Kitchen nightmare

All the talk in the media about jail sentences for those caught carrying knives reminds me of a story one of our Sardinian friends told me.

A chef by trade, and a wide-eyed bundle of twitchy nervous energy at the best of times, he was working in a bar on the coast during the tourist season. Driving home to his loved ones in the early hours of the morning he was stopped by the police who insisted on looking in the boot of his car.

Within minutes he'd been arrested and was on his way to the local police station. For a short while he was flummoxed as to exactly what crime he'd committed. Until he remembered that among the large picnic blanket and gaffa tape stored in the trunk were the tools of his trade.

A very large, very sharp collection of kitchen knives!

Could be interesting

Tonight's Horizon - 9pm on BBC Two unless you live in Wales in which case you'll have to wait an extra two and a half hours due to the bloody football - deals with cultures who show signs of extraordinary longevity.

One of the places Dr Brian Wilcox, the programme's presenter, visits is the tiny Sardinian mountain village of Ovodda. Despite having a population of just 1,700 residents it boasts five centenarians and as many men as women live to the age of 100.

Read about How To Live To 101 Without Trying

You mean the Italians invented rugby?!

During the dark days of the 2007 Six Nations - well they were if you were Welsh - it looked as if the Italian team were well on their way to the holy grail for northern hemisphere rugby teams, namely beating England.

So it's disappointing that despite a valiant effort, and given England's near cabon copy of their capitulation at the Millennium Stadium the previous week, the Azzurri simply ran out of time.

Funnily enough a few weeks back whilst reading the usual extravagant claims in the Welsh press about our national team's chances in this year's competition I noticed something that took me by surprise.

Apparently "forms of football involving hands and feet..." - that'd be rugby then - "were played in Italy from Roman times to the medieval era".

Digging a bit deeper I found that according to some historians it was likely the Romans may have introduced the game, which they called Harpastum, to Britain nearly 2000 years ago.

The Romans themselves apparently borrowed much of the game from Greece where it was variously called Phaininda (meaning to pretend) or Episkyros.

Who knew?