LIVE IT

LIVE IT LIVE IT

Life hack

If you want your wine chilled over the festive season, but don’t want to dilute the flavour, try adding some frozen grapes to your glass instead of ice cubes.

CAPTION COMPETITION

TWEET CAPTIONS TO @DEALERSUPPORT Magic mushrooms for mental health

A single dose of a hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms can dramatically reduce the symptoms of intractable depression, according to the largest ever study of its kind, Sky News has reported. Around a third of patients given a 25mg dose of a synthetic form of psilocybin, along with psychological support, were still in remission three weeks later. All had failed to respond to traditional antidepressant treatments. In the international trial, 233 patients were allocated to one of three different doses of a manufactured psilocybin called COMP360. They also had support from a therapist to prepare them for the sixto-eight-hour hallucinogenic ‘trip’, which was clinically supervised; a further session after drug treatment cemented the experience.

Quote of the month

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Andy Rooney

We all know that the same few handfuls of Christmas songs play at Did you know?? TEABREAK LIVE IT stores, and on the radio in a loop, all season long - but one of them has been adapted more than any of the others. Silent Night earns that title, as the most-recorded Christmas song in history, with more than 733 different versions copyrighted since 1978.

The love bus

THUMBS A couple who got UP! married after meeting on a coach when a breakdown forced passengers to switch services have recreated the journey 30 years later, BBC News has reported. Alison and Paul Forrester’s eyes first met when they were travelling from Glasgow to Manchester in 1991; Alison was travelling home from a wedding when her coach broke down and she had to board another.

There was only one seat available - next to Paul - and the rest is history for the Bury pair, who now have two daughters. They have now recreated the journey after National Express put out a call for people to share their stories to mark the company’s 50th anniversary.

PUB QUIZ

1. In the Dr Who Christmas special in 2017, which actress made her first official appearance as the 13th Doctor?

2. Alphabetically, which of Santa’s reindeer comes first? 3. Who is generally recognised as the author of the poem

A Visit from St. Nicholas (also known as Twas the Night

Before Christmas)? 4. Snowflakes are often portrayed as being six-sided but studies suggest that fewer than what percentage of snowflakes exhibit the ideal six-fold symmetric shape? a) 0.1% b) 1% c) 10%

5. Who wrote the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Answers: 1. Jodie Whittaker 2. Blitzen 3. Clement C. Moore 4. 0.1% 5. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure

Knock me down with a feather

A sprouting smell As reported by Sky News, Cambridge University Botanic Garden has revealed what it calls a ‘special gift’ to plant enthusiasts - and it’s a ‘total stinker’. Visitors will know they are close to the orchid bulbophyllum phalaenopsis when they start to smell the ‘delicate aroma of rotting cabbages’, the garden’s Facebook page says. ‘The odour has also been described as smelling like dead rats decomposing next to rotting fish, but to the carrion flies and beetles that pollinate it in the wild, it smells amazing.’ The orchid was collected from Papua New Guinea and is rarely seen flowering outside its natural habitat. The botanic garden said it was flourishing thanks to the care of its volunteer orchid expert Phil. ‘Our glasshouse team think it will reach its ponging peak any time soon,’ they said.