DESPITE his name, George Bull, chairman of Grand Met, one of the world's largest food and drink companies revealed his Irish roots at the IFEX conference this week. He told the delegates about his great uncle, who came to live in Kerry when he retired from the army.

Shortly after, he had a visit from a local newspaper and the resulting headline was "Battle scared general retires to neighbourhood". The great uncle telephoned to complain and was promised a correction. He picked up the paper to find the words: "We regret using the words battle scared to describe so heroic a soldier, the correct description is, of course, bottle scarred."