Sideswipe

New Zealand tennis fans enjoyed an exciting round four Wimbledon showdown between Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero in the early hours of yesterday. It was nail-biting stuff in the third set, with the players neck and neck. But just as Federer was serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set, Prime television cut it off and went to Guthy Renker infomercials. Aren't we glad Prime didn't have this year's US Golf Open. 

* * * 

A postman picked up a moving parcel marked "do not bend" from a post box in Cambridge, England, and, fearing it might contain a rat, rushed it to a local vet. It turned out to be a very frightened hamster. "The envelope was a bit gnawed and I just saw the grey fur first," vet Patrick von Heimendahl said in the Sun. "I find this utterly cynical. It could have ended up in the post box with no water or food. It could have died." Wendy Barry, of the British Hamster Association, said: "It is a very stupid thing to do. With letters raining down on it it would have been terrified." People living at the Cambridge address the hamster had been mailed to were stunned and had no idea who was behind it.

* * * 

The best place to sell magazines could be in the gym, says a study which found that pheromones in male sweat make men opt for a manly read. New Scientist reports: "Men under the influence of androstenol, a pheromone found in men's underarm sweat, find men's lifestyle magazines to be more attractive and are more likely to purchase them than those not exposed to the pheromone." 

* * *

From the Daily Telegraph: "The Lions test team were introduced and paraded live on New Zealand television at a Hollywood-style press conference in Christchurch on Wednesday. What the audience didn't see as the players trooped off at the end was Paul O'Connell pulling Alastair Campbell's tracksuit bottoms down. No amount of spin doctoring can make a grown man with his tracksuit round his ankles look anything other than ridiculous. Alas, the moment was not captured for posterity but those of us who witnessed it will never forget."

* * * 

A reader writes: "When I was in Australia earlier in the year there was a story about a horse called Torque's Hit. The racing authority made the owners change its name so they called it I Want My Name Back - pretty good, I thought. It is racing in Queensland if you want to keep an eye on it."