A-levels, these have focused more on hoop-jumping and box-ticking than on actual education.

ECONOMIST: Moves away from A-levels and GCSEs

He made his entrance by jumping from the box onto the stage.

BBC: Tapes by Ringo Starr's first band found

And in 1965, selling motorbikes for a spell in Moses Lake, Washington, business became a lot more interesting when, fired up with a Wild Turkey or two, he did tricks to draw in the customers: jumping a car, then a car and a 20-foot box of rattlesnakes, then two cars, rattlers and a mountain lion, until a crowd came to watch him.

ECONOMIST: Evel Knievel

When customers cannot remember any more about a book than its red cover with a jumping dog, or think they may have typed in their address wrongly, the humming box in the storeroom will be no help.

ECONOMIST: Electronic commerce