They're so convoluted and measurement defying, they're often sold by the pound instead of board foot.

NPR: Excerpt: 'A Splintered History Of Wood'

Is headman Larry Page afraid Carl Icahn is ready to pounce, buy 4.9 percent of Google, pound the table, demand 3 board seats and insist YouTube be spun off?

FORBES: Google And Apple: Why I Own Them Both

"We would like to think that we will have a very solid drug target in the next five years, " said Kerrigan, who said his project has a 1 million pound grant from the Health Research Board of Ireland and Britain's Wellcome Trust.

CNN: Brush your teeth, save your life?

While Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Gulf state Qatar, has said it will vote in favour of the merger, it added that it would abstain on a controversial linked vote on whether Xstrata's board members should receive multi-million pound payments to stay with the future merged company.

BBC: Qatar backs Xstrata-Glencore merger

The merger between Glencore and Xstrata was finalised on 2 May after much delay, mainly due to opposition by Qatar Holdings, Xstrata's second largest shareholder, against the multi-million pound "golden handcuffs" plan to retain Xstrata's board members.

BBC: Xstrata logo

Further along the car-free lane, past the parish notice board, an unattended stall offers homegrown strawberries in exchange for a pound dropped in an honesty box.

BBC: The last piece of England