaws lock on to another, larger fish, and a sharp tongue carves through its scales.

From then on the lamprey feeds on the blood and body fluids of its temporary host, often killing it in the process.

Eventually, the satiated lampreys - both males and females - find a suitable stream to swim up, breed and die.

The female lampreys were lured into traps on the stream

Unlike salmon, which seek out the stream they were born in, lampreys appear willing to take any stream indicating a suitable breeding place; and perhaps pheromones play a role in identifying streams worth selecting.

In their native Atlantic Ocean, their numbers are controlled by predation; but in the Great Lakes they have no predators.

They first appeared in the 1800s after completion of the Erie Canal linking the lakes to New York.

Colonisation was completed a century later when other canals provided unfettered access to the upper lakes.

What followed was decimation of native fish.

"It was one of the worst things to hit the Great Lakes in the history of European settlement," said Marc Gaden from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), the body responsible for controlling the lamprey problem.

"Before it, we had a thriving fishery largely dependent on native fish such as the lake trout... but by 1940 they had colonised thousands of streams and fishermen were beginning to see the devastation."

Getting fresh

Many fish can survive only in fresh water or only in the oceans - or, like salmon, have a set migration between the two - but the lamprey appears to have thrived on its move from the saline Atlantic to the fresh environs of the five lakes.

Each individual devours a total weight of up to 20kg of trout or other host fish during its parasitic lifetime.

The GLFC has established a complex set of control measures, including dusting the streams with pesticides specific to the lamprey, building barriers to block their upstream migration, and releasing sterile males to reduce breeding.

"Why we're so enthusiastic about the pheromone work is that we see it as another tool in the arsenal," said Dr Gaden.

"We see it as away of tricking these spawning lampreys, and then you can do things to manipulate their behaviour in ways that would work against them - for example you could lure them into streams without suitable spawning habitat, or just into traps."

Professor Li's team is now planning a larger experiment, using the pheromone to trap female lampreys in 20 streams feeding into the lakes, which will take three years to complete.

Lost in Space Robot star May dies

Bob May (back left) landed the Robot part because he could fit in the suit

Veteron actor and stuntman Bob May, best known for donning The Robot's suit in the hit 1960s TV show Lost in Space has died at the age of 69.

The star died of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Lancaster, Los Angeles, his daughter Deborah said.

He was particularly fond of his Robot role, once saying he came to consider the suit a "home away from home".

May wore the suit for hours and learned the lines of every actor in the show so he would know when to respond to them.

Loyal sidekick

June Lockhart, who played family matriarch Maureen Robinson in the show, recalled how May had landed the job.

"It was one of those wonderful Hollywood stories. He just happened to be on the studio lot when someone saw him and sent him to see [producer] Irwin Allen about the part.

"Allen said 'If you can fit in the suit, you've got the job'."

Lost in Space was a space-age story about the Robinson family who were on a space mission when they became trapped in space.

The Robot was the Robinson family's loyal sidekick, warning them of approaching disaster at every turn, although May did not provide the voice to the character.

May went on to appear in numerous films with Jerry Lewis and in such TV shows as The Time Tunnel, McHale's Navy and The Red Skelton Show.

He and his wife lost their house in November when a wildfire destroyed their upscale mobile home park in the San Fernando Valley.

Britain’s pubs are now closing almost 10 times faster than in 2006

The number of pubs closing per week in Britain has accelerated to a staggering 39 per week.

The figures, compiled by CGA Strategy for the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), are released today when a new mandatory code of practice for the industry is set to be debated in Parliament.
The figure of 39 closures per week relates to the first six months of last year and is an increase of three per week from the previous figure of 36 given by the BBPA's research.

In total 1,973 pubs shut up shop in 2008, 40 per cent higher than the 1,409 closures reported by the BBPA in 2007.

Hayward added: “It is incomprehensible that the government not only seems to be so unconcerned about the loss of more pubs and jobs, but is introducing laws that they admit will make the problem worse. 44,000 jobs have been lost across the sector in the last couple of years and 59,000 more jobs will go unless action is taken.”

The figures reveal that community pubs are most at threat. Suburban pubs are closing at the rate of 19 a week, town centre pubs at eight a week and rural pubs at 13 a week.

Britain’s pubs are now closing almost 10 times faster than in 2006 (four a week) and nearly 20 times faster than in 2005 (two a week).

Milan 3 - L A Galaxy 0

Quiz-A-Day - 005

1 - Why does eating ice cream sometimes give you a headache?
2 - The following answers contain the word Easter - a) Judy Garland film, b) 1916 Irish rebellion, c) Pacific Ocean land, d) colourful hat.
3 - How much is a standard 10-year adult passport - £22, £32, £42 or £52?
4 - Are starfish really fish?
5 - Complete the proverb "An idle mind is . . ."
6 - Why were smugglers called bootleggers?
7 - What makes popcorn pop?
8 - Why are model pigs the most popular children's banks?
9 - The first five letters of this British football manager's name and his team are the same. Name them.
10 - How did Mercedes Benz cars get their name?
11 - Name two cups you don't drink from.
12 - Which children's film features a cowboy called Woody?
13 - What's the speed limit for a car towing a caravan on a motorway?
14 - Name three islands you associate with sweaters.
15 - Which nation invented paper money?
16 - Name three American TV detective show duos.
17 - Which type of road literally means "bottom of the bag" in French?
18 - With what is the oncology department of a hospital concerned?
19 - Calabrese is a popular vegetable. What's its more common name?
20 - From which language do we get the word paprika?

1 - The cold triggers a nerve reaction in the roof of your mouth, which causes blood vessels in your brain to swell.
2 - a) Easter Parade, b) Easter Rising, c) Easter Island, d) Easter bonnet.
3 - £42.
4 - No, they belong to a group of sea animals called echinoderms.
5 - The devil's workshop or playground.
6 - It derives from the smuggling of flasks of alcohol in boot legs.
7 - When it's heated water inside turns to steam and bursts through the kernels.
8 - The idea came from loose change storage jars made from orange "pygg" clay.
9 - Arsene Wenger and Arsenal.
10 - From Mercedes, the daughter of Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek, and inventor Karl Benz.
11 - Buttercups, eggcups or hiccups!
12 - Toy Story.
13 - 60 mph.
14 - Any three from: Jersey, Guernsey, Arran and Fair Isle.
15 - China.
16 - Any three from: Crockett & Tubbs, Cagney & Lacey, Starsky & Hutch, Mulder & Scully, etc.
17 - Cul-de-sac.
18 - The treatment of tumours.
19 - Broccoli.
20 - Hungarian.

Huge Iron Age haul of coins found

The 824 gold staters were found in a broken pottery jar

One of the UK's largest hauls of Iron Age gold coins has been found in Suffolk.

The 824 so-called staters were found in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market using a metal detector.

Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15.

They are thought to have been minted by predecessors of the Iceni Queen Boudicca.

Ms Plouviez said their value when in circulation had been estimated at a modern equivalent of between £500,000 and £1m, but they were likely to be worth less than that now.

TV presenter Tony Hart dies at 83

Tony Hart appeared on the shows Vision On and Take Hart

Artist and children's presenter Tony Hart has died, aged 83.

He had suffered from health problems for a number of years, including two strokes. His family said he died peacefully.

Mr Hart appeared on art programmes for nearly 50 years before retiring in 2001 because of health problems.

He first appeared on Saturday Special as an illustrator before fronting his own shows such as Vision On, Take Hart and Hart Beat.

The artist served as an officer in the 1st Gurkha Rifles in World War II, before joining a course at the Maidstone College of Art.

It was a chance meeting in 1952 with a BBC TV producer and a demonstration of his quick art skills on a paper napkin that secured his on-screen career.

Trivia Times 2009 - Latest Issue Out Now

£4-75

Milan 2 - L. A. Galaxy 0

Quiz-A-Day - 004

1 - Which characters have girlfriends called - a) Pandora, b) Primrose Paterson, c) Lois Lane, d) Jessica?
2 - What word can be a drinking glass and a bird?
3 - The answers to the following clues contain the word "drop" a) Joan Armatrading song, b) Bob Hope movie, c) Bros song, d) Channel 4 sitcom.
4 - The main stock market index in the UK is the FTSE 100. But in which countries would you find the following indices - a) The Dow Jones Industrial Average, b) the CAC 40, c) the Hang Seng, d) the Dax?
5 - What's the difference between venom and poison?
6 - Which electronics company's name means "sound" - Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Samsung, Sony?
7 - Where might you see Saint Elmo's fire?
8 - Shop items used to be priced in guineas. What was a guinea?
9 - From which musicals do the following songs come - a) All That Jazz, b) I Know Him So Well, c) I Don't Know How To Love Him, d) Mr Mistoffelees?
10 - Bigamy is being illegally married to two people, but what is digamy?
11 - Standing facing 10 Downing Street, is No. 11 to your left or right?
12 - Why is a voting session called a ballot?
13 - Who would wear a toque - a surgeon, chef, ballerina or mountaineer?
14 - What's a buckaroo?
15 - Which boy's name means "lord" in Greek - Cecil, Cyril, Nigel or Torquil?
16 - What type of bread contains a slang word for an American coin?
17 - How many teaspoons are there in a standard tablespoon?
18 - How many chess pieces should each player have at start of play?
19 - How many hours ahead of GMT is Tokyo - seven, nine or 11?
20 - On average, do blondes, redheads or brunettes have the thickest hair?

1 - a) Adrian Mole, b) Oor Wullie, c) Superman, d) Roger Rabbit or Bart Simpson.
2 - A tumbler, also a variety of pigeon which performs somersaults.
3 - a) Drop The Pilot, b) The Lemon Drop Kid, c) Drop The Boy, d) Drop The Dead Donkey.
4 - a) USA, b) France, c) Hong Kong, d) Germany.
5 - Poison is any natural or man-made harmful substance. Venom comes from an animal and is injected by biting or stinging.
6 - Sony. From "sonus", Latin for sound.
7 - In the sky. Luminous discharges of electricity in the atmosphere
during thunderstorms, it's often seen around ships' masts.
8 - 21 shillings. A pound was 20 shillings.
9 - a) Chicago, b) Chess, c) Jesus Christ Superstar, d) Cats.
10 - A legal second marriage after a divorce or death.
11 - To your left.
12 - It comes from Italian ballotta, small ball. Voters in ancient Rome put small balls into a container when registering their vote.
13 - A chef, it's the traditional tall white hat.
14 - Slang for a cowboy.
15 - Cyril.
16 - Pumpernickel.
17 - Three.
18 - 16 pieces.
19 - Nine hours ahead.
20 - Blondes.

Quiztime Sports Board

Attachment: Sports Board 160109.pdf

Free Picture Quizzes - Quiztime Vaults

Quiz-A-Day - 003

1 - What causes your arm or leg to "fall asleep"?
2 - Bombay changed its name to Mumbai not long ago, but what did we used to call Chennai?
3 - Complete the titles of the following Radio 4 programmes - a) Book At . . ., b) Letter From . . ., c) Start The . . ., d) Afternoon . . .
4 - Why are traditional hat shops called milliners?
5 - Why is "amen" said at the end of a prayer?
6 - Name the longest bone in your body.
7 - Is the North Pole colder or warmer than the South Pole?
8 - What kind of car never has wheels on the ground?
9 - What is a hootenanny?
10 - What type of clothing is a Mary Jane - a shoe, a blouse, a hat or a skirt?
11 - Which group found fame after they changed their name from Touch?
12 - In clothes care symbols, a triangle below the letter X signifies what?
13 - Why are spider's webs sometimes called cobwebs?
14 - What is the largest wild bird you can find in the UK?
15 - Was there really a Buffalo Bill?
16 - Do dark-haired people usually go grey earlier than people with fair hair?
17 - The answers to the following clues contain the word "sweet" - a) Wet Wet Wet song, b) Shirley Maclaine film, c) Elvis Presley backing singers, d) Balamory shopkeeper.
18 - If someone gave you a baklava would you eat, wear, drive or plant it?
19 - How many planets in the Solar System end with the letter S?
20 - Which TV quiz have both Bob Holness and Michael Aspel presented?

1 - The sensation is caused by pressure interrupting blood flow and signals through your nerves.
2 - Madras.
3 - a) Bedtime, b) America, c) Week, d) Play.
4 - From Milaner, a native of Milan, as Milan was famous as a source of hats and stylish goods.
5 - It means "so be it" or "I second the sentiments".
6 - Your femur or thigh bone.
7 - The North Pole tends to be warmer.
8 - A cable car.
9 - A performance of folk music, usually in front of a lively audience.
10 - A low-heeled shoe with a single strap.
11 - The Spice Girls.
12 - Do not chlorine bleach.
13 - Originally coppe web. Coppe is an old word for a spider.
14 - The mute swan.
15 - Yes, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody was born in LeClaire, Iowa in 1846.
16 - No, you just notice it more in the early stages.
17 - a) Sweet Little Mystery or Sweet Surrender, b) Sweet Charity, c) The Sweet Inspirations, d) Suzie Sweet.
18 - Eat it. It's a honey and nut dessert in pastry.
19 - Three - Mars, Uranus and Venus.
20 - Blockbusters.

Games People Play

The DNA of detection

As the bicentenary of Edgar Allan Poe is celebrated, fans should be thanking him for his invention of the modern detective genre, writes crime fiction author Andrew Taylor.

Bestseller lists and library lending figures tell the same story - crime and detective stories are more popular than ever, and their success has spilled over into film and TV drama.

It's remarkable how many of the genre's classic elements can be traced back to the feverishly fertile imagination of one man, Edgar Allan Poe. Once you start looking, the clues are everywhere.

Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his gloomy gothic tales

Born 200 years ago, on 19 January 1809, Poe was a prolific writer of poetry, fiction and essays. But his influential contribution to crime and detective fiction mainly derives from a handful of short stories.

The most important are the three featuring his French investigator, C Auguste Dupin.

The first, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, was published in 1841, predating the founding of a detective office even at Scotland Yard. Its format brought about a revolution in fiction.

Dupin is well-educated and eccentric. He relishes the intellectual challenge of pitting his analytical abilities against those of the conceited but frequently baffled prefect of police in Paris - a man who calls "every thing 'odd' that is beyond his comprehension".

Lines of descent

Dupin is extraordinarily skilled in inferring the thoughts of others from the smallest external traces. He also has a loyal friend who narrates the stories and signals the proper responses to readers ("Dupin... I do not hesitate to say that I am amazed").

THE DUPIN STORIES Dupin lives in seclusion His sidekick is constantly amazed by deductions Police portrayed as dull-witted Poe calls detection ratiocination The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) is tale of killing of woman and daughter in locked room The Mystery of Marie Roget is based on details of real murder The Purloined Letter is about missive used by blackmailer

Sounds familiar? Arthur Conan Doyle admitted that he used Poe's formula as a blueprint for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. From Holmes, there are clear lines of descent to Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey and Bunter, Margery Allingham's Albert Campion and Lugg, and of course to Agatha Christie's series protagonists.

One reason why the format has lasted is that it can so easily be adapted. Christie's Hercule Poirot is a Belgian designed to amuse English readers with his quaint foreign ways while he uses his ferociously efficient "little grey cells" to solve fictional murders.

She invented another variant in Miss Marple, the elderly spinster whose detective talents are rooted in her experience of village life.

Many of Dupin's descendants are either amateurs of crime or private detectives whose role sets them apart from official investigators. But some are found in the police force.

The clever criminal

Inspector Alleyn, created by Christie's contemporary Ngaio Marsh, is a case in point. Only nominally a policeman, he detects from choice rather than to earn a living.

In diluted form, this version of Dupin still flourishes today, most notably in PD James's Adam Dalgliesh and Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse. Recently the role of Dupin as a semi-independent investigator has been assumed by those with psychological expertise, such as James Patterson's Alex Cross and Val McDermid's Tony Hill.

The classic detective uses his powers because of the love of detection

One relatively recent development is what might be called the criminalisation of Dupin, an ingenious variant that gives his intellectually superior role to the criminal.

But the idea has been around for a while - as far back as 1899 Ernest William Hornung, Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, invented Raffles, a gentleman burglar who runs rings around the police.

Patricia Highsmith gave the idea a distinctive contemporary twist with her psychopathic anti-hero Tom Ripley. An even closer criminal parallel to Dupin can be found in the twisted psychology and almost superhuman powers of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter. It's a shorter leap than at first appears from the Dupin stories to The Silence of the Lambs.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is also the first locked-room mystery, an idea enormously fashionable among writers in the Golden Age of detective fiction.

Elegantly-crafted puzzle

In the second (and least successful) Dupin story, The Mystery of Marie Roget, Poe attempted to use his deductive skills in fictional form to solve a genuine murder in New York City, initiating the long-standing tendency of crime writers to look to real life for their raw material.

The third story, The Purloined Letter, is not a murder mystery but an elegantly-crafted puzzle whose solution has inspired generations of crime writers.

EARLY DETECTIVES The Three Apples in 1001 Nights is story of woman's body found in locked chest in river Bao Gong An mystery story dates from Ming Dynasty ETA Hoffmann's Das Fraulein von Scuderi (1819) tells story of series of murders in Louis XIV-era Paris

Dupin is Poe's greatest legacy to crime fiction but not his only one. Another short story, The Gold-Bug, revolves around the deciphering of a code leading to buried treasure. Stevenson used both elements in Treasure Island.

Conan Doyle employed a similar device in The Dancing Men, and codes have featured in the genre ever since. The line stretches through John Buchan and Sayers to Dan Brown.

Poe's Thou Art the Man is a bizarre murder mystery whose interest derives not from its solution but from its use of forensic evidence (markings on a bullet prove to have come from a particular rifle).

Forensics have become an increasingly significant ingredient - witness the careers of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs. Poe himself was drawn to science. After all, it's the appliance of reason.

Stories of crime and punishment have enthralled people for thousands of years. But Poe knew that his "tales of ratiocination" were "something in a new key". Readers have always enjoyed pitting their analytical abilities against those of the brilliant detective.

Poe's influence on crime fiction does not stop there. He was also deeply interested in crime itself, and in his best fiction connects it with his deep-rooted obsessions with guilt and death.

The Black Cat, for example, is narrated by a man whose moral disintegration begins with his gouging out a cat's eye and culminates in the murder of his wife. The Tell-Tale Heart also has an unreliable narrator whose failing grasp of reality leads him to commit murder.

Criminal insanity

William Wilson, which draws heavily on Poe's schooldays in England, is yet another story that ends in murder - this time of the narrator's alter ego (doubling is a frequent motif in Poe).

In The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator walls up a friend in a catacomb and leaves him to die because of a real or imagined insult.

Criminal insanity, the mind of the murderer, unreliable narrators - these are familiar themes to readers of modern psychological thrillers, such as those of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine. But not just to them - few crime novelists today, from Ian Rankin to Sara Paretsky, are not fascinated by the intricacies of the criminal mentality.

Of course Poe is not the only nineteenth-century author to have staked a claim in this territory, but he is arguably the most influential.

Crime and detective fiction has other ancestors, including the hardboiled urban crime writing popularised by the pulp magazines and Noir cinema.

But there's no question that Poe's influence continues to run deep and wide. It has done so for more than 160 years, and it shows no signs of petering out.

Andrew Taylor is the author of The American Boy, inspired by Poe's childhood, as well as Bleeding Heart Square. He was awarded the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger by the Crime Writers' Association.

Quiztime Picture Quiz - Heavy On The Make-Up

Attachment: QPQ 160109 - Heavy Make-Up.pdf

Time's Up!

10 things we didn't know last week

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

1. Motown was originally called Tamla.
More details

2. Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers were both founded in 1850. And both failed in spectacular fashion exactly a year apart.
More details

3. There are more than 50 million lightning strikes in Brazil each year, on average.
More details

4. Countdown is French.
More details

5. The fast food that generates the most litter is McDonald's.
More details

6. City traders with long ring-fingers make more money.
More details

7. A typical Google search produces between 0.2g and 7g of carbon dioxide.
More details

8. An intense ketamine high gives an out-of-body-experience known to recreational users of the horse tranquiliser as the "K-hole".
More details

9. The first man to view the Moon through a telescope was not Galileo. He was English.
More details

10. John the Good was bad and William the Bad was good.
More details

Three million hit by Windows worm

The worm can also spread via USB flash drives.

A worm that spreads through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without the latest security updates is posing a growing threat to users.

The malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.

Although Microsoft released a patch, it has gone on to infect 3.5m machines.

Experts warn this figure could be far higher and say users should have up-to-date anti-virus software and install Microsoft's MS08-067 patch.

Right now, we're seeing hundreds of thousands of [infected]unique IP addresses Toni Koivunen, F-Secure

According to Microsoft, the worm works by searching for a Windows executable file called "services.exe" and then becomes part of that code.

It then copies itself into the Windows system folder as a random file of a type known as a "dll". It gives itself a 5-8 character name, such as piftoc.dll, and then modifies the Registry, which lists key Windows settings, to run the infected dll file as a service.

Once the worm is up and running, it creates an HTTP server, resets a machine's System Restore point (making it far harder to recover the infected system) and then downloads files from the hacker's web site.

INFECTED IPs WORLDWIDE China 38,277 Brazil 34,814 Russia 24,526 India 16,497 Ukraine 14,767 Italy 13,115 Argentina 11,675 Korea 11,117 Romania 8,861 United States 3,958 United Kingdom 1,789 Source: F-Secure

Most malware uses one of a handful of sites to download files from, making them fairly easy to locate, target, and shut down.

But Conficker does things differently.

Anti-virus firm F-Secure says that the worm uses a complicated algorithm to generate hundreds of different domain names every day, such as mphtfrxs.net, imctaef.cc, and hcweu.org. Only one of these will actually be the site used to download the hackers' files. On the face of it, tracing this one site is almost impossible.

Speaking to the BBC, Kaspersky Lab's security analyst, Eddy Willems, said that a new strain of the worm was complicating matters.

"There was a new variant released less than two weeks ago and that's the one causing most of the problems," said Mr Willems

"The replication methods are quite good. It's using multiple mechanisms, including USB sticks, so if someone got an infection from one company and then takes his USB stick to another firm, it could infect that network too. It also downloads lots of content and creating new variants though this mechanism."

"Of course, the real problem is that people haven't patched their software. If people do patch their software, they should have little to worry about," he added.

Technicians have reverse engineered the worm so they can predict one of the possible domain names. This does not help them pinpoint those who created Downadup, but it does give them the ability to see how many machines are infected.

"Right now, we're seeing hundreds of thousands of unique IP addresses connecting to the domains we've registered," F-Secure's Toni Kovunen said in a statement.

"We can see them, but we can't disinfect them - that would be seen as unauthorised use."

Microsoft says that the malware has infected computers in many different parts of the world, with machines in China, Brazil, Russia, and India having the highest number of victims.

Quiz-A-Day 002

1 - Who holds the record for the UK's most Number One singles in the pop charts?
2 - Butterflies taste with their feet - true or false?
3 - Why do snakes shed their skins?
4 - What is a maitre d' in a restaurant?
5 - In 1986 the theme from TV's EastEnders made it into the pop charts. Who was the singer?
6 - Which of the following is a real suburb of Calcutta - Mub Mub, Dum Dum, Bug Bug or Fop Fop?
7 - Who looks into the Mirror of Erised?
8 - Does Britain or the USA own the Virgin Islands?
9 - Why is colour blindness more common in men?
10 - Join the names of two Scottish football clubs to make an English football club.
11 - What is Britain's highest civilian award for gallantry?
12 - What are singing hinnies?
13 - By what name is the celebrity Katie Price better known?
14 - Why might 14 minutes to six in the evening remind you of a famous Scottish conflict?
15 - Which US state became the first to enter the union in 1787 - Colorado, New York, Georgia, Oregon or Delaware?
16 - Unscramble SEE YOUR HANDY POSE to locate a famous Australian landmark.
17 - Which Status Quo hit might remind you of the artist L.S. Lowry?
18 - Which traditional Scots song begins, "Oh the summer time is coming, And the trees are sweetly blooming . . .
19 - Why are they called trade winds?
20 - How are Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant better known on the pop scene?

1 - Elvis Presley with 18. The Beatles had 17 and Cliff Richard has had 14.
2 - True, they have sensitive taste organs on their feet.
3 - The outer layer wears out as they outgrow it and a new skin forms underneath.
4 - Short for maitre d'hotel, it's the head waiter.
5 - Anita Dobson, who played Angie Watts, sang Anyone Can Fall In Love.
6 - Dum Dum.
7 - Characters in Harry Potter books.
8 - Both. Some are British territories, others American.
9 - The gene is carried by the X chromosome. Men have one and women two, so men don't have a second unaffected X chromosome to cancel out the defect.
10 - Queens Park and Rangers to make Queens Park Rangers.
11 - The George Cross.
12 - Scones said to "sing" when baked on a griddle.
13 - Glamour model Jordan.
14 - Because 1746 is the date of the Battle of Culloden.
15 - Delaware.
16 - Sydney Opera House.
17 - Pictures Of Matchstick Men. Lowry is famous for his street scene paintings featuring matchstick figures.
18 - Wild Mountain Thyme.
19 - Comes from the nautical expression "to blow trade", meaning to blow along a regular trading route.
20 - The Pet Shop Boys.

Leadership

Milan 1 - L A Galaxy 0

Download Junkie

Highlights This Week Include:
	ActionOnline Lite 3.0 Freeware Organise your life, thoughts and notes 16 January 2009
	iCash 5.1 Shareware Manage your personal finances 16 January 2009
	PortableTor 0.2 Freeware Surf the web anonymously from any computer 15 January 2009
	Foxmarks 2.6.2 Freeware Synchronise your Firefox bookmarks & passwords 15 January 2009
	LittleSnapper 1.0.1 Trial Software Alternative way of collecting websites, storing & sharing with friends 14 January 2009
	Microsoft Songsmith 1.0 Trial Software Quickly create & record your own music 14 January 2009
	Mozilla Snowl for Firefox 0.2 Freeware Keep in touch with other users from your web browser 14 January 2009
	Copernic Desktop Search 3.1 Home Freeware Quickly search and locate files 13 January 2009
	IObit SmartDefrag 1.1.0.2 Freeware Defragment your hard drive 14 January 2009
	The Dude 3.1 Freeware Map and view your entire network 14 January 2009

Recommended Downloads

TuneUp Utilities 2007 Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5 SE Paragon Partition Manager 9 Express iolo Search and Recover 5 PC Tools Desktop Maestro 2 Iolo System Mechanic 8 Spyware Doctor 6 Starter Edition Paragon Drive Backup 9 Express Avanquest Connection Manager Wise-FTP 3 See more recommended downloads..

Rumpole's creator Mortimer dies

Sir John's Rumpole was a screen favourite over three decades

Dramatist and author Sir John Mortimer, who created enduring character Rumpole of the Bailey, has died aged 85 after a long illness.

Sir John, who began working as a barrister in the 1940s, went on to become one of the most prolific writers of books and screenplays.

He first radio play was broadcast in 1957, and later wrote a TV adaptation of Laurie Lee's Cider With Rosie.

Sir John, whose daughter is actress Emily Mortimer, was knighted in 1998.

His other well-known screen creations included obnoxious Conservative MP Lesley Titmuss, portrayed by actor David Threlfall.

Hamilton unveils new McLaren car

Hamilton and Kovalainen pose with their new F1 challenger

Lewis Hamilton has unveiled the car he will drive this season as he defends his Formula One world title.

The Englishman and Finnish team-mate Heikki Kovalainen took the wraps off the new Mercedes-powered MP4-24 at the team's base in Surrey.

It is the third 2009 car to be unveiled after Ferrari and Toyota's new models broke cover earlier this week.

Test driver Pedro de la Rosa will give the car its debut in a private test at Portugal's Algarve circuit on Saturday.

Hamilton is attending a news conference at the state-of-the-art McLaren Technology Centre in Woking along with Kovalainen, De la Rosa of Spain and his fellow test driver, Englishman Gary Paffett, as well as team bosses Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh and Norbert Haug of Mercedes-Benz.

Hamilton, 24, won last year's title by a single point from Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who has already had a day testing his team's new car.

Ferrari, Renault, Williams and Toyota - whose car was unveiled on Thursday - will join McLaren at the new Algarve circuit in Portugal next week.

606: DEBATE If McLaren have got it right this year, they will be very hard to beat Mr-Foglo

It is the first of a series of critical tests before the start of the new season in Melbourne, Australia on 29 March.

Renault, fourth last year, and Williams both launch their cars at that test on Monday, while BMW Sauber - third overall in 2008 - have chosen the Valencia track in Spain for the first public appearance of their new model.

All the new cars have been designed to conform to the biggest set of F1 rule changes in 25 years, which are aimed at improving racing and making overtaking easier.

The Algarve test will be the first time Hamilton has driven an F1 car at speed since clinching the title and becoming F1's youngest ever champion in Brazil last November.

He has done a handful of publicity appearances and other engagements since then but has spent much of his time having a break from F1 with his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, singer with pop group the Pussycat Dolls.

Following the unveiling of the Ferrari in Italy on Monday, much attention will be paid to how the McLaren compares.

The new car was launched in the lobby of McLaren's high-tech base

New rules have forced modifications which lower and widen the front wing, and demand a tall, narrow rear wing.

Slick, untreaded tyres will also be reintroduced after 11 years on grooved tyres, and teams have the option of employing a kinetic energy recovery system (Kers).

The Kers system stores energy that would otherwise be wasted as heat during braking, then reapplies it during acceleration to provide a boost in power, controlled from the cockpit by the driver.

The fashion so far has been for a tightly-waisted rear to the car, to ensure effective airflow to the rear wing - with Ferrari's particularly narrow. McLaren's new challenger is expected to follow that trend.

Pirates win music download battle

Lil Wayne's track Lollipop was the most legally downloaded single

Ninety-five per cent of music downloaded online is illegal, a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has said.

The global music trade body said this is its biggest challenge as artists and record companies miss out on payments.

There has, however, been a 25% rise since last year with downloads now accounting for a fifth of all recorded music sales.

The IFPI said worldwide music market revenues shrank by 7% last year.

Steady growth

This was blamed on falling CD sales, while the increase in digital sales failed to make up for this.

The IFPI, which represents 1,400 companies in 72 countries, estimated more than 40 billion music files were illegally shared in 2008.

There were 1.4 billion single tracks legally downloaded in 2008, with the top-selling digital single, Lil Wayne's Lollipop, selling 9.1 million copies.

There is a momentous debate going on about the environment on which our business, and all the people working in it, depends John Kennedy, IFPI

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said that despite the launch of many legal download services, customers still seemed to prefer to get their music free online.

The report revealed that the digital music business has grown steadily during the past six years.

In 2008, it grew by an estimated 25% and is now worth $3.7bn (£2.5bn)

Music fans in the UK downloaded 110 million single tracks in 2008 and bought 10.3 million digital albums - accounting for 7.7% of the market.

John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, said the industry had changed its approach to doing business.

He said: "There is a momentous debate going on about the environment on which our business, and all the people working in it, depends.

"Governments are beginning to accept that, in the debate over 'free content' and engaging ISPs in protecting intellectual property rights, doing nothing is not an option if there is to be a future for commercial digital content."

Quiztime Handout - The Bands

Attachment: Picture Board - Bands 1.pdf

The lost villages around Heathrow

Timber-framed cottages stood in the hamlet of Heath Row

The village of Sipson is due to be demolished to make way for Heathrow's controversial third runway - wiping 700 homes and a school from the map.

During the 1940s two other communities faced a similar fate as the airport was developed.

The village of Sipson is set to be consigned to the pages of history.

Lying on land planned for a new runway and dual-carriageway, it seems residents will soon have to begin new lives elsewhere.

Despite a long campaign, homes and businesses are expected to be the subject of compulsory purchase orders (CPO).

They were moved to suburban homes and all they had at best was a bit of garden Alan Gallop, author

But it is not the first time communities have been pulled apart for the airport's expansion.

Until the early 1940s there was a thriving agricultural industry in the hamlets of Heath Row and Perry Oaks.

About 500 people lived there. Most grew fruit, vegetables and flowers on land around their homes.

There had been a settlement there for hundreds of years - Heath Row was mentioned in the Domesday Book.

But during World War II both became buried under concrete as the airport which would become Heathrow was built.

The government drew up a plan in 1946 over how the airport should grow

The Terminal 3 departures building is situated where Heath Row once stood.

While Terminal 5 was built on top of the former Perry Oaks hamlet.

Alan Gallop, author of Time Flies, a history of Heathrow Airport, said up to 300 families were relocated in the 1940s when the airbase, then known as the Great Western Aerodrome, began to expand.

"When the plan was first mooted it was originally going to be an RAF base," he said.

"There was a very small aerodrome already on the site."

The Great Western Aerodrome was run by Fairey Aviation.

Mr Gallop said CPOs were issued to buy properties which stood in the way of the development.

Homeowners were offered the market value price as well as further compensation for their loss of land and crops if they could produce receipts.

Terminal 5 stands on what was once Perry Oaks

Mr Gallop said most could not and so did not get their money until the 1950s.

As well as losing their homes, nearly all were forced to give up their livelihoods, as they had no land on which to grow crops at their new properties.

"They scattered all over the place like the children of Israel," Mr Gallop said.

"They were moved to suburban homes and all they had at best was a bit of garden."

He added several were able to move to Kent, where they had enough land to carry on their trade.

FREE Weekly Quizzes - Quiztime UK

In The News - Quiz

1. A revised encyclopaedia covering which successful book and film character will go on sale in the UK later this month?
HARRY POTTER

2. Three quarters of parents believe which type of venue is the best place to bond with their children?
FOOTBALL GROUNDS

3. Plans of which official residence of the Queen were found on a footpath?
HOLLYROOD HOUSE

4. Name for US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter, who gave birth to a baby son?
BRISTOL PALIN

5. Which Hollywood star said her New Year resolutions are “to stop smoking, start wearing a bra and stop shopping”?
CAMERON DIAZ

6. In which year did the first series of Celebrity Big Brother take place?
2001

7. Who was the winner of the first Celeb BB?
JACK DEE

8. In which city is the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest taking place?
MOSCOW

9. Who is the new presenter of Countdown?
JEFF STELLING

10. Which city is set to host the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards?
BERLIN

11. Since 1972 how many “leap seconds” have been added because of the Earth’s slowing rotation?
24

12. Name the veteran South African anti-apartheid campaigner who died at the age of 91 in Johannesburg?
HELEN SUZMAN

13. Which former glamour model dialled 999 in a bid to get to the panto on time?
LINDA LUSARDI

14. Name the non-league side that were thrown out of the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player when they beat Chesterfield at the 4th attempt?
DROYLSDON

15. Which country last week became the 16th member of the eurozone?
SLOVAKIA

16. A political alliance headed by former PM Sheikh Hasina won a landslide victory in which country’s first election in 7 years?
BANGLADESH

17. Michael Vaughn was left out of the England squad for the tour of the West Indies. When was his test debut?
NOVEMBER 1999 IN SOUTH AFRICA

18. Who is to succeed David Tenant and become the 11th Dr Who?
MATT SMITH

19. Name the famous crystal and china maker which has joined a growing roll-call of business failures?
WATERFORD WEDGEWOOD

20. President-elect Barack Obama has left his home in which city as he moved to Washington ahead of his inauguration?
CHICAGO

21. Which movie star has said that Scientology helped him overcome dyslexia?
TOM CRUISE

22. A group claims which famous British tradition could be “extinct” within 20 years?
MORRIS DANCING

23. Who will Nottingham Forrest play in the FA Cup 4th round after an emphatic win against Manchester City?
DERBY

24. Which Coronation Street favourite is to return in the form of a haunted hat?
FRED ELLIOT

25. Who will announce the nominations at this years Brit Awards?
FEARNE COTTON

26. Who is the cover star of Vogue’s February edition?
CHERYL COLE

27. Which high street retailer is said to be planning to axe more than 1,000 staff as the economic gloom worsens?
MARKS & SPENCER

28. Hospital patients will be allowed to use what item on wards after official policy guidelines were relaxed?
MOBILE PHONES

29. House prices fell by what percentage in 2008, the biggest drop on record according to Nationwide figures?
15.9%

30. Which 2 housemates are up for eviction from the Celebrity BB House?
ULRIKA JONSSON & LUCY PINDER

31. Name The Stooges guitarist who has died? Age?
RON ASHERTON 60

32. Who will be the first team to launch their new car for the 2009 F1 season?
FERRARI ON JANUARY 12TH

33. Which invention has been rated the most important gadget in a new Government poll?
THE SMOKE ALARM

34. The Hong Kong government has agreed to preserve a former home of which martial arts legend and turn it into a tourist attraction?
BRUCE LEE

35. Which arts venue is to let US tourists in free of charge to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama?
MADAME TUSSAUDS

36. Name the French motorcyclist who has during while competing in the Dakar Rally? Age?
PASCAL TERRY 49

37. Who has taken over as England cricket captain following the resignation of Kevin Petersen?
ANDREW STRAUSS

38. Which 2 former British PM’s have been added to the online Oxford Dictionary of Biography?
EDWARD HEATH & JAMES CALLAGHAN

39. A Norfolk woman has been convicted of harassing which actor who starred as Judge John Deeds?
MARTIN SHAW

40. What is the name and breed of the dog that is mum to 18 new puppies?
BUTTONS DALAMTION

41. Tony Blair is to receive America’s highest civilian award from George Bush. What is it called?
THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

42. What did Sunday Telegraph reporter Colin Freeman say he survived on during his 40-day kidnap ordeal in Somalia?
RICE, GOAT & ROTHMANS

43. Name the porn star who caused anger over his comments about lesbian couple Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson?
RON JEREMY

44. Which London borough topped the list of councils issuing Court Summons for Council Tax arrears last year?
SOUTHWARK

45. Which ex-footballer was named among this year’s Dancing On Ice contestants?
GRAEME LE SAUX

46. Name the US actress who missed a panto performance in Southampton when she was detained by immigration officials at Heathrow?
STEFANIE POWERS

47. Who was the first housemate to be evicted from this years Celebrity BB?
LUCY PINDER

48. Which talk show, hosted by Trisha Goddard has been axed by Channel Five?
TRISHA

49. Which music supreme has accused Simon Cowell’s X Factor of “torturing contestants”?
LORD ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

50. With the real surname of Harman, name the 60’s pop star who has lost his 3-year battle with cancer? Age?
DAVE DEE 65

51. Which actor has signed up to promote a new Bionic Rechargeable Hearing Aid?
LEE MAJORS

52. Which “bear of very little brain” is to make a comeback after 80 years?
WINNIE THE POOH

53. Who was the first British female solo artist to sell a million copies of a single in the UK?
ALEXANDRA BURKE

54. US President-elect Barack Obama is to appear on the cover of a special edition comic featuring which superhero?
SPIDERMAN

55. Which Japanese manufacturer has pulled out of MotoGP?
KAWASAKI

56. Which retailer has bought 51 former Woolworths stores which could create 2,500 jobs?
ICELAND

57. Name the cult author knighted in the New Year’s Honours?
SIR TERRY PRATCHETT

58. Whose new album to be released in March will be called “No Line On The Horizon”?
U2

59. Who directs the new Star Trek film? And which original cast member makes a cameo appearance?
JJ ABRAMS LEONARD NIMOY

60. Michael Sheen will play which revered football boss in the 2009 movie “The Damned United”?
BRIAN CLOUGH

61. Which pop star had 2008’s most lucrative tour?
MADONNA

62. Which circuit will host the British F1 GP in 2010?
DONNINGTON PARK

63. Prince William and Harry last week set up a new office to deal with their affairs. Where is it?
ST JAMES’S PALACE


64. Car giant Nissan axed 1,200 jobs at which plant in the UK?
SYNDERLAND

65. Interest rates were cut to 1.5% the lowest level in the Bank of England’s history. When was it founded?
1694

66. Nigel Clough was named last week as the new manager of Derby County. For how many games was his father Brian in charge of the Rams?
289

67. In which English county is the village of Allenheads which saw temperatures of -10C last week?
NORTHUMBERLAND

68. Tax payers will own 43% of which financial institution after the Treasury bought up millions of shares?
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

69. Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at the Golden Globes, picking up 4 awards. Who directed it?
DANNY BOYLE

70. Manchester United signalled their intent to win the Premiership with a 3-0 victory over Chelsea. Name the scorers? (surnames will do as its saves my ink)
VIDIC – ROONEY – BERBATOV

71. Name the state owned Russian energy supplier, set to resume pumping the pumping of gas through pipelines in the Ukraine?
GAZPROM

72. Which retailer has announced plans to create 5,000 jobs, boosting plans to get the long-term jobless back to work?
MORRISONS

73. Which popular 1980’s compilation album has been re-released as part of celebrations to mark its 25th birthday?
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 1

74. Known as the godfather of French film, name the French director and producer who has died? Age?
CLAUDE BERRI 74

75. Name the veteran BBC sports broadcaster who has died? Age?
DAVID VINE 73

76. Which former footballer became the first celebrity to be kicked of Dancing On Ice?
GRAEME LE SAUX

77. Chelsea lost their first away game to which team this season?
MANCHESTER UNITED

78. Charlotte Church has given birth to her 2nd child. What is the baby’s name?
DEXTER LLOYD HENSON

79. What is the name of the militant group currently at war with Israel?
HAMAS

80. The first steam engine to be built in Britain for nearly half a century has recently gone on show at the National Railway Museum in which city?
YORK

81. Of the 92 English League clubs only 2 started 2009 without a single away win this current season. Both in the Premier League. Name them?
FULHAM STOKE CITY

82. Which 2 darts players met in the BDO World Championship final this year?
PHIL TAYLOR RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD

83. A new series of the Krypton Factor, hosted by Ben Shepherd, returned to our screens after a 14-year break. Name the original host?
GORDON BURNS

84. In which city were more than 60 people killed in a New Years Eve night club fire?
BANGKOK

85. The president of Guyana has asked police to investigate who has put him on which social networking website?
FACEBOOK

86. Actor Bernie Hamilton, best known for his role as Captain Dobey in which 1970’s TV series, sadly passed away at the end of 2008?
STARSKY & HUTCH

Additional content at - LINK

Quiz-A-Day - 001

1 - Which is the best-selling chocolate bar in the UK?
2 - Which wild plant is sometimes called "the Irish daisy"?
3 - Identify the following pop singing "Billys" from their songs - a) Caribbean Queen, b) Because We Want To, c) Achy Breaky Heart, d) An Innocent Man.
4 - Which children's toy do you associate with Steiff of Germany?
5 - Ponderosa was the name of the ranch in which classic American TV series?
6 - If someone gave you a steelhead, would you put it in your toolbox, cook it for your tea, wear it round your neck or play a tune on it?
7 - If your airport luggage tag says PMI to which airport are you flying?
8 - If you say something is kenspeckle, what do you mean?
9 - What time of day can look the same upside down?
10 - Which American state has the smallest population?
11 - Who used a mattock in days gone by - a weaver, a barrel-maker, a locksmith or a farm labourer?
12 - What is a mule the offspring of?
13 - Which is the largest brass instrument?
14 - What was the first name of the person who gave his name to the Atkins diet?
15 - If you ordered gumbo in a Cajun restaurant what would you expect to receive?
16 - Sharks have no bones - true or false?
17 - Do married men live longer than bachelors?
18 - Where in your body is your aqueous humour?
19 - How did the expression eating "humble pie" originate?
20 - Which was the first European country to make wearing seat belts compulsory - Portugal, Switzerland, Poland or Czech Republic?

1 - Cadbury's Dairy Milk.
2 - The dandelion.
3 - a) Billy Ocean, b) Billie Piper, c) Billy Ray Cyrus, d) Billy Joel.
4 - Teddy bears.
5 - Bonanza. It was owned by the Cartwright family.
6 - Cook and eat it, it's the saltwater form of rainbow trout.
7 - Palma, Majorca.
8 - It is easily recognisable.
9 - NOON
10 - Wyoming (498,703).
11 - A farm labourer - it's a hand-held implement for tilling the soil.
12 - A donkey and a mare.
13 - The bass tuba.
14 - Robert Atkins, who was an American.
15 - A soup thickened with okra pods.
16 - True, they have a skeleton of cartilage.
17 - Yes, there's evidence to suggest they do.
18 - Your eye. It's the clear fluid separating the cornea from the iris.
19 - It was "umble pie" originally. Umbles were the heart, liver and entrails of the deer made into a pie for the humble servants.
20 - Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1969.

What's in a nickname?

The Asian polo player Prince Charles calls Sooty has defended the prince against accusations of racism. But the big problem with most nicknames is that those who they apply to don't get to choose them.

"I have to say," said Kolin Dillon, responding to the allegation that he had become a target of a racist slur, "that you know you have arrived when you acquire a nickname."

Mr Dillon, who it emerged is widely known by the sobriquet Sooty by his polo-playing friends, among them the future British monarch, said he had never taken any offence from the name.

It was a "term of affection with no offence meant or felt," he said.

Prince Charles, aka Brian to Private Eye readers

The comment appears to have swiftly dampened the flames of what threatened to be another royalty racism inferno - coming just days after Prince Harry had used the word Paki.

But the clarification at least answers one question that can be asked of all nicknames - is it affectionate or abusive?

"No one really chooses their own nickname," says Robert Easton, author of The Good, the Bad and the Unready: The Remarkable Truth Behind History's Strangest Nicknames, "even royals."

The Roman Emperor Sigismund is one of a handful of exceptions. His self-conferred appellation The Light of the World "sort of stuck" says Mr Easton. It's certainly more deferential than that given to his predecessor of several hundred years, Justinian II, otherwise known as "the slit-nosed one".

Egyptian names like Baldy, Lazy, Nosy, and Big Head have been recorded. And the Roman Emperor born Gaius Julius Caesar would forever be known as Caligula ("Little Boot") on account of being brought up in a military camp and wearing miniature military footwear as a child. Andrew Delahunty, author of several books on the subject including the Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames, cites various reasons why the culture of nicknames is in such rude health today.

Punter, Gringo, Tarzan

"Among work colleagues and close-knit teams, nicknames - even uncomplimentary ones - can help to cultivate a sense of belonging and camaraderie," he says. "Some are purely descriptive, drawing attention to some physical characteristic, others pick up on some personal quality or attribute or pay tribute to an achievement or an amusing incident."

NICKNAMES EXPLAINED The Audi Chancellor - ex-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (four-times married) Afghan - cricketer Mark Waugh, waited so long for test debut he was called 'the forgotten Waugh' Lewis 'Scooter' Libby - ex-advisor to George Bush, 'scooted' around his cot as a baby

Coining a nickname for a boss or a celebrity "closes the gap between them and us" and can be a "way of poking a little fun at them and cutting them down to size.

"And it's difficult to shed them once they've stuck."

With the Sooty story in mind, some cultures are notably less sensitive about drawing on a person's race or appearance as inspiration for a nickname, says Mr Delahunty. In South America, a white ex-patriot will invariably be known as "Gringo" - but it would not be considered a term of abuse - while a thin person is "Flaco".

While in some sports nicknames are a way of life. No member of the Australian cricket team is worth his salt until he has a pithy pet name - the captain Ricky Ponting, for example, is "Punter" due to his love of placing a bet.

Politics is no stranger to the spectacle, either. Think Tarzan (Michael Heseltine) and Bambi (Tony Blair). In this context, nicknames have no greater friend than the newspaper headline writer, for whom brevity is all. Hence Iain Duncan-Smith's diminishment to simple old IDS.

Margaret Thatcher's standing was never harmed by her epithet The Iron Lady. But history, at least, shows that deeper motives are often at play when it comes to flattering nicknames of those in power.

Good was bad

"John the Good [John II of France] was a horrible piece of work," says Mr Easton. "Either the name came from an historian because he wanted to stay in his good books or maybe he once did something good and that just stuck.

I hate being called the Boss Bruce Springsteen

"Actually I think in this case it was the French being sarcastic - they love calling something something that it's not."

Conversely, William the Bad of 12th Century Sicily "was really good".

"He did lots of good things, like founding hospitals and being nice to his subjects. But the name was probably the handiwork of a historian who was trying to endear himself to William's successor," says Mr Easton.

It seems that both Madonna and Bruce Springsteen could empathise with the more prosaically named William I of Sicily. Neither is enamoured with their nickname, says Mr Delahunty.

"After Madonna married British film director Guy Ritchie, the British tabloid press started referring to her as Madge, jokily casting her as a suburban housewife," he says. "But it's been reported she doesn't like the nickname. In 2002 a front-page story in the Daily Star newspaper had the headline Don't Call Me Madge."

The defiantly blue-collar Springsteen, meanwhile, dislikes his moniker, The Boss.

"In the early days when he and the E-Street Band played gigs in small venues, it was Bruce's job to collect the money and pay the rest of the band," says Mr Delahunty. "This led them to start calling him The Boss, a nickname which has stuck."

Brian and Cheryl

"I hate bosses," Springsteen has complained since. "I hate being called the Boss."

Pop singer Madonna does not delight in the nickname Madge

Yet as any boss knows, when you contract out a job to someone else, you lose a crumb of control.

Witness Princess Diana's desire to be known as the Queen of Hearts. The name never really stuck and it's Tony Blair's posthumous christening of her as the People's Princess which has more traction with today's public.

So what of Prince Charles himself - a man who satirists and caricaturists haven't shied from drawing inspiration from?

"Private Eye always calls him Brian and Diana was Cheryl. But I think he will come to be known as Charles the Green, for his environmental concern," says Mr Easton.

Of all these nicknamed individuals, some would never have been addressed as such to their face, and others only by a close circle of friends.

However, few can have embraced their nickname as readily as Sting. When addressed by a journalist as Gordon, he replied: "My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting. Who is this Gordon character?"

Census Notes

(Crown copyright RG14/PN67, courtesy of The National Archives)

The release of the 1911 census has been immensely popular so far, says Elaine Collins, commercial director of findmypast.com. By midnight on Tuesday, there had been 3.4m searches and 17.4m page views.

But it will be a long wait to delve into the next census, taken in 1921 and not releases until 2022 under the 100-year rule. And the 1931 census was destroyed in a warehouse fire in 1942 - the result of an accidental blaze, rather than wartime bombing. After this, the Office of National Statistics took over the storage of all censuses.

There was no census taken in 1941 so the next known record of the population, taken in 1951, will not be available for public use until January 2052.

Quiztime Picture Board - 150109

Attachment: Quiztime Picture Board 150109.pdf

Fantasy Island's Montalban dies

Montalban was best-known as the mysterious white-suited Mr Roarke

Actor Ricardo Montalban, who starred in the popular US TV show Fantasy Island in the 1970s-80s, has died aged 88, a Los Angeles city official says.

The Mexican-born actor died at his home, the official said.

Fantasy Island ran for six years and centred on a magical island where guests could live out their dreams.

Montalban - who had a long career in entertainment - was also well-known for playing the villain in Star Trek, both on television and in a feature film.

Montalban's death was announced by Eric Garcetti, who represents the LA district where the actor lived.

David Brokaw, the actor's friend, described him as a "very courtly, modest, dignified individual," the Associated Press news agency reports.

Montalban had been a film star in Mexico before moving to Hollywood in 1946.

Quiztime Robots Handout

Attachment: Picture Board - Robots 150109.pdf

Name The Year Handout - 3

YEARS FEATURED

1905 / 1915 / 1925 / 1945 / 1955 / 1965 / 1975 / 1985 / 1995 / 2005

Attachment: Quiztime Name That Year 3 110109.pdf

The Prisoner

Patrick McGoohan: The Prisoner actor dies aged 80

Patrick McGoohan: appeared in The Prisoner and Columbo. Photograph: Allstar

Patrick McGoohan, the Emmy award-winning actor who created and starred in 1960s TV show The Prisoner, has died at the age of 80.

The actor's son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg, said today that McGoohan had died yesterday in Los Angeles after a short illness.

McGoohan was best known as the title character Number Six in surreal drama The Prisoner, which aired on ITV in the UK. He played a former spy who is held captive in a small village and constantly tries to escape.

He also won two Emmys for detective drama Columbo, playing different characters, with the first coming in 1974 and the other 16 years later.

More recently, McGoohan appeared as King Edward Longshanks in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart.

McGoohan, who was born in New York but raised in England and Ireland, came to screen prominence in ITV's early 1960s drama series Danger Man, in which he played a secret agent.

He was also considered for the lead role in the first James Bond movie, Dr No, before Sean Connery was cast.

However, it was The Prisoner, which aired originally on ITV between 1967 and 1968, with which he was chiefly associated, writing some of the episodes himself under a different name.

His character, Number Six, spent the entire time attempting to escape from a prison – which was disguised as a holiday camp – and trying to find out the identity of his captor, the elusive Number One. He repeatedly declared: "I am not a number - I am a free man!"

In 2000, McGoohan reprised his most famous role in an episode of The Simpsons. His last acting job came in 2002, voicing a character in animation Treasure Planet.

ITV is currently remaking The Prisoner in conjunction with American cable channel AMC.It is due to air later this year.

UK tops world wine imports table

Growth in the wine market is expected to continue, albeit more slowly

It may be more commonly associated with lager louts or warm bitter, but the UK has become the world's biggest importer of wine, according to new figures.

Imports topped 1.6bn bottles in 2007, according to the industry body Vinexpo.

Wine from Australia proved most popular among British drinkers, ahead of French and American imports, it said.

Adults are likely to get through 28.3 litres a year on average, well short of the world's most prolific wine drinkers - the French - who sink 58.8 litres.

Despite the increasing quantities of wine flowing into the UK, the industry has not escaped the effects of the economic downturn.

Sales dropped by more than 3.5% in the first nine months of 2008, largely due to falling sales in pubs.

Annual growth in the wine market is expected to halve to 6% by 2012 although consumption will still increase, the Vinexpo report said.

Whisky sales down

White wine will increase in popularity from an estimated 764 million bottles last year to 823 million by 2012 and rose sales are expected to rise by almost 50% to 220 million.

Britons got through 720 million bottles of red in 2008 but this is expected to fall to 687 million by 2012.

Meanwhile, Scotch is continuing to lose out in the popularity stakes to the UK's favourite spirit - vodka.

Vinexpo, which organises the world's biggest wine and spirits exhibition, said sales of whisky dropped 11% between 2003 and 2007 and will continue falling.

In 2007, Britons bought 96 million bottles of vodka and that is predicted to rise by a fifth in the next three years.

Historic Astoria closes its doors

The Astoria first opened in the 1927 as a cinema

London's famous Astoria Theatre will hold a Demolition Ball later before closing its doors for good to make way for the Crossrail development.

Demolition is due to begin in the coming weeks on the venue that has hosted The Rolling Stones and Nirvana.

The Astoria is one of 13 buildings to be knocked down in the Tottenham Court Road area of central London.

The £16bn rail development will link Maidenhead in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex via Heathrow airport.

Last British television factory closes

Set against the tumult of the economic downturn, the announcement that an obscure factory in East Anglia is to close with the loss of 60 jobs is hardly the most momentous news.

It is not just any old factory, though; it is our last real link with a device that changed the shape of the 20th century and occupies more of our leisure time than any other man-made object.

When the Sanyo UK factory in Lowestoft shuts next month, Britain will no longer make televisions. The nation that invented television and pioneered its use as a broadcasting medium will have to leave that to other countries.

The Lowestoft plant, which once employed 350 workers and turned out 500,000 sets a year, was owned by Philips before Sanyo bought it in 1982, and before that Pye. Pye, Decca, Murphy, Dynatron and HMV; back in the Fifties and Sixties, when no one would even dream of buying a foreign set, those were the names people thought of when thinking of televisions.

READ MORE - THE TIMES ONLINE - LINK

What makes a good daytime game show?

Countdown is back on television with new presenters to replace the late lamented Richard Whiteley, and cherished number cruncher Carol Vorderman. But what is it that propels some daytime game shows into viewers' hearts?

The phrase "game show" is not one laden with positive connotations.

Along with its cousin "quiz show", it conjures up unpleasant images in the mind of the enemies of dumbing down in modern television.

COUNTDOWN First broadcast in 1982 Presented by Richard Whiteley until death in 2005 Based on French show Des chiffres et des lettres Prototype Calendar Countdown broadcast on Yorkshire TV New presenter Jeff Stelling known for Sky Sport's Soccer Saturday New numbers guru is 22-year-old Oxford graduate Rachel Riley Successful contestants often also used to appear on Five's BrainTeaser

They think of overlit studios where gurning former local radio DJs scatter corny quips as sweating contestants struggle to name the capital of Italy or tackle three-letter anagrams.

But the recent controversy over Countdown's choice of new presenters shows the intense feelings that some tea-time game shows can generate.

For those who have never heard the immortal words "consonant please Carol", Countdown works thus:

• Two contestants go head to head making the longest words they can from a selection of letters.

• They must make a number from a selection of other numbers using addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

• They must solve a conundrum, a nine-letter anagram.

Broadcast since the birth of Channel 4 in 1982, the show is based on a French format from the 1960s, Des Chiffres et Des Lettres.

A game show's success is all about pitching it at the right intelligence level, says William G Stewart, producer and presenter of Fifteen to One for 15 years until 2003, and twice a guest presenter on Countdown.

SOME OF WILLIAM G STEWART'S FAVOURITE QUESTIONS 1. Who won both a Nobel prize and an Oscar? 2. From the world of sport, what distinction did Eddie Eagan earn? 3. On a related theme, what was Philip Neame's unique achievement? Answers at the bottom

"They must be at a level of intelligence that the viewers will appreciate. The longest running and most appreciated quiz shows have always been intelligent ones like Mastermind and University Challenge. Countdown [despite not technically being a quiz show] comes into that category."

In a daytime or teatime show, this aspect is particularly important. The picking up of viewers from the previous show, the "inheritance", may be less of a factor than on a primetime Saturday night show.

The game show needs to be a distinctive offering for intellectually under-occupied segments of the audience like retirees and students. And they want to feel almost as if they are taking part, says Countdown "octochamp" and Fifteen to One series winner Jack Welsby.

"The main thing is that people can play along at home. You have the same constraints as the contestants."

Graduate reminiscences

For Countdown, these constraints are provided by the famous illuminated clock and the music counting the 30 seconds down. "De-ne-de-ne-de-ne-nah-naaaah."

Mr Stewart is astounded by the regularity with which he hears graduates reminisce about watching Fifteen to One when they should have been studying.

I was described as a geography master standing in front of pupils - Terry Wogan used to call me the gauleiter William G Stewart

"I've been into an accountant's office and some 24-25 year-old says 'I used to watch it every day at university'. As far as I know at university they do nothing but watch Fifteen to One and Countdown."

Expanding into game shows after being an established producer of television comedy and drama, Mr Stewart has an insight into why certain formats work and others fail.

Shows are often picked up from other countries, as was the case when he brought The Price is Right and Family Fortunes (originally Family Feud) back from the US. But any format must be tinkered with to make it gel with the target audience and fit logistical constraints.

"You have to recognise a good format. I had dozens sent to me. The only one that was appealing was Twenty to One, sent to me by a British Telecom salesman. It was the best investment I ever made, two hundred pounds for a one-year option."

Fifteen to One winners received kudos and historic artefacts rather than cash

Of course, when the decision was made to make the show for Channel 4 instead of the BBC it had to drop down to Fifteen to One to fit into a show with adverts.

In the successful format 15 contestants have to answer two out of three questions to qualify for a second round. They then nominate each other in the second round, losing lives for wrong answers until only three remain. In the final round, they must "question or nominate", balancing the need to knock out the two remaining contestants with the need to accumulate a high score to make the finals leaderboard.

The "gladiatorial quality" was part of the format's success says Stewart, with viewers engaged by the idea that quite knowledgeable people could still see themselves knocked out in the first round.

And of course a big part of any show's success is the ambiance the hosts generate, such as the badinage of Countdown.

Shows do not always have to be cerebral to have cult appeal

"Over the years Countdown has developed a very distinctive feel," says Mr Welsby. "It is a cosy tea-time show. When they think of Countdown they think of Richard Whiteley's delivery and Carol Vorderman's laugh."

The viewer has to have some affinity with the host, concurs Mr Stewart. "They always thought I was like a severe teacher. I was described as a geography master standing in front of pupils. Terry Wogan used to call me the gauleiter [a Nazi party official].

"When I used to be out shopping in the high street in Richmond or Kingston I would hear a voice behind me say 'question or nominate'."

These stock phrases help brand game shows. Many might have forgotten the Euro-tinged quiz Going for Gold from its original incarnation in the late 80s and early 90s, but give them: "I'm a type of antelope, I live in the Serengeti in Africa, I migrate in May. What am I?" and you may get a spark of recognition.

Catchphrase, the ITV game show that ran for 16 years from 1986 to 2002, was innovative in its use of computer graphics to represent maxims and sayings, but it probably sticks in the public consciousness as much for Roy Walker's handling of some of the inept efforts at answers. "It's good, but it's not right" and "say what you see" will live forever in the game show pantheon.

And of course at the root of the successful shows is the quality of the puzzles and questions.

THE ANSWERS 1. George Bernard Shaw won the Nobel prize for literature in 1925 and an Oscar for his work on the Pygmalion screenplay in 1938 2. Eagan is the only person to have won a gold medal at both the summer and winter Olympics 3. Neame is the only person to have won a Victoria Cross and an Olympic gold

"Over the 15 years, I asked about half a dozen questions that were simply incorrect," says Mr Stewart. "Every time I did that, the letter and phone calls came in like a torrent."

Linked questions and recurring themes allow contestants like Mr Welsby to steer their educated guessing and also prepare for appearances. He remembers "Charles Dickens and the order of succession" being fertile territory on Fifteen to One.

And if all else fails, the important thing is always to have a go. Mr Welsby recalls being asked a question involving American jockeys. He only knew one. "Steve Cauthen" proved to be the correct answer.

"I managed to keep a straight face," says Mr Welsby.

Paper trail to the past

The full details of the 1911 census occupy two kilometres of shelving

Almost the entire 1911 census goes online for public access on Tuesday. Rob Liddle looks at what we can hope to find out from it and how organisers hope to avoid a repeat of the deluge that shut the 1901 census website last time.

The answers to thousands of questions lurk within the two kilometres of shelving space taken up by the 1911 census documents at the National Archives in London.

Among the eight million returns are family secrets that have lain undiscovered for generations and pages inhabited by the previously unknown relatives of those alive today.

CENSUS SENSITIVITIES The 1911 census is not covered by The Census Act 1920, which required the closure of subsequent censuses for 100 years A challenge was made under the Freedom of Information Act to have access to the 1911 census earlier than the customary 100 years Following referral, the Information Commissioner ruled that access should be given Personally sensitive information such as "details of infirmity or other health-related information" will not be released until 2012 1911 census

These families - as yet untouched by the horrors of a new kind of war - seem to exist in a different world from ours, yet, 98 years on, the existence of some of the people that helped shape our lives is marked.

For many of us, grandparents and great-grandparents are among the 36 million people listed, appearing in their home environments, their names, ages and relationships written on the page in the hand of our ancestors.

Lessons from 2002

People power has seen the 1911 census details being released earlier than the scheduled 2012 date, following a successful challenge under the Freedom of Information Act [see factbox above]. Details for Scotland will not be published until 2011 due to privacy laws.

This has meant that, for the past two years, an average of one census image per second has been scanned in preparation for the online launch. Some documents are still being copied, but most details are available online from the start.

The last census to become publicly available was that of 1901, which went online in 2002. Then, the website was overwhelmed by demand - 1.2 million requests an hour - and had to be withdrawn five days after its launch, reopening seven months later.

READ A 1911 CENSUS FORM Form filled out by the Morgan family [935KB] Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

Since then, interest in family history has continued to grow, with many more useful records becoming available online and TV shows such as Who Do You Think You Are? helping to raise awareness.

Findmypast.com, which is hosting the details on a pay-per-view basis, carried out some testing of the service over the festive period, which was deemed to have gone well. It is confident its offering is "pretty robust", although it is bracing itself for huge demand. Even so, some users might balk at having to pay about £3 a pop to download a record.

"It's impossible to predict how great the demand will be," says Debra Chatfield, Findmypast's marketing manager. "However, the site is able to withstand three times the traffic that the 1901 site got at its peak."

'No vote - no census'

The 1911 census brings us closer to our ancestors than previous censuses have. It is the first time that the original householders' schedules were preserved and used as working documents, giving us access to our relatives' handwriting.

Also, householders were asked for the first time to state how long they had been married, and how many children had been born to that union, including those that had died - all priceless details for family historians.

But such demands were seen as an unnecessary intrusion by some at the time. One householder completed his form with the words: "Would you like to know what our income is, what each had for breakfast and how long we expect to live on anything else?"

An archivist handles material from the eagerly-awaited 1911 census

Others were equally scathing. Suffragette organisation the Women's Freedom League arranged a boycott of the form-filling and one apparent sympathiser wrote: "No vote - no census.

Another woman declared: "If I am intelligent enough to fill in this paper, I am intelligent enough to put a cross on a voting paper."

Elsewhere, the humour of the British public is apparent. A mother of five children lists her occupation as "slave to family", and a man claims his is "anything, nothing special". In another household the family cat is listed as a servant whose nationality is "Persian".

Family fortunes

For me, finding my grandmother listed as a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Paddington, London, on the 1911 census helped solve a mystery further back in time that I had been unable to crack using the available records.

I had long been keen to establish a link with a rather disreputable customs officer who lived in Cardigan in the 1850 and 60s.

I felt I knew David Morgan well - how he had been an "efficient and steady" middle-ranking official and father-of-four until the death of his wife Anne Mathias at the age of just 37, and how his life then spiralled out of control.

My grandmother Hilda appears as a 12-year-old on the census return

First he was demoted when officials back in London found his staff's wages had not been paid and later sacked when he was found on Bristol dockside "near a public house" and "intoxicated and incapable of performing his duty".

His claims, detailed in tribunal evidence among documents at the National Archives, that his apparent state had been caused by an accidental trip on a dockside rope, were discounted.

But was the two-year-old Thomas Morgan living with his comfortably-off parents in Cardigan in 1861 the same person who features as a night watchman and head of my grandmother's family in distinctly working-class Paddington in 1911?

I believed so, but family history research in Wales is notoriously difficult - the naming systems and relatively small number of surnames means it is difficult to tell one Morgan from another through the mists of time.

However, a single word on the household schedule provided the key - a great-uncle Robert I never knew I had carried the middle name "Mathias", in memory of his grandmother, and that was enough for me to be sure I had the right family.

For many people, the 1911 census will help to resolve issues that exist at the periphery of our collective living memory.

Name The Year Handout - 2

YEARS FEATURED

1949 / 1957 / 1968 / 1972 / 1974 / 1985 / 1988 / 1991 / 2007

Attachment: Quiztime Name That Year 2 110109.pdf

Ronaldo named Fifa player of 2008

Ronaldo beat Kaka, Torres, Messi and Xavi to the title

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the Fifa World Player of the Year for 2008.

The Portugal and Manchester United winger becomes the first Premier League player to win the award.

Ronaldo, 23, beat AC Milan's Kaka, Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Xavi to the prestigious title.

Obituary - David Vine

David Vine. Photograph: BBC

David Vine, who has died of a heart attack at the age of 74, was a multi-purpose sports presenter and commentator for the BBC for 35 years, long associated with snooker and Ski Sunday. Known for his distinctive West Country tones, he always had the assured self-confidence to weather jokes about his middle-of-the-road spectacles and jumpers.

In the 1970s, so often was he targeted that he began to seem like a resident character in Clive James's Observer television column. Once, commenting on the return of one programme with which Vine was instantly identifiable, James wrote: "Back came Ski Sunday, bringing David Vine with it. 'Just watch the way this man has the rhythm through the gates ... ooh, and he's gone! Stenmark has gone!' By now even David must be falling prey to the suspicion that he has the evil eye. All he has to do is start praising a skier for his rhythm and you know the stretcher-bearers are already moving in."

Vine's star status was confirmed when a puppet of the snooker player Steve Davis was seen on Spitting Image boasting: "I'm a mate of David Vine." Later, his popularity led to cameo appearances in French and Saunders (1987) and as a skating commentator alongside the bungling sleuths played by Jasper Carrott and Robert Powell in The Detectives (1993).

Born in Newton Abbot, Devon, Vine was brought up in Barnstaple, where he attended the local grammar school before becoming a reporter on the North Devon Journal Herald. A keen rugby player, he played for South Molton and often covered matches in which he was taking part. After national service in the army's Intelligence Corps, he joined the Western Morning News in Plymouth and rose to be sports editor. Moving to the ITV regional company Westward Television (1962-66), he set up its sports department and was seen on screen as a reporter.

In 1966, the BBC hired Vine as a presenter of the national magazine show Sportscene and he was soon a familiar face in sports coverage on both BBC1 and BBC2. He was a stand-in presenter on the Saturday afternoon programme Grandstand, became a reporter on Rugby Special and hosted the first colour broadcasts from Wimbledon in 1967, remaining presenter of the tennis tournament's highlights programmes until 1982. Any viewers who thought of him as bland had to revise their opinions when he confronted John McEnroe following the US player's "you're the pits" jibe to a Wimbledon umpire in 1981. "What right have you got to call anyone an incompetent fool?" Vine asked McEnroe. "He told me he'd never talk to me again after that," the presenter recalled, "but he did, the following day."

Vine's face was also synonymous with snooker and skiing. Snooker had already built up a television following with Pot Black, which featured the BBC's own knockout snooker competition, when, in 1977, Vine started presenting its coverage of all the major tournaments. Eight years later, 18 million viewers saw Dennis Taylor take the World Championship title with the final black ball of the final frame against the then world No 1, Steve Davis.

"I have been delighted to have been part of one of the most successful and most watched sports on television and to have seen 'unknowns' like Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry and many others become some of the most famous names in the sport," said Vine after presenting his final tournament in 2000.

Ski Sunday was launched in 1978 after public interest in Franz Klammer's dramatic downhill win at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games, and Vine continued with it for 18 years.

Throughout his time at the BBC, Vine proved adept at hosting sports entertainment programmes. He was a presenter and commentator for the first few years of It's a Knockout (1967-71), whose absurd games between amateur athletics teams in crazy costumes were described by one critic as "a competition to perform the pointless in the quickest possible time".

He will also be remembered by many as the first presenter (1970-78) of the quiz show A Question of Sport, in which two panels of stars - originally captained by the boxer Henry Cooper and the former Welsh rugby international Cliff Morgan - had their sports knowledge put to the test. The busy Vine was succeeded by David Coleman in the chair.

Then came The Superstars (1974-84), in which Vine and Ron Pickering challenged sportsmen and women, past and present, to compete against each other in running, swimming, shooting, canoeing and cycling events, as well as showing their strengths in the gym.

Vine also hosted showjumping events, including The Horse of the Year Show, commentated on bowls and gymnastics, and covered the return to Britain of the round-the-world yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston. Away from sport, he commentated on the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and, a year later, presented Miss World.

He underwent triple heart bypass surgery in 2001, the year after he retired from the BBC following his final Olympics, in Sydney, as a weightlifting commentator - a specialism he had developed over many games.

Vine's first wife, Shirley, died in 1970; he is survived by his second wife, Mandy, along with their son, Christian, and the son and two daughters of his first marriage, Martin, Kim and Katherine.

• David Martin Vine, television sports presenter, born 3 January 1935; died 11 January 2009

Name The Year Handout

YEARS INCLUDED
1962 / 1969 / 1971 / 1977 / 1982 / 1983 / 1998 / 1999 / 2006 / 2008

Attachment: Quiztime Name That Year 1 100109.pdf

Quiztime Picture Quiz

THEIR NAME IS THEIR JOB...

Prev: Quiztime Picture Quiz 090109

Comeback for Pooh after 80 years

A A Milne's first Winnie the Pooh book was published in 1926

The late AA Milne's beloved children's character Winnie the Pooh is set to return to bookshelves, 80 years on from his first literary appearance.

The Bear of Very Little Brain will make his comeback in Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorised sequel to Milne's original 1920s stories.

The book - written by David Benedictus with illustrations by Mark Burgess - is out in the UK and US on 5 October.

The new book has the blessing of the A A Milne and E H Shepard Estates.

Shepard, who died in 1976, drew the famous illustrations for Milne's 1926 book Winnie-the-Pooh and its 1928 follow-up, The House at Pooh Corner.

In December a collection of his original drawings fetched £1.26m at auction in London.

'Celebrations of childhood'

"We have been hoping for a good many years that we might one day be able to offer the world a sequel which would do justice to the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories," said Michael Brown of the Trustees of the Pooh Properties.

"The original books were one of the greatest celebrations of childhood in any language, but we believe that David Benedictus and Mark Burgess have captured the spirit and quality of those original books.

"We hope that the many millions of Pooh enthusiasts and readers around the world will embrace and cherish these new stories as if they had just emerged from the pen of A A Milne himself."

Benedictus, who adapted and produced audio adaptations of Winnie-the-Pooh starring Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and Jane Horrocks, said it was an "honour" to have his sequel approved.

"I hope that the new book will both complement and maintain Milne's idea that whatever happens, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood will be published by Egmont Publishing in the UK and by Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, in the US.

Alan Alexander Milne, who died in 1956, based the Christopher Robin character on his own son.

Pop singer Dave Dee dies aged 65

British pop star Dave Dee has died at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer.

The singer continued playing gigs with band members Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich until close to the end of his life, record plugger Sean Cooney said.

"He didn't let it get him down. He was defying it," Mr Cooney added.

The group had eight top 10 hits, including a UK number one single in 1968 with The Legend of Xanadu, in which Dee famously cracked a whip.

A spokeswoman for the family said that Dee died in Kingston Hospital, south-west London on Friday morning following "a long and courageous battle" with cancer.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich - named after the five friends' nicknames - first entered the UK chart in December 1965 with You Make it Move, which peaked at number 26.

Subsequent singles included Hold Tight!, Bend It! and Save Me.

Between 1965 and 1969 they spent more weeks in the UK singles charts than any other band.

Two of their albums charted - their eponymous debut, in 1966, followed a year later by If Music Be the Food of Love... Prepare for Indigestion.

Charity work

In 1969 Dee left the group for a short-lived solo career, but they reformed in the 1990s with Dee as lead vocalist once again.

They had recently been performing dates in the UK and Germany and were due to play another eight concerts before the end of April.

The Legend of Xanadu helped the group to find success in the US

Dee performed his last gig in Eisenburg, Germany on 20 September last year.

The singer, whose real name was David Harman, came from Wiltshire and was originally a police officer before turning his hand to music.

In the 1970s he was a founding committee member of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity and was actively involved in fundraising and increasing the profile of the organisation, for more than 30 years.

He later worked as a magistrate in Cheshire.

He is survived by his wife Joanne, daughter Olivia, twin sons Ashley and Elliot, and by Lesley, his partner during his final two years.

Ants 'get aggressive with cheats'

Several ant species practise "reproductive policing"

Worker ants in colonies with a queen are physically attacked by their peers if they try to reproduce, a study says.

In ant society, workers normally give up reproducing to care for the queen's offspring, who are also their brothers and sisters.

The researchers found that chemicals produced by the sneaky ants gave away their fertility status.

The findings by a US-German team of researchers are published in the journal Current Biology.

To test the idea, scientists applied a synthetic compound typical of fertile individuals to non-reproductive worker ants belonging to the species Aphaenogaster cockerelli.

In colonies where a queen was present, the workers with the hydrocarbon chemical applied to them were attacked by other ants. The researchers reported that deceitful ants were bitten, pulled and held by their peers.

But this was not the case in colonies without a queen ant, where workers were free to reproduce.

Co-author Jurgen Liebig of Arizona State University in Tempe, US, said the hydrocarbon chemicals produced by the cheating ants were an "inherently reliable signal".

This "reproductive policing" plays an important role in maintaining harmony in the ant world, Dr Liebig explained.

"The idea that social harmony is dependent on strict systems to prevent and punish cheating individuals seems to apply to most successful societies," he said.

For cheating to be a successful strategy for some ants, the researchers say, two conditions would need to be satisfied.

Firstly, worker ants would need to suppress the hydrocarbon signals on their bodies. Secondly, they would need to continue to express the signal on their eggs, so that their offspring could not be distinguished from those of the queen.

Some ant species are known not only to attack cheating workers, but also to destroy their eggs.

10 things we didn't know last week

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

1. Moby is related to novelist Herman Melville and was named after his most famous creation.
More details

2. Golf can damage hearing.
More details

3. The average age of MI5 staff is 40.
More details (the Independent)

4. Three billion e-mails are sent in the UK daily.
More details

5. Mosquitoes mate in about 10 seconds.
More details

6. Internet use peaks in the UK between 5pm and 6pm on Sundays.
More details (the Times)

7. Tasmanian devils are being killed off by cancer.
More details

8. You can hiccup while asleep.
More details

9. Montenegro has the euro despite not being in the EU.
More details

10. Printing more money to increase the supply is known as quantitative easing .
More details

SPORTSMAIL ONLINE'S BUMPER 2009 CALENDAR

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New Donington is granted approval

Plans for a £100m revamp of Donington Park, the new home of the British Grand Prix from 2010, have been approved.

North West Leicestershire District Council granted planning permission for the scheme at a meeting on Thursday.

Work can now start on a raft of improvements to the circuit, including track alterations, a new pit area, a club house and temporary grandstands.

Donington Park inherits the Formula One race from Silverstone in a 10-year agreement beginning next year.

Silverstone, in Northamptonshire, has been home to the British Grand Prix since 1987, but Donington Park, just south of Derby, was awarded the contract for the next decade last July.

The council gave approval as long as an event management plan is prepared and approved.

Racetrack owner Simon Gillett said: "This puts us on the world stage with places like Bahrain."

Councillors visited the racetrack prior to the meeting and work is expected to start on the new pit complex immediately.

Donington's development plans put British motorsport back on the map F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone

"We wanted a world class venue for F1, something teams and fans could be proud of," F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said when awarding Donington its contract last year.

"Donington's development plans will give us exactly that, a venue to put British motorsport back on the map."

Now the plans have been approved, Gillett has 17 months to raise the money needed to finance the scheme and put it into action.

But he told BBC Sport his team was "confident about all aspects of the project" and would complete the work "to a high standard" ahead of the British Grand Prix in July 2010.

Last month, Gillett dismissed suggestions he would struggle to find the money to implement his plans in the current economic climate.

"They'll see when buildings come out of the ground and cars turn up on the grid," he said.

DOING UP DONINGTON Track to be widened, Coppice corner tightened, new complex after first corner (shown above) New pit and paddock area, hospitality suites and club house Temporary grandstands for British Grand Prix with parking very limited at circuit, public transport encouraged Subject to approval, development to begin in January 2009 and finish in June 2010

"If they still want to sit at home not believing me, that's their prerogative. To be honest, I love the scepticism. It's what motivates me.

"The more the experts tell me it won't happen, the more I seem to achieve. I feed off it.

"It doesn't concern me at all. I have my goals and I know they're realistic."

The facilities promised to Ecclestone ahead of the 2010 British Grand Prix include a substantial renovation of the circuit itself.

A new pit and paddock area is also planned, as are new race control buildings and a media centre, plus hospitality suites and new service roads.

The revamped track is set to include a tightening of Coppice, which becomes the final bend before the pit straight, and a redesigned first sector incorporating a new, long left-hand turn and hairpin following the fierce first Melbourne turn.

The planning application suggested the club house would be the final element to reach completion, in June 2010, leaving the finest of margins for delay.

The decision to grant planning permission was unanimous and followed the recommendation of North West Leicestershire District Council's director of the environment.

606: DEBATE I think Donington is capable of becoming a world class venue. The trouble is, it'll take them until 2013 to get the proper infrastructure in place Sheff Hatter

The committee was asked to consider the impact of traffic and noise on the nearby villages of Aston, Barrow, Kings Newton, Isley Walton and Melbourne, and the 13th-century Swarkestone Bridge.

The Donington track has only once previously hosted a Formula One event, when Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna drove to a famous victory in the European Grand Prix at the circuit in 1993.

Hard drive destruction 'crucial'

HARD DRIVES: GRAB AND SMASH Opening: Latches or screws should provide easy access Earthing: Touch the metal chassis inside the computer case Safety: Unplug the computer from the mains Locating: Hard drives are typically under CD or floppy drives on desktops Removing: Disconnect the wires at the back of the hard drive Remove any screws that fix the hard drive to the chassis and slide it out Smashing: The more thoroughly the better The only way to stop fraudsters stealing information from old computer hard drives is by destroying them completely, a study has found. Which? Computing magazine recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers purchased on eBay. Freely available software can be used to recover files that users think they have permanently deleted. While Which? recommends smashing hard drives with a hammer, experts say for most consumers that's a step too far. Criminals source old computers from internet auction sites or in rubbish tips, to find users' valuable details, and a number of recent cases have shown the dangers in disposing of second-hand equipment. A number of software solutions exist to more definitively erase files and information. The most straightforward solution, according to Which?, is complete destruction - and it recommends using a hammer. It must be done with caution because those smithereens contain environmentally harmful materials so they should be recycled - for instance at the vendor from whom a new hard drive is purchased. Worth it? However experts advise that even a treatment with a hammer may not be the end of your data. Expensive and sophisticated techniques could be used to recover deleted data, even from a hard drive platter that has been physically damaged. But for most people, the freely available deleting software or a simple hard drive formatting procedure should make the data sufficiently difficult to retrieve as to not be worth a criminal's time. "You can get a credit card number on the internet for about ten pounds from credit card thieves," says Rupert Goodwins, editor of technology news website ZDNet. "So nobody's going to spend more than ten pounds trying to nick your credit card number off your hard disk." Mr Goodwins argues that the free software is as effective as the hammer - indeed, he argues it is as effective as the software that can be quite costly. "Unless you're a spook or the kingpin of a criminal consortium, there's no need to go out and buy deleting software and no need to put a hammer through the damned thing," Mr Goodwins told the BBC. "If you're that worried, get rid of it properly: burn it or put it in acid." A guide to destroying your hard drive

UK e-mail law 'attack on rights'

Service providers will have to store information for 12 months

Rules forcing internet companies to keep details of every e-mail sent in the UK are a waste of money and an attack on civil liberties, say critics.

From March all internet service providers (ISPs) will by law have to keep information about every e-mail sent or received in the UK for a year.

Human rights group Liberty says it is worried what will happen next.

The Home Office insists the data, which does not include e-mails' content, is vital for crime and terror inquiries.

Safe keeping

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said ISPs already kept the information on a voluntary basis.

"The thing we have to worry about is what happens next because the government is already mooting plans not just to leave this stuff with the providers but to create a central government database where they hold all the information.

"I'm afraid we just don't trust any government or any organisation to keep that much very sensitive information about us all and to keep it safe."

This degree of storage is equivalent to having access to every second, every minute, every hour of your life Earl of Northesk Conservative peer

Critics of the new rules also include an association of internet service providers and computer experts.

Dr Richard Clayton, a security researcher at the University of Cambridge's computer lab, said the money could have been better spent.

He said:"There's going to be a record of every single e-mail which arrived addressed to you and all the e-mails you sent out via your ISP.

"That, of course, includes all the spam.

"I'd have liked to see more bobbies on an electronic beat investigating internet crimes.

"There are much better things to do to spend our billions on than snooping on everybody in the country just on the off-chance that they're a criminal."

The new rules are due to come into force on 15 March, as part of a European Commission directive which could affect every ISP in the country.

The firms will have to store the information and make it available to any public body which makes a lawful request, which could include police, local councils and health authorities.

To help set up the system the government may end up paying ISPs between £25m and £70m.

The rules already apply to telephone companies, which routinely hold much of the data for billing.

'Fundamental right'

The Earl of Northesk, a Conservative peer on the House of Lords science and technology committee, said it meant anyone's movements could be traced 24 hours a day.

"This degree of storage is equivalent to having access to every second, every minute, every hour of your life," he said.

Implementing the EC directive will enable UK law enforcement to benefit fully from historical communications data Home Office

"People have to worry about the scale, the virtuality of your life being exposed to about 500 public authorities.

"Under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, privacy is a fundamental right... it is important to protect the principle of privacy because once you've lost it, it's very difficult to recover."

The Home Office said the data was a vital tool for investigation and intelligence gathering.

"It will allow investigators to identify suspects, examine their contacts, establish relationships between conspirators and place them in a specific location at a certain time.

"Implementing the EC directive will enable UK law enforcement to benefit fully from historical communications data in increasingly complex investigations and will enhance our national security."

'Better things'

But the industry itself has concerns about how the new rules will work.

Malcolm Hutty, from LINX (London Internet Exchange), a membership association for ISPs, said: "The position as to what the ISPs are to do is not clear."

He said on paper the law applied to all companies, but the Home Office has been saying informally that small ISPs would be exempt.

He said they were now left "in limbo", fearful of legal action if at some time in the future as the company became bigger, they were then expected to collect the data.

Reports have suggested the government has even bigger plans for data retention called the Interception Modernisation Programme.

It could involve one central database, gathering details on every text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited.

Consultation on the plans is due to begin later this year.

Little Boots tops music tips list

Watch Little Boots performing and talking about her plans for 2009 Electro-pop singer Little Boots has come top of the BBC's Sound of 2009 list, which aims to highlight the best new music talent for the new year. Little Boots is 24-year-old singer and keyboard player Victoria Hesketh from Blackpool, whose influences include David Bowie, Gary Numan and Kate Bush. The Sound of 2009 list is based on tips from 134 leading UK tastemakers, who named their favourite three new acts. Last year, Adele came top, followed by Duffy, The Ting Tings and Glasvegas. BBC SOUND OF 2009 TOP 10 1. Little Boots 2. White Lies (above) 3. Florence and the Machine 4. Empire of the Sun 5. La Roux 6. Lady GaGa 7. VV Brown 8. Kid Cudi 9. Passion Pit 10. Dan Black See music videos and interviews with the Sound of 2009 acts Send us your comments This year, dark London rock trio White Lies came second, with spirited singer-songwriter Florence and the Machine in third and Australian fantasy pop duo Empire of the Sun at four. The tastemakers were asked to pick their favourite three new acts for 2009, with the tips counted and compiled to create the list. The participants ranged from magazine editors and newspaper critics to DJs, radio and TV heads of music and influential bloggers. Victoria Hesketh adopted the Little Boots name a year ago after splitting from indie trio Dead Disco, and settling out on a synthesiser pop sound. She was spotted by Joe Goddard of electronic darlings Hot Chip, who has championed her and produced some of her songs. "It is amazing that so many people want to write about me and give me opportunities, and I'm so grateful for that," Hesketh said of her place at the top of the BBC Sound of 2009 list. "For enough of those pundits to pick me as their favourite act is absolutely incredible and really mindblowing. I'm just so happy that it connects to those people. "I hope it goes beyond that and translates and it isn't just some bubble. Adele (left) and Duffy came in the top spots on last year's list In pictures "I really hope that for every one of those amazing people who writes about you or plays you on their radio show, that will reach 1,000 people. Because that is what is going to make me be able to keep doing what I love." Peter Robinson, editor of Popjustice.com, which has supported Little Boots, described Hesketh as "the perfect pop star". "She knocks out great tunes and takes her music seriously while celebrating the giddy heights of pop at its best," he said. "As a result, she understands pop in a way that puts her miles ahead of her nearest rivals." Alison Howe, producer of BBC Two's Later... With Jools Holland, put Little Boots on the show in November. "Imagine if Debbie Harry had come from Blackpool and played the synthesiser," she said. "2009 looks set to be dominated by the sound of electro-pop and Ms Boots should be one if its stars with her wonderfully catchy pop songs." The BBC Sound of... series is now in its seventh year. Mika, Corinne Bailey Rae and Keane are among the previous winners.

QI: Quite Interesting

Don't forget that the first episode of the full run of the F series starts tonight at 9:00pm on BBC One. Tonight's episode is about "Flotsam and Jetsam", with guests Andy Hamilton, Rob Brydon, and returning for only his second episode, former plasterer Charlie Higson.

You can catch an extended edition of the show tomorrow (Saturday) evening on BBC Two at 10:30pm with an extra ten minutes that wouldn't fit into the Friday show.

Also, you may be interested to learn that the Radio 4 series The Museum of Curiosity, starring QI creator John Lloyd and comedian Bill Bailey in a QI-inspired search for the universe's most interesting things, is now available for purchase in the form of an audio CD.

Anyone seen Mr Ronaldo?

Darwin Awards 2008 - Top Acts of Stupidity

1. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, suspecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine out and lost a finger. The chef’s claim was approved.

2. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

3. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Beltway had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days.

4. An American teenager was in the hospital yesterday recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

5. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, puts a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer? $15. (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, was a crime committed?)

6. A thief burst into a Florida bank one day wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun. Aiming his gun at the guard, the thief yelled, “FREEZE, MOTHER-STICKERS, THIS IS A ****-UP!” For a moment, everyone was silent. Then the snickers started. The guard completely lost it and doubled over laughing. It probably saved his life, because he’d been about to draw his gun. He couldn’t have drawn and fired before the thief got him. The thief ran away and is still at large. In memory of the event, the bank later put a plaque on the wall engraved with the words, Freeze, mother-stickers, this is a ****-up!”

7. Seems this Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he’d just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape

And the winner is….

When his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder: He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time, it worked!

Real Names of 182 Celebrities

1. Clay Aiken - Clayton Holmes Grissom
2. Akon - Aliuane Badara Thiam
3. Tori Amos - Myra Ellen Amos
4. Trey Anastasio - Ernest Joseph Anastasio III
5. Adam Ant - Stuart Leslie Goddard
6. Marc Anthony - Marco Antonio Muniz
7. Frankie Avalon - Francis Avallone
8. Baby Face - Kenneth Edmonds
9. Erykah Badu - Erica Wright
10. Ginger Baker - Peter Edward Baker
11. Syd Barrett - Roger Keith Barrett
12. Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Russell Tyrell Jones
13. Pat Benatar - Patricia Andrejewski
14. Tony Bennett - Anthony Dominick Benedetto
15. Dickey Betts - Forrest Richard Betts
16. Jello Biafra - Eric Reed Boucher
17. Bo Bice - Harold Elwin Bice
18. Marc Bolan - Mark Feld
19. Michael Boltin - Michael Bolotin

20. Jon Bon Jovi - John Francis BonGiovi
21. Bono - Paul David Hewson
22. Sonny Bono - Salvatore Bono
23. David Bowie - David Jones
24. Jackson Browne - Clyde Jackson Browne
25. J.J. Cale - John W. Cale
26. Irene Cara - Irene Escelera
27. Eric Carr - Paul Charles Carravello
28. 50 Cent - Curtis Jackson
29. Ray Charles - Ray Charles Robinson
30. Cher - Cherilyn LaPierre
31. Charlotte Church - Charlotte Reed
32. Gene Clark - Harold Eugene Clark
33. Patsy Cline - Virginia Patterson Hensley
34. Ry Cooder - Ryland Cooder
35. Alice Cooper - Vincent Furnier
36. Elvis Costello - Declan MacManus
37. Peter Criss - George Peter Criscuola
38. Ice Cube - Oshea Jackson
39. Bobby Dall - Robert Harry Kuykendall
40. Bobby Darin - Walden Waldo Robert Cassotto
41. Dimebag Darrell - Darrell Abbott
42. Mac Davis - Morris Davis
43. Taylor Dayne - Leslie Wonderman
44. Mos Def - Dante Terrell Smith
45. John Denver - John Deutschendorf
46. Rick Derringer - Rick Zeringer
47. Buck Dharma - Donald Roeser
48. Snoop Dogg - Calvin Broadus
49. Thomas Dolby - Thomas Robertson
50. Mickey Dolenz - George Michael Braddock
51. Dr. Dre - Andre Young
52. Bob Dylan - Robert Zimmerman
53. Sheena Easton - Sheena Orr
54. Falco - Johann Holzel
55. Fergie - Stacy Anne Ferguson
56. Flavor Flav - William Drayton
57. Flea - Michael Peter Balzary
58. Ace Frehley - Paul Daniel Frehley
59. Kenny G - Kenneth Gorelick
60. Crystal Gayle - Brenda Gail Webb
61. Boy George - George O’Dowd
62. Gary Glitter - Paul Gadd
63. Macy Gray - Natalie McIntyre
64. MC Hammer - Stanley Burrell
65. Faith Hill - Audrey Faith Perry
66. Billie Holiday - Eleanora Gough
67. Buddy Holly - Charles Holley
68. Englebert Humperdinck - Arnold Dorsey
69. Janis Ian - Janis Eddy Fink
70. Vanilla Ice - Robert Van Winkle
71. Billy Idol - William Broad
72. Tito Jackson - Toriano Jackson
73. Rick James - James Johnson
74. D.J.Jazzy Jeff - Jeff Townes
75. Joan Jett - Joan Larkin
76. Grace Jones - Grace Mendoza
77. Tom Jones - Thomas Woodward
78. Elton John - Reginald Dwight
79. Wynonna Judd - Christina Ciminella
80. Juvenile - Terious Grey
81. R.Kelly - Robert Kelly
82. Alicia Keys - Alicia Cook
83. Chaka Kahn - Yvette Marie Stevens
84. L’il Kim - Kimberly Jones
85. B.B, King - Riley B. King
86. Uncle Kracker - Matthew Schafer
87. L.L. Cool J - James Tood Smith
88. Patti LaBelle - Patricia Holt
89. k.d.lang - Katherine Dawn Lang
90. Queen Latifah Dana Owens
91. Mario Lanza - Alfred Cocazza
92. Geddy Lee - Gary Weinraub
93. Julian Lennon - John Charles Julian Lennon
94. Huey Lewis - Hugh Craig
95. Liberace - Wladziu Valentino
96. Ludacris - Christopher Bridges
97. Mama Cass - Ellen Cohen
98. Barry Manilow - Barry Pincus
99. Yngwie Malmsteem - Lars Lannerback
100. Manfred Mann - Manfred Lubowitz
101. Marilyn Manson - Bruce Warner
102. Mick Mars - Robert Deal
103. Dean Martin - Dino Crocetti
104. Ricky Martin - Enrique Jose Martin Morales
105. Paul McCartney - James Paul McCartney
106. Meat Loaf - Marvin Lee Aday
107. Freddie Mercury - Farrokh Bulsara
108. George Michael - Yorgos Panayiotou
109. Joni Mitchell - Roberta Anderson
110. Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana - Destiny Hope Cyrus
111. Moby - Richard Melville Hall
112. Van Morrison - George Morrison
113. Nas - Nasir Jones
114. Rick Nelson - Eric Nelson
115. Nelly - Carnell Haynes
116. Vince Neil - Vince Neil Wharton
117. Juice Newton - Judy Newton
118. Nortorious B.I.G. - Christopher Wallace
119. Ric Ocasek - Richard Otcasek
120. Billy Ocean - Leslie Sebastian Charles
121. Tony Orland - Michael Anthony Orlando Cassivitis
122. Ozzy Osborne - John Michael Osborne
123. Robert Palmer - Alan Robert Palmer
124. Gram Parsons - Cecil Ingram Connor
125. Pink - Alecia Moore
126. Iggy Pop - James Osterberg
127. Puffy/Puff Daddy/Diddy/P.Diddy - Sean Combs
128. C.J. Ramone - Chris Ward
129. Dee Dee Ramone - Douglas Colvin
130. Joey Ramone - Jeffrey Hyman
131. Johnny Ramone - John Cummings
132. Marky Ramone - Mark Bell
133. Richie Ramone - Richie Reinhart
134. Tommy Ramone - Tom Erderlyi
135. Lou Reed - Louis Firbank
136. Busta Rhymes - Trevor Smith
137. Nick Rhodes - Nicholas Bates
138. Smokey Robinson - William Robinson
139. Henry Rollins - Henry Garfield
140. Axl Rose - William Bailey
141. Johnny Rotten - John Lydon
142. Ja Rule - Jeffrey Atkins
143. Mitch Ryder - William Levise
144. Sade - Helen Adu
145. Boz Scaggs - William Scaggs
146. Bon Scott - William Scott
147. Seal - Henry Samuel
148. Gene Simmons - Chaim Witz
149. Sir Mix-A-Lot Anthony Ray
150. Nikki Sixx - Franklin Ferrana
151. Slash - Saul Hudson
152. Grace Slick - Grace Wing
153. Fatboy Slim - Quentin Cook
154. Paul Stanley - Stanley Eisen
155. Ringo Starr - Richard Starkey
156. Cat Stevens - Steven Georgiou changed name to Yusef Islam
157. Sting - Gordon Sumner
158. Michael Stipe - John Michael Stipe
159. Joss Stone - Jocelyn Eve Stocker
160. Joe Strummer - John Mellor
161. Donna Summer - LaDonna Gaines
162. Ice T - Tracey Marrow
163. Timbaland - Timothy Mosely
164. Peter Tosh - Winston Macintosh
165. Tina Turner - Anna Mae Bullock
166. Shania Twain - Eileen Edwards
167. Conway Twitty - Harold Jenkins
168. Steven Tyler - Steven Tallarico
169. Dionne Warwick - Marie Warwick
170. Roger Waters - George WAters
171. Fee Waybill - John Waldo
172. Bob Weir - Robert Hall
173. Leslie West - Leslie Westein
174. Jack White - John Gillis
175. Hank Williams - Hiram Williams
176. Paul Williams - Billy Paul
177. Peter Wolf - Peter Blankfield
178. Stevie Wonder - Steveland Morris
179. Zakk Wylde - Jeffrey Wieldlandt
180. Bill Wyman - William Perks
181. Xzibit - Alvin Joiner
182. Rob Zombie - Robert Cummings

And more crazy stuff…

1. Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two (counterfeit) $16 bills.

2. A man in Johannesburg, South Africa, shot his 49-year-old friend in the face, seriously wounding him, while the two practiced shooting beer cans off each other’s head.

3. A company trying to continue its five-year perfect safety record showed its workers a film aimed at encouraging the use of safety goggles on the job. According to Industrial Machinery News, the film’s depiction of gory industrial accidents was so graphic that twenty-five workers suffered minor injuries in their rush to leave the screening room. Thirteen others fainted, and one man required seven stitches after he cut his head falling off a chair while watching the film.

4. The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons, setting a $500 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.

5. A bus carrying five passengers was hit by a car in St. Louis, but by the time police arrived on the scene, fourteen pedestrians had boarded the bus and had begun to complain of whiplash injuries and back pain.

6. Swedish business consultant Ulf af Trolle laboured 13 years on a book about Swedish economic solutions. He took the 250-page manuscript to be copied, only to have it reduced to 50,000 strips of paper in seconds when a worker confused the copier with the shredder.

7. A convict broke out of jail in Washington D.C., then a few days later accompanied his girlfriend to her trial for robbery. At lunch, he went out for a sandwich. She needed to see him, and thus had him paged. Police officers recognized his name and arrested him as he returned to the courthouse in a car he had stolen over the lunch hour.

8. Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message “He’s lying” was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn’t telling the truth. Believing the “lie detector” was working, the suspect confessed.

Crazy World

1. In 1983, a Mrs. Carson of Lake Kushaqua, N.Y., was laid out in her coffin, presumed dead of heart disease. As mourners watched, she suddenly sat up. Her daughter dropped dead of fright.

2. A man hit by a car in New York in 1977 got up uninjured, but laid back down in front of the car when a bystander told him to pretend he was hurt so he could collect insurance money. The car rolled forward and crushed him to death.

3. Surprised while burgling a house in Antwerp, Belgium, a thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down and found himself in the city prison.

4. In 1976 a twenty-two-year-old Irishman, Bob Finnegan, was crossing the busy Falls Road in Belfast, when he was struck by a taxi and flung over its roof. The taxi drove away and, as Finnegan lay stunned in the road, another car ran into him, rolling him into the gutter. It too drove on. As a knot of gawkers gathered to examine the magnetic Irishman, a delivery van plowed through the crowd, leaving in its wake three injured bystanders and an even more battered Bob Finnegan. When a fourth vehicle came along, the crowd wisely scattered and only one person was hit, Bob Finnegan. In the space of two minutes Finnegan suffered a fractured skull, broken pelvis, broken leg, and other assorted injuries. Hospital officials said he would recover.

5. While motorcycling through the Hungarian countryside, Cristo Falatti came up to a railway line just as the crossing gates were coming down. While he sat idling, he was joined by a farmer with a goat, which the farmer tethered to the crossing gate. A few moments later a horse and cart drew up behind Falatti, followed in short order by a man in a sports car. When the train roared through the crossing, the horse startled and bit Falatti on the arm. Not a man to be trifled with, Falatti responded by punching the horse in the head. In consequence the horse’s owner jumped down from his cart and began scuffling with the motorcyclist. The horse, which was not up to this sort of excitement, backed away briskly, smashing the cart into the sports car. At this, the sports car driver leaped out of his car and joined the fray. The farmer came forward to try to pacify the three flailing men. As he did so, the crossing gates rose and his goat was strangled. At last report, the insurance companies were still trying to sort out the claims.


6. In a classic case of one thing leading to another, seven men aged eighteen to twenty-nine received jail sentences of three to four years in Kingston-on-Thames, England, in 1979 after a fight that started when one of the men threw a french fry at another while they stood waiting for a train.

7. Hitting on the novel idea that he could end his wife’s incessant nagging by giving her a good scare, Hungarian Jake Fen built an elaborate harness to make it look as if he had hanged himself. When his wife came home and saw him she fainted. Hearing a disturbance a neighbour came over and, finding what she thought were two corpses, seized the opportunity to loot the place. As she was leaving the room, her arms laden, the outraged and suspended Mr. Fen kicked her stoutly in the backside. This so surprised the lady that she dropped dead of a heart attack. Happily, Mr. Fen was acquitted of manslaughter and he and his wife were reconciled.

8. An unidentified English woman, according to the London Sunday Express was climbing into the bathtub one afternoon when she remembered she had left some muffins in the oven. Naked, she dashed downstairs and was removing the muffins when she heard a noise at the door. Thinking it was the baker, and knowing he would come in and leave a loaf of bread on the kitchen table if she didn’t answer his knock, the woman darted into the broom cupboard. A few moments later she heard the back door open and, to her eternal mortification, the sound of footsteps coming toward the cupboard. It was the man from the gas company, coming to read the meter. “Oh,” stammered the woman, “I was expecting the baker.” The gas man blinked, excused himself and departed.

Black holes 'preceded galaxies'

Black holes are thought to exist at the cores of most galaxies

A cosmic chicken-and-egg question may have been solved by astronomers who now say black holes came before galaxies.

The findings were presented at a major astronomy meeting in California.

Most if not all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are believed to have massive black holes at their cores.

It was unclear whether black holes came first, helping create galaxies by pulling matter towards them, or whether they arose in already formed galaxies.

"It looks like the black holes came first," said Dr Chris Carilli, from the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, who took part in the study. "The evidence is piling up."

The evidence was unveiled at the 213th American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, California.

Earlier studies of nearby galaxies had revealed an intriguing link between the masses of black holes and the central "bulges" of stars and gas in galaxies.

Early Universe

Generally, the mass of a black hole was observed to be about 1,000th that of the mass of the surrounding galactic bulge.

This constant ratio indicated an "interactive relationship" between the black hole and the bulge, say the researchers. But it was not clear whether one grew before the other, or whether they grew together.

In the latest study, researchers used radio telescopes to peer back to near the beginning of the Universe, thought to be some 13.7 billion years ago, when the first galaxies were forming.

"We finally have been able to measure black-hole and bulge masses in several galaxies seen as they were in the first billion years after the Big Bang," said co-author Fabian Walter of the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany.

"The evidence suggests that the constant ratio seen [in nearby galaxies] may not hold in the early Universe."

He added: "The implication is that the black holes started growing first."

The astronomers say the next challenge is to figure out how the black hole and the bulge affect each others' growth.

Dr Carilli said powerful new radio telescopes now under construction would help to unravel the mystery.

These include the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) in New Mexico and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.

Quiztime Picture Boards

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Pub News from The Publican

Top stories:

Two Wetherspoons pubs miss out on 99p offer

Policy on minimum pricing in Bedford means company choosing not to run promotion

S&N hiking prices by 5.74 per cent

Supplier says increases are "fair and reasonable"

Pubs get welcome Christmas boost

Licensees report rise in takings over festive period

Wetherspoons hits back over 99p pint furore

Pub chain argues that promotion is responsible

Pubs set for AWP boost under government plans

DCMS unveils plan to increase stake limit to £1 and prize limit to £70

CAMRA launches new local pub initiative

Local Pubs Week will allow flexibility for regional branches

more news

Other news:

• Greene King "disappointed" at JDW price promotion
• Scots call for review of licensing fees
• Pubco power report due late February or March
• Price of Guinness to rise 5.4 per cent
• BII Licensee of the Year semi-finalists revealed
• Thwaites throws weight behind Axe the Tax
• Red Stripe Music Award returns
• Microbrewery to star in TV show
• Could drinks price war be on horizon?

more news

http://www.thepublican.com/

CAMRA launches new local pub initiative

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has dumped its Community Pubs Week in favour of a new week-long initiative allowing local branches to decide when they participate.

Local Pubs Week will mean regional branches can organise the “most appropriate time” to host their own week of activities.

Pubs taking part in the scheme will be provided with beer mats, pump clip crowners, A4 posters, a Local Pubs Week logo and briefing pack.

The initiative aims to raise the profile of pubs in the community and encourage people of all ages and background to use them.

CAMRA’s previous campaign Community Pubs Week ran for two years, during February, and was a replacement for National Pubs Week.

Tony Jerome, a CAMRA spokesman, said around 40 per cent of branches had participated in previous campaigns.

He said the new initiative would allow CAMRA branches to "organise their own campaign at a time that suits the branch and when they feel a particular pub story needs to be highlighted to the public".

He added: “Due to the flexibility of this new campaign we expect a lot more branches across Britain to participate this year, resulting in more promotion for local, community pubs.”

SOURCE

Quiztime Picture Boards

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The 'misunderestimated' president?

All politicians are prone to make slips of the tongue in the heat of the moment - and President George W Bush has made more than most.

The word "Bushism" has been coined to label his occasional verbal lapses during eight years in office, which come to an end on 20 January.

Here are some of his most memorable pronouncements.

ON HIMSELF

"They misunderestimated me."
Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November, 2000

''I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right." Rome, 22 July, 2001

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."
Nashville, Tennessee, 17 September, 2002

"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead."
Washington DC, 11 May, 2001

"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
Nashville, Tennessee, 27 May, 2004

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
Tokyo, 18 February, 2002

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorise himself."
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 29 January, 2003

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Washington DC, 5 August, 2004

"I think war is a dangerous place."
Washington DC, 7 May, 2003

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."
Washington DC, 27 October, 2003

"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
Washington DC, 17 September, 2004

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."
CBS News, Washington DC, 6 September, 2006

EDUCATION

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
Florence, South Carolina, 11 January, 2000

"Reading is the basics for all learning."
Reston, Virginia, 28 March, 2000

"As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards."
CNN, 30 August, 2000

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''
Townsend, Tennessee, 21 February, 2001

ECONOMICS

"I understand small business growth. I was one."
New York Daily News, 19 February, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
Reuters, 5 May, 2000

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine Labour Secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."
Austin, Texas, 8 January, 2001

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill."
Washington DC, 19 May, 2003

HEALTHCARE

"I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs."
Orlando, Florida, 12 September, 2000

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."
Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September, 2004

TECHNOLOGY

"Will the highways on the internet become more few?"
Concord, New Hampshire, 29 January, 2000

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."
Washington DC, 10 April, 2002

"Information is moving. You know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."
Washington DC, 2 May, 2007

OUT OF LEFT FIELD

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 18 October, 2000

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."
Tucson, Arizona, 28 November, 2005

"That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three - three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?"
Speaking to reporter Kai Diekmann, Washington DC, 5 May, 2006

ON GOVERNING

"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together."
Bartlett, Tennessee, 18 August, 2000

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."
Washington DC, 18 April, 2006

"And truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it, and [Tony Blair] read it."
On the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Report, Washington DC, 7 December, 2006

"All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone."
San Diego, California, 25 October, 2007

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
Washington DC, 12 May, 2008

Commercial chart ditches CD sales

The Hit40UK chart is aired on 130 stations nationwide

Commercial radio chart Hit40UK has announced it is ditching CD sales from its official figures.

The weekly singles chart, which broadcasts across 130 stations, is to be based solely on digital downloads from this weekend.

Its owner, Global Radio, says downloads account for 96% of the data from which the chart is compiled.

The show, broadcast on Sunday and available online, pulls in 1.9 million weekly listeners.

Global Radio's Hit Music Network group programme director Paul Jackson said: "Downloads have now become the driving force for record sales, as the statistics clearly show."

"It makes complete sense to reflect the changes in how people are listening to music."

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said: "We are delighted to be working with the commercial radio sector to take the chart into the future."

10 news stories you may have missed

It was a happy ending to 2008 for Sarah Palin, now a grandmother

The nation has dragged itself back to work after what for many has been a fortnight's holiday. So what happened in the world in the last two weeks?

Even with the distractions of parties, presents and plates piled high, few of us can have failed to notice the ongoing troubles in Gaza, the effects of the economic downturn and the sliding value of the pound.

And only a hermit could have managed to avoid the news that England footballer Steven Gerrard had been charged with assault.

But after an unusually long Christmas break, we could be forgiven for letting the following stories slip under the radar.

1. While the passing of playwright Harold Pinter and performer Eartha Kitt hit the headlines, the world lost its oldest person. The 115-year-old Maria de Jesus died in Portugal on 2 January. Other notable departures included 68-year-old Vincent Ford, who penned Bob Marley's reggae classic No Woman, No Cry, and Oscar-nominated director Robert Mulligan, 83, best known for his classic 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird.

Guinea's Capt Moussa Dadis Camara, left, spent December plotting a coup

2. Junior army officer Capt Moussa Dadis Camara declared himself President of Guinea after leading a coup in the west African state in the wake of the death of its 74-year-old former leader Lansana Conte. The move was welcomed by thousands of citizens but brought condemnation from the international community. Meanwhile, a more conventional transfer of power took place in Ghana, where John Atta Mills won a tight presidential run-off against former incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo.

3. A heart-warming tale involved Sheffield's Jim Webb, who lent £5 to a penniless Australian to pay for a ferry trip in 1969. Young traveller Gary Fenton promised to pay back the debt as soon as he could afford to and Mr Webb passed on his address. When he heard no more, he thought nothing of it. However, Mr Webb was delighted to arrive home one day before Christmas to discover Mr Fenton - visiting England - had hand-delivered a card and £200 by way of repayment, nearly 40 years later.

4. It may have dented Republican Sarah Palin's chances of becoming the next US vice-president but the "scandal" of her unmarried teenage daughter's pregnancy came to a happy conclusion three days after Christmas. Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of the Alaska governor, gave birth to a son - Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston - America's People magazine reported. Bristol is expected to marry the 7lb 4oz boy's father, apprentice electrician Levi Johnston, this year.

Press headlines made uncomfortable reading for the Earl of Wessex

5. There were unwelcome headlines for Prince Edward after photographs were published showing him holding a walking stick over a black Labrador. The RSPCA said it would look into claims that the Earl of Wessex had struck one of his two dogs while walking them on the Queen's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Buckingham Palace said he had been using the stick to break up a fight between the canines. Pictures were later published showing the prince affectionately petting the animals.

6. A shopkeeper who fancied joining much of the population in enjoying a day off on Boxing Day proved people are more honest than you might think. Recognising that many of Settle's townsfolk would have a need for the items like batteries or silver foil from his Practically Everything hardware store, Tom Algie left the door open and asked customers to leave their payment in an honesty box. He returned to find it stuffed with £187 in notes and coins.

7. Eight months after Austrian police accused Josef Fritzl of treating his daughter as a sex slave by keeping her in captivity and fathering her six children, Elisabeth Fritzl left the clinic where she had been recovering. She and her offspring moved into their own home, it was revealed. Mr Fritzl had allegedly kept three of the youngsters locked in a cellar, while the other three were raised by his wife.

Postman Billy Martin honoured his predecessor Robert Cunningham

8. The school holidays did not stop teachers from causing controversy. The sacking of special needs teacher Adrian Swain, 56 - for wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms while on duty at St Paul's Way Community School in east London - prompted colleagues to threaten strike action. Meanwhile, Linda Kingdon - head at new Sheffield primary Watercliffe Meadow - was criticised by MP Richard Caborn for dropping the word "school" from its name. Instead, it was labelled "a place for learning".

9. The new year brought with it a range of new laws. Britain's coastguard rescue teams have been banned from firing flares during night rescues. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the move reflected changing rescue practices, including the use of night-vision goggles. Elsewhere, bereaved relatives now have the right to inspect the medical records of their dearly departed in a change prompted by the Shipman Inquiry. And possession of "extreme pornography" - showing a threat to life or depicting injury – is now illegal.

10. Finally, after another busy Christmas trying to deliver everyone's cards on time, the Royal Mail found time to honour a postie who went far beyond the call of duty. Representatives joined villagers in Ballantrae, Ayrshire, in remembering Robert Cunningham who died 100 years ago, aged just 27. He was making deliveries in a remote part of his round when a blizzard forced him to take a detour across moorland. He froze to death just a short distance from his home.

Tetris 'helps to reduce trauma'

Study subjects who played the computer game had fewer 'flashbacks'

Playing the computer puzzle game Tetris could help reduce the effects of traumatic stress, UK researchers say.

Volunteers were exposed to distressing images, with some given the game to play 30 minutes later, the PLoS One journal reported.

Players had fewer "flashbacks", perhaps because it helped disrupt the laying down of memories, said the scientists.

However, another specialist said no study could match the intensity of a real-life traumatic experience.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), often associated with experiences during conflict, can affect anyone who has suffered a sudden and shocking incident.

One of its main features is the "flashback", in which the distressing sights, sounds or smells of the incident can return in everyday life.

Tetris may work by competing for the brain's resources for sensory information Dr Emily Holmes Oxford University

The Oxford University experiment works on the principle that it may be possible to modify the way in which the brain forms memories in the hours after an event.

A total of 40 healthy volunteers were enrolled, and shown a film which included traumatic images of injuries.

Half of the group were then given the game to play while the other half did nothing.

The number of "flashbacks" experienced by each group was then reported and recorded over the next week, and those who played Tetris had significantly fewer.

Treatment hope

Dr Emily Holmes said it might produce a "viable approach" to PTSD treatment, although she acknowledged that a lot needed to be done to translate the experiment into something that could be used to help real patients.

She said: "We wanted to find a way to dampen down flashbacks - the raw sensory images of trauma that are over-represented in the memories of those with PTSD.

"Tetris may work by competing for the brain's resources for sensory information.

"We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards."

She stressed that no conclusions could be drawn on the general effects of computer gaming on memory.

However, Professor David Alexander from the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Research was unconvinced.

He said: "It is ethically impossible to simulate an event which is so catastrophic as the type of incident which can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"The volunteers here knew that something was going to happen, but they were not going to be harmed - a genuinely traumatic incident is different in scale, and is usually completely unexpected and marked by feelings of loss of control."

He said that post-traumatic stress was normally detected and diagnosed only weeks after the event, rather than in the hours immediately afterwards, and it was very difficult to predict which people were likely to develop it.

'Rude' English streets defended

Juggs Close, in Lewes, is thought to have got its name from fish baskets

New road names with rude connotations could soon be banned in part of Sussex to avoid "deliberate misinterpretation".

But throughout England streets including "Grope Lane" and "Titty Ho" have a rich history.

Lewes District Council wants to clean up its street names.

The local authority believes it will help emergency and postal services by carefully vetting what new roads are called.

A report says "aesthetically unsuitable" names such as Gaswork Road, Tip House and Coalpit Lane should also be avoided, along with any double entendres.

But Rob Bailey, co-author of Rude UK, believes rude-sounding place names have a cultural significance.

I think sanitising [street names] takes away the industry and distinctiveness of many areas Rob Bailey, author

The book, along with later publications Rude World and Rude Britain, explores the history of such names including Weeford, in Staffordshire, Scratchy Bottom, Dorset and Lickey End in Worcestershire.

Slag Lane in Haydock, Merseyside, for example, got its name from the coal slag heaps which used to characterise the area, Mr Bailey said.

While Juggs Close, in Lewes itself, is thought to have got its name from baskets in which fish were carried (known as juggs).

"I think sanitising [street names] takes away the industry and distinctiveness of many areas like the sluicing of the fens or the coal-mining of the north," Mr Bailey said.

Rob Bailey has co-written three books about "rude" place names

The idea from Lewes council is nothing new.

In the late 1800s authorities amended a number of street names deemed inappropriate, he said.

"This latest sanitation is redolent of what the Victorians would have been doing in the past when they tried to get rid of some of the richest road names that we have."

Mr Bailey, who grew up in a place in Oxfordshire called Tumbledown Dick, said he feared vetting new road signs could lead to "mediocre and meaningless" names spreading across the country.

But some residents who live in strangely-named places do find it a struggle.

Tired of pranks

In 2003 Paul and Lisa Allott moved from their bungalow in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, after becoming fed up of living in Butt Hole Road.

The family said they had grown tired of groups of youths posing for photographs by a street sign near their front wall with their buttocks bared.

Taxis and delivery men often failed to turn up, as they did not believe the road existed, Mr Allott said.

Mr Bailey believes the name may have originated as a reference to a nearby water source.

The name Scratchy Bottom, in Dorset, is thought to refer to a rough hollow

Dr Oliver Padel, president of the English Place Name Society, based in Nottingham, said street names which today could have double meanings existed for many reasons.

"Sometimes a name had a completely different meaning and it developed over the years into something now we can potentially see as having a rude meaning.

"On the other hand some roads were supposed to have an intended meaning."

Grope Lane, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, for example, was once the town's red-light district, he said.

"I think very often the names do enshrine part of the local history and it's desirable to keep the name when you can.

"I would say that a name is a historic document in itself - they deserve to be recognised."

Murder, mayhem and museums

From oil baron's mansion, to palace, to garrison to museum

While Iraq struggles to return to peaceful normality, the British have been working to restore some of the country's pride in its past - with a museum.

Today, the Basra Palace compound is eerily quiet. A cold winter's wind whips off the Shatt al-Arab waterway, and howls around the marbled palace, almost drowning out the cry of the sea-birds soaring over the reeds in the brackish waters.

Not so long ago, the compound reverberated to the sound of incoming rocket fire from Iraqi insurgents, the Mahdi Army Shia militia, as they fought British forces based at the palace.

British soldiers withdrew from the palace compound in September 2007. Now, the building itself is deserted, and I have to wait for an Iraqi police colonel to turn up with the key.

Built by a Basra oil baron in the 1980s, the palace was requisitioned by Saddam Hussein, although it is not clear if the late dictator ever stayed there.

I had not seen it since April 2003, when a British flag flew triumphantly over the entrance, and British troops - rejoicing in the rapid success of the invasion - explored Saddam's palaces, wide-eyed with wonder at their opulence, and the gold taps in the many bathrooms.

Water, electricity, antiquities

That was in the early days, when the people of Basra offered a warm welcome to their British "liberators". It was before the long years of violence began, and back then the palace itself had been spared the worst effects of battle.

We in the British Army are fascinated by our own history and the ancient history here, because this is one of the cradles of civilisation Cpt Laurence Roche

In his mind's eye, John Curtis, keeper of the Middle East department at the British Museum, can already see the site transformed into a museum for Basra's many ancient treasures. Before I left for Basra, I met him in the British Museum's rooms full of Assyrian wall reliefs, and had just enough time to marvel at the exhibition on ancient Babylon, a place not far from today's Basra.

"The front of the palace could have a marvellous fountain and ornamental gardens," he enthuses. He was also the first western expert to see for himself and catalogue the catastrophic effects of looting, battle and ignorance on the archaeological sites of ancient Mesopotamia, now southern Iraq, following the coalition invasion in 2003.

He says he and his Iraqi counterparts at the Baghdad Department for Antiquities, which oversees Iraq's museums, hope the Basra project will come to fruition despite the difficulties that remain.

"They're enthusiastic about the project, and glad we're taking this initiative," he says. "A great deal has been done in Basra in terms of providing water and electricity. But culture is an area which has been largely neglected."

Just a few years ago, the very idea of a new museum in Basra would have been laughable. The focus was on security, and reconstructing the essentials of daily life, such as a working sewage system. Those projects are still not complete, but more than five years on, Basra is indeed a place transformed, with British forces looking to withdraw from the region altogether by the end of July.

Looting

The city is much calmer now, with Iraqi forces handling security while the British focus on training. Car bombs, kidnappings and even murders are down from their peak, even if they have not disappeared entirely. And British troops are even back in the wider Basra Palace complex again, while they mentor the Iraq Army in the city.

Ancient artefacts recovered by police in Basra last month

The origin of the idea of a new Museum for Basra based at the palace came from Maj Gen Barney White-Spunner, Britain's former commanding officer in southern Iraq, and was taken up with enthusiasm by Mr Curtis and the British Museum.

Basra's c