THE Margin has always been fond of quizzes, tests and the like, so here's a little teaser. Below are the first four sentences from a recently produced document. Can readers guess the origin?

"There are over 185 nations in the United Nations today. Of these, 134 have been admitted since 1945. The world is indeed a crowded place and getting more so. In later years, people throughout the world will fight for recognition, for their moment in the sun, for their definition of economic supremacy."

It could be from a collection of Mary Robinson speeches, or perhaps a few lines from Boutros Boutros Ghali. Maybe they come from the introduction to a new edition of a wonderfully accurate atlas produced by the Times.

Although these lines would grace any of those, they come from a more unexpected source. For the answer see the bottom of this column.