5 MARCH 2005, Page 56

Q. I want to buy my 93-year-old father a present

for his birthday but there is nothing he doesn’t have and, what’s more, he hates extravagance. It seems depressing to give him nothing. What do you suggest, Mary?

J.V.S., Richmond, Yorkshire A. Buy your father one of the newly available wind-up radios costing only £29.99. Your father will be pleased to think he need never buy batteries or use up units of electricity. Like blow heaters, you can never have enough radios in a house.