PicoVibe

In a Christmas cracker my mother found the conundrum 'Why is a mouse when it spins?' The answer was given as 'Because the higher the fewer.' Is there any meaning to this?

• THE CORRECT wording should have been 'Why does a mouse when it spins?' with the then obvious answer 'Higher or lower'. At least that was the version which sixth formers at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool used in the early 1960s to test the gullibility of younger members of the school such as myself. It was rumoured that it had been devised by John Lennon, a pupil at the school until 1959, but perhaps I am being gullible in believing this.

  Geoff Black, Cambridge.

• THE RIDDLE first came to my attention as a student fresher in 1942. At the same time another phrase was popular. In answer to any question to which one could give no answer, such as 'Have you seen so-and-so?' or 'Have you read such-and-such?' the reply would be 'No, but my sister rides a bicycle.' There was also a sort of son-of-mouse to which the answer was 'No, but you can clean a straw hat with a lemon.' Unfortunately I've forgotten the question. Although this appears to be so much student nonsense, it taught me the meaning of non sequitur. As Hugh Lloyd said to Tony Hancock in The Blood Donor, 'For things unknown there is no knowing.'

  Peter M Horsey MA, Stockbury, Sittingbourne, Kent.

• Has anyone heard of this before "Why is a book when it's read?" Clues: 1) the higher it flies the fewer" clue 2) the pith of the story lies in the boys answer to his mothers question" clue 3) "Know never more." My grandad was tormented with the question as a child by his dad and has continued to torment the rest of the family with it. I can't figure it out and it has been driving me crazy for 20 years!!

  Mandy c, Australia