He might be one of the smartest people alive, but the simplest of riddles has had Professor Robert Winston stumped for years.
A producer who booked him to give a talk recently was keen to impress, so laid on a backstage feast of bagels, hummus and other assorted healthy nibbles. The Prof arrived and was charm personified to everyone there, but he expressed some bewilderment when he saw the choice of refreshments on offer, so pulled the producer to one side to have a word.
Everywhere he went, he said in a mystified tone, he noticed he was being presented with bagels and hummus. Everywhere. The same bagels and hummus. He liked bagels, sure, and he was perfect happy to eat hummus, but this had been going on for years now. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why everyone who hired him was so keen to feed him this same snack.
The producer had to explain to the professor that they were what he had listed on his rider. |