"Times"

Which city was saved by honking geese

A. Rome. Thanks to gwilliams for that little tester. Q. What happened A. The Gauls were invading Rome and tried to storm a garrisoned settlement. A Roman soldier, Marco Manlio, who was sleeping01:00 Mon 16th Apr 2001

How did Lord Hartwell lose his newspaper empire

A. Lord Hartwell, born Michael Berry, was proprietor of The Daily Telegraph from 1954 to 1985. He died on 2 April 2001, aged 89. The short answer, to James's question, is that he failed to modernise01:00 Mon 16th Apr 2001

At what age is it easy to take your baby on holiday

A. Although more daunting, the earlier you travel with your baby the easier it is. In the first three months your baby sleeps approximately 16 hours a day, so it is easier to go then, before he or she01:00 Mon 16th Apr 2001

What excitement can we expect from this year's Baftas

A. Well, Anne Robinson's Weakest Link is head to head with Chris Tarrant for the title of Best Entertainment Series at the Bafta television awards. They face stiff competition from Have I Got News01:00 Mon 16th Apr 2001

Q What happened to the horses in this year's Grand National

A. Red Marauder won the race in appalling conditions a horse named Smarty came second. They were the only ones to finish the race without their jockeys having to remount. Some racing experts later01:00 Fri 13th Apr 2001

Q What is the world's most venomous snake

A. The most venomous snake is the Sea Snake (Hydrophus Belcheri). This snakes' venom is said to be 100 times more powerful than that of any other land or sea snake. The adder is Britain's most01:00 Wed 11th Apr 2001

Why 'beyond the pale'

asks Miss Don: A. 'Beyond the pale' means means outside the limits of what is considered civilised behaviour. Q. What is a 'pale' A. It's from the Latin palus, a stake, and is a long, thin piece of01:00 Mon 09th Apr 2001

Is it healthier to live in a new or an old house

asks Mayastar:A. There are unhealthy aspects to both old and new buildings, but recent research has highlighted the particular problems of new buildings. Q. What are they A. Studies in Australia01:00 Mon 09th Apr 2001

Where does the necktie originate and what was its purpose

A. Thank you for your sartorial query, Tads. Short answer is: Croatia, fashion item. Q. And the long answer A. Well, despite man's current fixation with the tie as an item of polite wear, they01:00 Mon 09th Apr 2001

What is texting

A. Short Message Service (SMS), more popularly known as text messaging, or texting, allows mobile phone users to send and receive text messages via their digital mobile phones. Q. How do you type01:00 Mon 02nd Apr 2001

Q Why do pop stars become actors

A. An interesting question. There are few areas in life where being successful with one skill leads you to believe you have the wherewithal to perform as well in another. Heart surgeons are not known01:00 Mon 02nd Apr 2001

Was Hanratty guilty

A. A lot of time and trouble is being taken to prove the guilt of hanged murderer James Hanratty. Why asked Deiter. The body of Hanratty has been exhumed and reburied after police took a DNA sample.01:00 Tue 27th Mar 2001

My dad says that album cover art is dead. Is he right

A. He's probably harking back to the days when buying an album meant carrying home 12" of vinyl, which meant an album sleeve, and that meant a nice large space to devote to some artwork. Most of the01:00 Mon 26th Mar 2001

Q 'Where there's a hit, there's a writ.' What exactly does that mean

A. This is a clever reference to the fact that as soon as a pop star has made enough money, someone somewhere is going to try and relieve him or her, or them, of some of it, and a popular method is to01:00 Mon 26th Mar 2001

How can you tell if someone's lying

asks tonyb A. Researchers who have studied lying believe that there are 23 tell-tale signs of porky-telling. These include including sweating, faster pulse, taking longer than normal to answer01:00 Mon 26th Mar 2001

Why is the government appealing to phone companies to help fight mobile phone crime

A. The UK home secretary Jack Straw has called on mobile phones companies, including Vodafone, BT Cellnet, One2One and Orange, to collaborate with the government to help find ways to make mobile01:00 Sun 25th Mar 2001

The Mir Space Station finally makes it home

A. Yes, the 15-year-old space station which has been beset with problems finally ended its life crashing safely into the Pacific Ocean. During its 15 years it travelled over 2.2 billion miles,01:00 Fri 23rd Mar 2001

What s Al Gore doing now

A. After losing the election, what is Al Gore's position in the US now asked JaRjaR. Well, put simply, the former vice-president is teaching journalism students. Q. What A. You heard right.01:00 Thu 22nd Mar 2001

Where does Saffron come from

asks HOMER A. Saffron comes from the crocus flower. Crocus Sativus is grown for this spice used to colour and flavour dishes. Q. How do we get the spice A. The long crimson stigmas ( the female01:00 Tue 20th Mar 2001

How did food preservation come about

A. Before intensive farming and before foods could be flown from all over the world for us to buy in the shops, people grew their own foods. These smallholders had to concentrate on cultivating one01:00 Mon 19th Mar 2001