IT WAS the year that NASA discovered life on Mars—again. The news
brought a welcome boost for NASA’s space programme—unleashing a wad of
greenbacks in pursuit of Little Green Men. The cash-strapped Russians were not
so lucky. Their Martian probe ended up in South America. Of course, you don’t
find many Martians in South America, but it is a lot cheaper to get there.
In Britain, it was discovered that “mad cow disease” could spread to humans.
The disease attacks the brain, affecting mental processes and making creatures
unsteady on their feet. The first symptoms were noticed among government
ministers. It was also a year of bypasses. The Berkshire town of Newbury got one
that it didn’t need. And Boris Yeltsin couldn’t get enough of them. But enough
of this year. Now that the season’s festivities are just a blurred memory, it is
time to refresh the brain cell with Â鶹´«Ã½’s traditional dose of cold
turkey—the Christmas Quiz.
Bad hangovers
1. The world’s oldest wine was first made about 7000 years ago, according to
American researchers. But what did it taste like?
- turpentine
- vinegar
-
awful. It could well have been the same vintage as the stuff you had at
the office party after the fizz ran out
2. You will have gathered plenty of empirical evidence about the effects of
booze at all those parties over the past few weeks. So what do you think is the
first sign of drunkenness?
- leaning on the bar to compensate for being vertically challenged
- being dictionally challenged
- finding yourself unable to say “dictionally challenged”
Christmas presents
3. All I…
