Although he was unaware of its significance at the time, Egyptologist Andrew Evans, who told a dinner party acquaintance last friday night 'oh yes, there's so much still to find in Egypt' unwittingly made the remark for the 10,000th time in recorded history. Alison Fletcher, his right-hand neighbour at the 9-attendee dinner party, later said: 'I knew it was a stupid question pretty much as soon as I'd said it, but I was really struggling by the time we'd hit dessert. I mean, it's not like he was going to say that no, there was nothing left to find and his chosen career was completely pointless. I don't know what I was thinking. Stupid.' Shaking her head dolefully, she added, 'stupid. Stupid.'

According to reports gathered from other attendees of the dinner party, which otherwise passed uneventfully, Evans had seemed keen to talk about himself all evening long, and it had been 'only a matter of time' before someone asked him either this exact question or else enquired half-heartedly after his ability to write names in hieroglyphics.

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