Leonardi Da Vinci had some interesting thoughts about beavers*

THE giraffe is the gayest of all of the animals. This is a fact: about 90% of all giraffe sexual activity is male-male. Giraffes also have purple tongues, no vocal cords and are patterned as they are as a result of an evolutionary adaptation that allows them to be camouflaged against crazy paving.

OK, that last 'truth' was in fact a lie, as opposed to these other unbelievable truths about giraffes I learnt on a Wednesday evening in the Shaw Theatre, just down the road from work. Myself and Mr Simon Powell, a friend from my hazy, crazy, line-dancing-in-Greenwich-Park days, were in attendance at this free recording for BBC Radio 4's (yes, aren't we trendy?) The Unbelievable Truth. This is a panel show chaired by David Mitchell, the aim of which is to give a talk on a specialist topic. The majority of this talk is complete poppycock, except five subtle, unbelievable truths, which the contestant aims to smuggle past the other panelists; the panelists in turn score points for finding these truths. It's QI meets Call My Bluff, only on the radio. Panelists at the double recording we attended were Michael McIntyre, Fred MacAulay, Lucy Porter and Graeme Garden - none of which I had heard of beforehand, but all were very funny indeed.

Thus in one evening I learnt that Sweden won the underwater rugby championships in 1999 - and, indeed, that there is a sport called underwater rugby - and that the last cow to be judicially hung in France died in 1780 - for sorcery.

It's a crazy world. The shows will be broadcast soon, check http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/unbelievabletruth/ for more details. It'll be well worth a listen.

*too rude to mention here, alas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/unbelievabletruth