Silly season top 10

Summertime. But the living - for hacks - AIN'T easy

It happens every summer. There's not much politics, the movers and shakers are on holiday, there's not a lot going on. But the Silly Season does have a long, if not completely honourable, tradition - the first record use of the phrase was mid-way through Queen Victoria's reign.

So to respect that tradition, BBC News Online will be tracking the best of the silly season stories over the next four weeks.

10. A couple are getting wed after one of them mistakenly sent a mobile phone text message to the other. They started chatting after they realised there had been a wrong number. (Star, 1/8/00)

9. Eight per cent of people keep their underwear in the fridge in hot weather so they can keep cool (Sun, 2/8/00)

We have, however, observed this year very strong symptoms of the Silly Season of 1861 setting in a month or two before its time

Saturday Review, 13 July, 1861

8. Dom Joly from Channel 4's Trigger Happy TV, dressed as a burglar and asking villagers if any rich neighbours were on holiday, gets surrounded by 10 policemen and helicopter.(Star, 1/8/00)

7. Man called Jim Gambles wins £4.4m on lottery (Sun 4/8/00)

6. Whippet-doping scandal blamed on chocolate drops (Independent 4/8/00).

5. George Gigg, 95, takes his family on their annual trip to sunny Devon. There are 81 people in his family. (Times 3/8/00)

4. Kids in Oxfordshire village who were fed up with fast cars set up a fake radar speed trap with hairdryers made to look like radar guns. (Mail, 3/8/00)

Tinky Winky married in low key event

3. The actor who played Tinky Winky, the Teletubby criticised for being gay because he carried a handbag and is purple, gets married and proves his heterosexuality. (Mirror 3/8/00)

2. 30 hopefuls have answered an advert in the Job Centre for a knifethrower's assistant. Pay is £240 a week. (Express 3/8/00)

1. An angler was speared through the stomach by a giant swordfish which jumped into his boat (Star, 2/8/00)

There will be another top ten next week - if any story catches your eye, you can nominate it before 10AM on Friday 11 August by e-mailing it to [e-mail].

To qualify, stories must be obscure, bizarre, weird, banal or simply unbelievable, and must have received coverage out of all proportion to their importance.