The moment a diner sent back an £18,000 bottle of wine - for being 'fake'

It was a moment to make the most experienced sommelier gasp with horror.Normally when a favoured wealthy customer orders a magnum of Pétrus 1961, appreciative purrs of pleasure are expected to follow.

Not just from the drinkers. There will be a profit of several thousand pounds on a bottle costing as much as a large family car.
But this time the usually exquisite claret was returned untasted with angry accusations that it was a fake.

This was the hugely embarrassing scene at the Michelin-starred Zafferano in Knightsbridge earlier this month when a party of British and Italian diners asked for the 1961 — regarded as one of the finest wines ever made — to go with their meal.

At £18,000 it was among the most expensive bottles on the wine list, described by one reviewer as 'awesome in its density, richness and concentration'.But the customer refused to touch it because the cork was not stamped with the standard mark of provenance proving where and when it was made.

Zafferano's general manager Enzo Cassini admitted it was an awkward and unprecedented situation."Yes, the customer was cross. He had a problem because when he saw that there was no mark on the cork he didn't want to drink it any more. He said: 'this could be a fake.'

"The bottle was perfect, there was nothing to think it wasn't genuine. I tasted the wine and it was off anyway. It was a big disappointment for the customer because he had brought over a friend from Italy."We have had to write off the Pétrus. As they say, stuff happens."

But the restaurant was so alarmed by the possibility that it was the victim of a fraud that it called in the 'Pétrus police' from Corney & Barrow, an upmarket City wine bar chain who also act as agents for Pétrus n Britain.

The company has accumulated photographic records of every surviving bottle still stored at the 28-acre vineyard to counter the growing phenomenon of wine fraud.The allegation was regarded as so serious that Corney & Barrow despatched its managing director Adam Brett-Smith to investigate.

Although there was no evidence the bottle was a fake, Mr Brett-Smith was unable to provide a definitive answer.The company said: "What we told the restaurant and later confirmed in writing is that it is impossible to confirm 100 per cent the authenticity of a wine pre-1964."

Before then the vineyard was run as a family concern by the former owner Madame Edmond Loubat with only limited record keeping and no cork stamps.Corney & Barrow now insist that every empty bottle of Pétrus is destroyed after the contents have been drunk to stop it being refilled with an inferior, fraudulent wine.

The row at Zafferano had a happy ending.After calming down the customer ordered an alternative — a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1945 at £20,000. This time it got drunk.
But for Mr Cassini, it was a case of once bitten, twice shy.

"I wouldn't buy any more wine of that calibre. It is a big risk to take. Only a few customers go for a wine like that. You can have fantastic experiences with younger wines from the Eighties or Nineties. Is any wine really worth £20,000?"

Shark's virgin birth: Lone female in aquarium gives birth to a pup without ever coming into contact with a male

Imprisoned in a tank hundreds of miles from a mate, Ibolya the female shark resorted to desperate measures. To the astonishment of her keepers, she spontaneously produced a perfectly healthy pup.The virgin birth is making biologists think again about one of the oldest and - in evolutionary terms - most successful creatures.

"When I saw the baby shark lying on the bottom of the tank I thought it was a joke," said Attilia Varga, the director of the Nyiregyahaza Centre in Hungary. "I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark."Ibolya, a white-tipped reef shark, has been with the aquarium for seven years. In that time, she has never shared water with a male.The pup has been a hit with visitors - but has left keepers looking for a bigger tank. They also plan to find a male so Ibolya can breed conventionally next time.Virgin birth - parthenogenesis - happens when an egg begins to divide without being fertilised. Common in insects, it is rare in vertebrates such as fish, birds and reptiles.

Scientists believe that sharks use it as an emergency survival mechanism. Normally animals rely on genetic diversity - the interplay of genes from two parents - to evolve. However, reproduction without sex is a useful stopgap.Sharks are one of Nature's great survivors, appearing in the oceans 400million years ago - before the dinosaurs. Normally their eggs are fertilised inside the female.In the white tip and most other species, the female gives birth to live young.

Starring horse-riding lions, the Sickest Show on Earth

Just when it seemed that the Chinese had plumbed the depths of animal humiliation, along comes something even worse.The country which gave you bears riding bikes now proudly presents ... lions and tigers on horseback.In one of the nation's most notorious zoos, applauding spectators are treated to a bizarre display as a 30-stone lion leaps on to the horse's back.
Then it rides around the ring while a trainer with a whip keeps it moving.After that, a 35-stone tiger climbs up on the same terrified steed for its turn in the limelight.The shocking pictures come from the animal park at Xiamen in Fujian, south-east China, where the public seem to delight in humiliating circus-style stunts and have no regard for animal cruelty.Conditions are poor, with big cats including lions, tigers and leopards and other large animals including bears kept in solitary confinement in tiny cages.Elsewhere in the country, bears ride bicycles at an "Animal Games" in Nanjing. At the Xiogsen Bear and Tiger Mountain village in Guilin, live animals are fed to tigers as a show for tourists. Bears pulling cars in a race with a strong man caused anger after the bizarre stunt was shown in Jinan last year.In a display in Changchun, a tiger is put in a cage with an ox while muzzled so it tries to attack its prey but cannot kill it, producing an agonising and long-drawn-out battle.Save China's Tigers, a charity which has a branch in the UK, campaigns to save animals trapped in the country's zoos.It carries out public education schemes in China to raise awareness .And it aims to free tigers from their cages, set up breeding programmes and reintroduce the proud creatures to the wild after teaching them how to hunt for themselves.

Lounging lizards have the perfect pose for every occasion

Lazy lizards like nothing better than lounging around at the home of this reptile expert.
Henry Lizardlover places them in amazing poses on his mini sofas, hammocks and even waterskis.The 53-year-old has more than 50 green creatures of all sizes roaming about his home in Los Angeles, USA. Henry, whose surname was Schifberg until he changed it, has been working with lizards for 25 years.

Lizards - which can remain still for long periods of time - look almost statue-like in these amusing pictures.Two of his Chinese Water Dragons, which are one-years-old and two-years-old, have been enjoying lazing about on their velvet chairs for the past six months.Henry said: "When they are calm and relaxed they like to sit in chairs.
"When I get lizards to ride on a waterski they just love it. And when I get one of them to hold a guitar he will just stand there for half an hour because lizards are really comfortable doing that.

"I have been living with them in my house since 1982 and I have always had 30 to 50 lizards living with me."Henry discovered lizards' remarkable ability at posing thanks to his first iguana which could be easily manipulated into different positions."He was so trusting and he demonstrated such a calm quality that I got the idea that he would just sit anywhere I put him," he said.

"It worked so well I decided to try it on the other lizards."
But Henry added: "Lizards will only do this if they are comfortable in the position."It doesn't cause them any pain or discomfort."But the lizard expert said only a few out of the 50 in his collection were calm enough to do the poses."Many lizards are nervous. And many of them are not suitable to be kept as pets," he said."Out of 50 or 60 lizards, only one or two are going to be calm and comfortable enough to be posed up like this."

The high-speed sports car that turns into a boat at the touch of a button

It's the sort of car that any self-respecting secret agent would be proud to be seen in.
This high-speed amphibious sports car can swim, hover above water and it's no slouch when it comes to flat-out speed either.At the push of a button a hydraulic mechanism transforms the sports car into a propeller-powered boat. Then an integrated 'hydrofoil' system lifts the car to 'fly' two foot above the water's surface.The Rinspeed Splash was created by Swiss genius Frank M. Rinderknecht, 48, at his car company Rinspeed.Frank says: "It's much more than an agile and lively sports car. It's a really cool and fun sports toy."It can reach 125mph on the road and accelerates to 60mph in 5.9 seconds." The water performance is impressive too, with the Splash reaching an impressive 45 knots."That's fast enough for water skiing or knee boarding," said Frank. The secret of the car is hydrofoil, a nautical technology used to lift the hull of boats from the water to increase speed.But the Splash has adapted the method for serious elevation.The body of the "Splash" is watertight and special buoyancy chambers provide extra lift.The car impressed viewers at the Geneva Motor Show and is set to be a hit with concept car fanatics worldwide.Frank says: "It's an almost magical transformation from street vehicle to a floating, 'flying' all-rounder."The "Splash" is powered entirely by natural gas, which should keep any environmentally James Bonds happy,

TV chat queen Oprah gets a less than flattering tubby bronze statue cast in her honour

She has famously battled with her weight - but according to this tribute to the queen of daytime television, it appears to be a battle lost.Controversial American sculptor Daniel Edwards latest work 'The Oprah Sarcophagus', is a very full-figured sculpture of Oprah Winfrey - and that's where the likeness begins and ends.The work casts Miss Winfrey in bronze, as a nude, full-breasted woman with generous child-bearing hips.
However, it bears little likeness to the billionaire media mogul, save for the head of curly hair that fans out around her.Instead, the artwork shares an uncanny likeness to the coffinette which held the body of Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun.
Edwards, 42, says his piece pays homage to the closest thing America has to a living deity.The artist's pieces typically address celebrity and popular culture in ways that have often stirred controversy.Last year a row broke out over a statue which depicted a 'dead' Prince Harry clutching a cameo locket of his late mother, Princess Diana.His other works include a life-sized statue of Britney Spears giving birth while nude on her hands and knees on a bearskin rug, and a dead Paris Hilton.

The puppies that are rarer than pandas

These five adorable puppies have provided fresh hope for Britain's most endangered dog breed.
There are now fewer Glen of Imaals dogs than giant pandas in the world, and experts fear the Irish hounds could be wiped out within 10 years.

With just 25 breeding bitches left, the future of the terriers has never been more precarious.
The once popular breed has been dismissed in favour of more fashionable "designer" dogs. Thanks to celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, pet-owners would rather own foreign mutts such as Chihuahuas.

Just 36 Glen of Imaals puppies were born last year, meaning the terrier has now been put at the top of the Kennel Club's vulnerable dogs list.This compares with a whopping 45,000 Labrador puppies that were registered with the club during 2007. But the arrival of five puppies born at the home of breeder Jane Withers has sparked fresh optimism in the dog world.

It is hoped the puppies will not only find a good home but will be bred from in the future to preserve the species.
Mrs Withers, from Granary Kennels in Newbury, Berks, said: "I have currently got one dog and three bitch puppies, which is fantastic."They have already been reserved and hopefully their new owners will go on to have a litter of puppies themselves."Glen of Imaal terriers used to be extremely popular centuries ago but in recent years they have been hanging around near the top of the vulnerable breeds list.

"They are now number one and I imagine it is because people would rather have a little dog like Paris Hilton's Chihuahua or a trendy Labradoodle."Glen of Imaal terriers were first bred in County Wicklow, south east Ireland, as far back as the 16th Century. The Irish terriers only grow 14 inches high and their bodies can reach 21 inches.Their low level made them ideal for hunting out fox holes and badger sets and for passing through gorse and heather.

Mrs Withers said: "Glen of Imaal terriers were originally used as general purpose farm dogs - they could be trained to kill anything. Then over the years more people started having them as pets and they were very popular. But now there are only a handful of breeders left in the country and only 36 puppies were registered last year."People just don't know about them any more which is a shame because they are lovely dogs. They only grow to 14 inches but are like a big dog in a small dog's body.

"The average adult weight of a Glen of Imaal is 55lbs yet a West Highland terrier is only about 30lbs. Their coats come in wheat, red and blue brindle and they don't actually moult. Once or twice a year you have to strip them - this means pulling the dead hair out of their new coats."We call Glen of Imaal's 'spare part dogs' because they look like they have all different bits of other breeds in them. But they are lovely and make very loyal pets that can live up to 15 years."

Paul Keevil, of the Kennel Club's vulnerable breeds committee said he is delighted that Mrs Withers has bred five rare puppies."They have now been placed at number one of our vulnerable dogs list so the news of five puppies being born is excellent," he said."All of them are nice and healthy so our next aim is to get them on to breeders who can help increase the population."

Meet the nine-year-old who can balance 14 spoons on his face

He balances spoons on his face. The nine-year-old is so skilled at it that he has his sights set on a world record attempt.

He began his hobby two years ago when his cousin encouraged him to try it and he now spends hours practising every day.

Joe can now hang 14 off his face - four from his forehead, one from his nose, mouth and chin, two from each cheek, two from his right ear and one from his left.

He is now aiming to beat the world record of 15 spoons set by 16-year-old Tim Johnston in California in 2004.

At the family home in Totnes, Devon, Joe's mother Fenella said: "I've tried it and I can't do it. His brother's tried it and he can't do it either.

"It must be something to do with his skin type. It seems to help if you have greasy skin which is why children are quite good at it."

Joe is preparing to appear on the TV show Britain's Got Talent - where he will balance the spoons and do a little jig.

But rather than going stir crazy with fame, the schoolboy wants to keep a level head and admitted: "Even my friends haven't seen me do it yet."

His mother added: "We've tried lots of spoons over the last two years.

"Ikea seems to sell the best ones for hanging off your face. I think we're their best customer when it comes to spoons."

A young schoolboy has developed a strange, top drawer talent for balancing spoons on his face and now he's aiming to go down in history with a world record attempt.

Talented Joe Allison, nine, can already hang an amazing 14 spoons from his forehead, nose, cheeks and chin - just one away from matching the world record.

He began his bizarre hobby two years ago when his cousin challenged him to give it a go.

Now, instead of playing computer games or meeting friends for a kick-around in the park, Joe spends hours every day perfecting his spoon-balancing technique.

Joe can now hang 14 table spoons off his face - four from his forehead, one from his nose, mouth and chin, two from each cheek, two from his right ear and one from his left.

He is now aiming to beat the world record - of 15 spoons set by a 16-year-old in America in May 2004.

Joe's mum, Fenella, of Totnes, Devon, says she has to buy special-quality spoons after he used up all the ones in the kitchen.

According to the mum-of-two, Ikea spoons have the best staying power when it comes to hanging off Joe's face.

"It seems to help if you have greasy skin which is why children are quite good at it.

"We've tried lots of spoons over the last two years but some on the high street are a bit heavy.

"Ikea seems to sell the best ones for hanging off your face. I think we're their best customer when it comes to spoons."

Fenella added: "I've tried it and I can't do it. His brother's tried it and he can't do it either. It must be something to do with his skin type."

Joe is now set to appear on TV show Britain's Got Talent - where he will hang the spoons and do a little jig.

"He filled out an application form online - I didn't even know he'd done it. He's passed the auditions and will be on in the summer.

"I thought it wouldn't happen but it did. He has to keep them on while he stands and does a little bit of dancing," she explained.

Despite Joe's upcoming TV appearance, he admits he has never shown his school friends.

He said: "They haven't seen me do it yet. Well, one of them has."

The current world record belongs Tim Johnston, 16, who balanced 15 stainless steel spoons on his face for 30 seconds at Havens High School, Piedmont, California, USA on May 28, 2004.

According to the Guinness Book Of World Records, he balanced "one on each ear, two on each cheek, three on his chin, two on his lips, one on his nose and three on his forehead".

Life on Mars? Amazing photos from Nasa probe reveal mystery figure on Red Planet

Perched on a rock, she could be waiting for a bus.But if so, she could be in for an awfully long wait.This photo of what looks remarkably like a female figure with her arm outstretched, was taken on Mars. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has set the Internet abuzz with claims that there really is life on the red planet.

Others may well feel that it is simply an optical illusion caused by a landscape.
The image was among many sent back to Earth by Spirit, Nasa's Mars explorer vehicle which landed there four years ago.

Initial inspections revealed nothing unusual, but closer examination by amateur astronomers has thrown up this intriguing picture.
As one enthusiast put it on a website: "These pictures are amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars."

Another, dismissing cynicism about the somewhat stony look of the "alien", wrote: "If you show me another rock in another photo from Mars, or Earth, that naturally looks like that, I will reconsider." A third contributor, who might have come closer to the majority view, said: "Ah, the human eye can be tricked so easily."

6ft 6ins and still growing ...Digger the Clydesdale becomes Britain's biggest horse

From his lofty position in the stable yard, Digger has become used to looking down on the world.

Indeed, he is so high and mighty that his handler Lisa McFarlane is finding it hard to chart his exact size.

She is pictured here with her measuring bar which extends to 19 hands, and Digger stands well clear of the top.

Best estimates put the strapping Clydesdale at 19 hands and two inches (6ft 6in)- on a par with Britain's biggest living horse.

And at just four years old, Digger is the equivalent in equine terms to a teenager so there is still time for him to grow.

He arrived at the International League for the Protection of Horses' Belwade Farm in Aboyne, Scotland, shortly before Christmas and has swiftly made himself at home.

His previous owner had health problems and was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with such a big horse.

Eileen Gillen, farm manager, said: "He is the largest horse we have ever had. He is the equivalent of a growing teenage boy --never out of the fridge. Heaven knows what size he is going to end up."

With his head up Digger measures close to 9ft. Horses are traditionally measured in four-inch "hands" from the ground to the withers, which is the highest point of the spine before it becomes the animal's neck.

Digger is now neck and neck with Cracker, a shire horse in Lincolnshire measured at 19 hands and two inches in 2005.

Tina, a shire from Tennessee, was named tallest horse in the world last year, measuring 20 hands.

Has Britney Spears dumped paparazzo Adnan Ghalib?

Singer rumoured to have requested a restraining order against him Britney Spears is reported to have given Adnan Ghalib the elbow and rumours suggest that she's even trying to prevent him making contact with her.Two paparazzi were invited into Britney's house for champagne in the early hours of Sunday morning and claim they heard shocking news from the singer's close friend Sam Lutfi, 33.According to one of the snappers, Sam said they'd filed a request for a restraining order against photographer Adnan because they want him 'out of Britney's life'.But Adnan, 35 - who's been out of town - claims he knows nothing about it.'All I can say is that I have not been in contact with Britney since early Friday morning,' he says in a message posted on the website of his agency FinalPixx.'The reason being, that I have had to attend a family funeral in Santa Barbara. My phone has been off during this time out of respect for my family.'I am only now becoming aware of what is being said.'The Los Angeles Sherrif's department says that no order was issued, reports People.com.Last Monday Britney, 26, lost all visitation rights to see sons Sean Preston, 2, and 1-year old Jayden James until the next custody hearing on 19 February.

Extraordinary pictures of the alphabet - spelled out on butterflies' wings

Every one of these extraordinary images comes from the brilliant patterns on the wings of moths and butterflies. These designs - each one unique to its species - are used either to attract a mate or for disguise against predators.Photographer Kjell Sandved has made it his life's work to capture them and create this amazing butterfly alphabet, with every letter from A to Z and every number from 1 to 9.Now, Daily Mail readers can have an exclusive, limited edition copy of this magnificent alphabet, either on a giant glossy poster (A1 size) or as 35 double-sided letter flash-cards which will allow you to make up fun messages of your own or help children with their alphabet and numbers.Simply send a cheque for £2.99 for each giant poster or £3.99 for each set of letter flash-cards. Then add just £1 for postage, no matter how many posters or flash-card sets you order.Send your cheque (made payable to Media Offers), along with your name, address and details of your order, to: Butterfly Alphabet, POBox 1017, Bushey, Herts WD23 1XD.

Meet Snake-girl - the contortionist getting circus audiences in a twist

Nokulunga Buthelezi is standing in a Big Top in London's Docklands with her foot on top of her head. She removes the foot easily and, just as easily, replaces it with her other one.

Then Nokulunga - known as Lunga, or, more flamboyantly, Snake-Girl - puts the other one back. Now both feet are on her head.

There is, apparently, a 'snake' gene in Lunga's family, and it pops out every couple of generations.

At school, Lunga says she interrupted lessons to show the teacher her moves, and at break times she did demonstrations for her classmates - and charged them for the privilege. (Her brother, Bheki, collected the money and they spent it on sweets.)

I wonder if the snake-child was bullied - like the fat kid, or the clever kid, or the, well, freak kid. But no. Lunga is beautiful and confident, and this surely helped.

"All the other kids wished they were as flexible as me." She gives a proud smile. "But only I could do it."

Like her great-grandmother, Lunga might have stayed an amateur snake-woman. But one day, when Lunga was seven, her mother Nokuthula met a gymnast called Sylvester performing in the local shopping mall, and she told him about her incredible bending daughter.

"He came round and saw me, and he realised I didn't need any training to be a contortionist," she says.

Sylvester took her to auditions for the UniverSoul Circus, which was recruiting in South Africa. They took her on instantly, but insisted she go to circus school in Cape Town to sort out her routine, which in Lunga's case meant simply rolling her moves into a seven minute sequence.

When she was ready, she was literally taken away to join the circus - every English child's bedtime fantasy - in America. She had a chaperone called Catherine, and she did her lessons between hours on the sawdust, returning home every three months to see her family, whom she was already supporting financially.

Today, she earns about £50,000 a year - top whack for circus performers and the going rate for a photogenic snake-girl.

£I had never left my family before so it was pretty difficult," she says. "But I got used to it." And it was wonderful, she says, growing up in a Big Top.

She used to ride on the elephants' backs, and even polish their toenails. When a tiger escaped from its cage, she says, it padded backstage and eyeballed her.

It must have been the oddest of childhoods, and being a snake-girl had trials all of its own.

"I was only nine when all these responsibilities came crashing down on my head," she says. "I always wanted to go to a real school, and I never will now. It's nice to travel the world, but sometimes I wish I had done the things other teenagers do - go to school, play truant, get into trouble, sneak off to the movies. Just have fun.

"And it would have been nice to have people my own age around me. I was always the youngest."

Neither, she says, does she have time for that other rite of teenage passage, a boyfriend.

And as the circus people pop in and out of the office, I realise she is a bit of a pet. They kiss her, and pat her, and treat her like a (child) star.

This explains her strange combination of sophistication and naivete. "I was always a tomboy," she says. "I was never girlie. I never liked Barbie."

Of course she didn't. Barbie is for girls growing up in the suburbs and dreaming of something more interesting - not for tiny snake-girls taking their bows.

"Although," and she sits up straight as she says this, "I am trying to be like a lady."

She is also continuing her studies by correspondence course between shows, but she doesn't know when she will retire.

"I have seen contortionists in their 70s," she tells me, "so who knows how long I will do it for?"

How does a snake-girl maintain herself? She says she eats very healthily: no carbohydrates, hardly any meat, and chocolate only once a week.

"I have to keep my weight straight," she adds, adding, very tactfully: "My mother is not a small person."

Are there any fat contortionists? "There are fat contortionists," she says, "but it doesn't look attractive, because you wear very tight costumes."

She joined Africa! Afrika! two years ago, when she was 16. When they were in Frankfurt, Lunga went to see a specialist about her 'flexibility' and he X-rayed her in a contortion position.

"He said I am as normal as everyone else. I am just more flexible."

Even when she occasionally makes a mistake in her act, she never falls, and she has never injured herself. Her super-bendy body just carries her through.

"If I fall, everyone thinks it is a new trick," she says.

She loves being snake-girl. "I like to torture people with it," she says. "People scream and cry when I do my act. A lot of them think it is disgusting."

She seems rather thrilled by this. "I am different. And I like to be different."

She certainly is. But doesn't she ever wish it would go away and she could be normal? "Even if I wanted it to leave, it wouldn't," she says, adding vaguely: "I still contort in my sleep.

"It isn't nice to be compared to a snake. The flexibility of a snake is very good: but the other characteristics are the worst."

She falls to the floor and does her snake act. Her body seems to be made of rubber. She melts, bending her legs over her head, tucking her hands and feet into places non-snake-girls simply cannot reach. It does look wildly creepy, even disgusting.

And she chatters away, bending herself over again. "People always ask me: 'How do you do this?' But I don't know. Nobody knows. Only God knows."

"Do you know," she adds, "that I can't do a straight hand-stand? I'm too flexible." And, smiling at me like a child with an incredible toy, she sticks her foot on her head. Again.

Ancient Tomb Art Found in Path of Irish Highway

The engravings have been removed to allow construction of the highway to proceed.
The new find follows the discovery last spring of a prehistoric open-air temple nearby, causing construction of the 37-mile-long (60-kilometer-long) M3 highway northwest of Dublin to be temporarily suspended (see map).

The timber temple enclosure was found just 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) from the Hill of Tara, once the seat of power of ancient Celtic kings.The latest excavations at Lismullin revealed part of a huge stone monument, or megalith, decorated with engravings dating to the Late Stone Age, according to archaeologists from Ireland's National Roads Authority (NRA).Tomb engravings dating back 6,000 years are among the latest discoveries unearthed on the route of a controversial highway under construction in Ireland.

The historic site, at Lismullin in County Meath, was handed over to road builders last month, just weeks after the Stone Age art was found inside a medieval bunker.
Discovered some 165 feet (50 meters) from the temple's enclosure, the stone features a series of zigzags, concentric circles, and arcs."It's classic megalithic art," said Mary Deevy, NRA's chief archaeologist.

The engravings are similar to those that decorate other burial chambers in the region known as passage tombs, Deevy noted."We've only got half a boulder, but we think originally it was probably a curbstone from a passage tomb," she said.The stone would have formed a wall that kept the burial mound together, with the artwork displayed on the outer surface, Deevy said.What the motifs symbolized remains a mystery, the archaeologist added.
Viking Attacks

The stone was discovered within an early medieval souterrain, an underground structure that may have been used by local inhabitants to defend themselves against Viking raiders, the excavation team reported.Dating to around the 10th century A.D., the souterrain was probably constructed using the broken megalith as building material."The souterrain builders robbed or quarried the stone from a Neolithic [Late Stone Age] monument," Deevy said."Souterrains are common in Ireland, and it's not unusual to have stones from earlier monuments reused on them," she added.

The rock art will eventually go on public display, according to Deevy, who describes the Lismullin site as "100 percent excavated."The site was handed over to road builders on December 18, with construction work expected to start soon.Campaigners who want the highway re-routed away from the Hill of Tara area have attacked the decision."Significant damage has already been done," said Vincent Salafia of Dublin-based protest group TaraWatch."But until the road is built on top of the site, I suppose there is still hope."

One of the "Top Discoveries"

Irish citizens opposed to the road project are currently fielding legal advice with a view to obtaining a court injunction to halt construction, the campaigner said.The European Commission has criticized the Irish government for failing to properly reassess the impact of the road project after the ruins of the open-air temple were uncovered last year.Under European law, the discovery should have triggered a so-called environmental impact assessment, Salafia said.
While the Lismullin site was declared a national monument, "this has made no difference whatsoever," he added.Upward of 40 archaeological sites have been uncovered along the route of the highway, Salafia said.

"The bigger argument that's at stake is that Lismullin is connected to all these other 40 sites, and that they are all part and parcel of one single large national monument, which is the Hill of Tara complex," he said."If a new environment impact assessment were done, that's what would be shown, and that the motorway should go outside that complex rather than straight through it."Lismullin's timber enclosure site was recently named one of the top ten discoveries of 2007 by the magazine Archaeology, published by the Archaeological Institute of America.
"Construction of the new M3 highway, meant to ease traffic congestion around Dublin, threatens not only the Hill of Tara's timeless quality, but also newly discovered archaeological sites in the surrounding valley," the magazine said.

Surf's up: Kim Cattrall solves the problem of her cellulite by covering up in a sexy full-body wetsuit

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Kim Cattrall's dimpled thighs were on show for all to see as she filmed scenes in a 50s style bikini for the new Sex And The City movie in Malibu yesterday.

But the actress appears to have solved that particular thorny problem by slipping into something a bit more forgiving – a sexy full body wetsuit.


Although her fans may be a little disappointed that there is less of her still-enviable figure to enjoy, Kim looked every inch a beachside pin-up in the figure-hugging outfit for the rolling in the surf scenes.

Kim was reunited with her hunky onscreen boyfriend Smith Jerrod, played by handsome actor Jason Lewis.

Kim has often stripped off for her role as the racy Samantha - but in new scenes for the highly-anticipated big screen version she appears to have revealed rather more than she would have liked.

The actress was pictures in a pair of massive bikini bottoms which failed to hide the dimpled truth, as her cellulite was revealed while she filmed scenes on the Malibu beach.

The blonde star strode along the beach, gold stilettos in hand. And despite retaining a still enviable figure, her thighs showed the tell-tale signs of the dreaded skin condition which defeats many women.

Kim wore a 50s style black halternecked bikini to film scenes on the deserted beach. And the large tummy-covering pants had more than a hint of the Bridget Jones' about them.

But unlike Bridget's control pants, unfortunately for Kim, they did little to enhance the Sex and the City star's still svelte figure.

But, dreaded cellulite aside, the 51-year-old actress is clearly still in pretty fine fettle.

And fans of the film are expecting plenty of the raunchy scenes that are now associated with her outrageous character, PR woman Samantha.


The film has been dogged by rumours of on-set rows, mainly involving Cattrall and actress Sarah Jessica-Parker.

And in new reports from the US, an insider is set to blow the lid with a behind the scenes memoir.

According to the New York Post, Clifford Streit, the former manager of author Candace Bushnell, is touting a book proposal of the series' early days titled "Unbecoming Stanford."

The book is named after Stanford Blatch, the character who was Carrie Bradshaw's flamboyant gay best friend played by Willie Garson, as it was intended as a caricature of Streit.


Recently, Bushnell and Streit amicably settled a financial dispute over payment from the show.

The book suggests tensions on set began because Kim Cattrall was "a natural comedienne, and a scene-stealer in the best possible sense - the camera went right to her."

Streit also claims two of the show's on-screen lovers had an affair off-screen too.

And that executive producer Darren Star passed on Ashton Kutcher for the show because, he privately confided after a dinner meeting: "I don't see this kid going anywhere."