Planet: The most distant known planet has been detected orbiting a star 17,000 light-years away, say astronomers.

The find was made through measurements of the effect the combined mass of the planet and its parent star had on the light of another, more distant star.

Comet: The star has a mass of about six times the mass of our Sun and an estimated very young age of about 100,000 years.

"This detection indicates that solid bodies of 100km in size can form this early around a star," Ge says.

Five sets of observations taken during October and November 2003 indicated that the star's light was absorbed by clouds of hydrogen and helium surrounding it.

Scientists believe that the gas clouds were the wreckage of a comet that got too close.

But in opinion polls the wording is vital, says Mr Worcester. "When an interviewer on behalf of a polling organisation asks you for your opinions, you do not feel an obligation to think carefully and thoroughly about what it is that is being asked."

He cites an experiment in which he asked Britons about their attitudes to the death penalty. By using graphic references to "convicted child murderers" and "rapists", he encouraged 90% of respondents to back capital punishment. The figure dropped to 52% when a blander question was posed.

Charon, a 54-year-old internist with a Ph.D. in literature, is the director of the pioneering Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, which teaches literature, literary theory and creative writing to medical students and whose practices are rapidly being incorporated and adapted by schools across the country.

Narrative medicine imports terms from literature to describe the doctor-patient relationship. In describing his backache, Charon said, the Dominican man was actually telling an ''illness narrative,'' which can be interpreted just like a literary text: by examining the presentation of character, the structure of the tale and the plot of the disease. Regardless of the outcome -- the diagnosis or treatment (which Charon did not relate) -- what is central is the telling and receiving of the tale. Narrative medicine appears to answer a central paradox. Unlike other fields -- like literature -- medicine really is always getting better. Yet despite its ever-increasing efficacy, nearly half of patients seek out alternative care, and both patients and physicians voice increasing dissatisfaction with the practice of mainstream medicine.

Until then it had been only subliminal, but as I leafed through the photos in Jimmy Saville's book I suddenly realised what it was I was being reminded of. It was Jimmy Saville himself - or rather, his style.

In nearly all the pictures he wore tracksuits coupled with chunky gold jewellery. As I fanned through his career, the tracksuits became more flamboyant (handmade, in fact), the jewellery bigger, the look darker, meaner, with wraparound shades.