And, finally, for anyone wishing to see the back of packaging inventor Mark Sheahan – and we know from the ‘Talking Shop’ post bag that this may apply to a certain Mr ‘Yours sincerely an informed reader’ – no names no pack drill, his posterior is displayed in all its glory the August page of next year’s Naked Inventor Calendar.

All done in the best possible taste, of course, and with proceeds going to the Institute of Cancer Research and Motivation, the charity that initiates projects for wheelchair users.

Sheahan along with 11 other British inventors spent a chilly afternoon at the Croydon nightclub, Tiger Tiger, in an attempt to emulate, if not out-do, those WI ladies from Yorkshire.

Whilst our inventor – the only one to represent the packaging industry – was discreetly posed behind the nightclub’s bar counter, he neglected to spot the mirror behind his behind so to speak. Given that the invention he’s best known for is the Squeeze Open closure, the old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words can never have rung truer.

Self-financed by members of the Round Table of Inventors, The Naked Inventor Calendar 2004 is available for just £6 including postage and packing online via www.ideas21.co.uk or www.squeezeopen.com

Modesty – or money – constrained the print run to just 2500 so, apart from the dubious pleasure in seeing nine male and three female boffins in the buff, you could be snapping up something of a collector’s item.