The eight-legged sea creature had two boxes to choose from - one marked with a flag from the Netherlands and another with the flag of Spain - and it was the yellow and red banner he went for.

I mounted into the window-seat: gathering up my feet I sat cross-legged like a turk; and having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close I was shrined in double retirement.

Martin Gross, a researcher at Germany's University of Jena, has had multiple three-legged dogs run on treadmills while infra-red cameras record their movements.