A fridge too far

Most of us have made silly bets while under the influence of alcohol. Few, however, are pig-headed enough - or should I say honourable enough - to stick to them. Tony Hawks, comedian and host of BBC's The Best Show In The World, Probably, was taunted in a pub that he would not manage to hitch-hike around Ireland in one month - with a fridge. Of course Tony could not take such a slur sitting down and wagered the sum of £100 that he could do such a thing with ease. The oddest thing about the whole story is that he actually carried out the dare. Last spring he took to the highways with a small fridge stuffed with gear, which he lugged around from Belfast to Galway to Cork. He reported every couple of days to Gerry Ryan, always a man for a good story, who commented: "Well, you have to say it's a completely purposeless idea, but a damn fine one." Tony won the bet and this spring sees another satisfying result of the whole fridge saga - a book to be published by Ebury Press entitled, well, Round Ireland With A Fridge. There will also be a BBC Radio 4 series about his exploits and the man himself plans to return to Ireland with his trusty fridge for the book's publication in April. You have been warned.