Last year it was a plate-spinner from Sri Lanka.

Unlike Mr. Francis's usual narrator, this one races around like a circus plate-spinner to keep all the parts of the story moving.

Jan Hommen, chief executive, has so far coped with such demands with the dexterity of a plate-spinner at a circus.

The centre of attention at every ball, she managed her flirtations so successfully that one of her society friends called her "the most accomplished plate-spinner" of her day.

Another of his specialities was plate-spinning - Maskelyne traced his first ambition to be a conjuror to his experience as a boy watching Antonio Blitz, a famous plate-spinner, perform.