Keepers at Bristol Zoo have a mammoth task on their hands at the moment, says the BBC: They have begun their annual stock-take of the animals kept at the zoo which is reckoned to cover over 14,000 creatures! The zoo and the Wild Place Project are home to around 500 species, from tiny fish and insects to gorillas and hippos.

The count is carried out at the start of each year to verify audit records and check vulnerable populations are thriving. A spokesperson for the zoo said: “The last 12 months have been very successful in terms of animal births, so the count is a big job this year.”

An amusing article appears in the Daily Express about Muirfield Golf Club in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland, which came in for a fair amount of stick for banning women from joining.

According to the paper, a plaque appeared on a bench in Edinburgh's West Princes Street gardens which 'excludes' members of Muirfield from sitting on it.

The plaque, which was later removed by the city council, read: “The members of Muirfield Golf Club are hereby excluded from sitting on this bench. By the order of the female population.”

BOOKMAKERS reckon there is a good chance that Britons will enjoy the warmest Christmas Day ever!

An article in The Guardian said that the previous high is believed to have been 16C in Teignmouth, Devon, last year.

Bookies Ladbrokes has shortened the odds of that being beaten from 16-1 to 8-1.

HERE'S a surprising statistic found in the Daily Mirror who report that nearly a quarter of British adults have never been on a plane!

Research by travel search engine KAYAK.co.uk also revealed that a fifth of those surveyed say they have never visited a beach in their life, a quarter have never visited a European capital city and 41 per cent say they've never tried foreign food.

And one in 10 Brits have stayed in the UK their entire life and never once been abroad.

A new study claims that sleep-deprived workers face a higher risk of death and are costing the UK economy £40bn a year.

The BBC says the calculation is based on tired employees being less productive or absent from work altogether.

Data from 62,000 people was used by research firm Rand Europe who said that the loss equated to 1.86% of economic growth.

Rand Europe's report called on employers to recognise and promote the importance of sleep, urging them to build nap rooms.

“The effects from a lack of sleep are massive. Sleep deprivation not only influences an individual's health and well-being but has a significant impact on a nation's economy," said Marco Hafner, a research leader at Rand Europe.

ONE of the country's leading actresses Imelda Staunton has urged a ban on eating and drinking in theatres.

The Guardian quotes an interview she gave to the listings magazine Radio Times in which she called on people to give the performance their full attention.

Staunton, who starred in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Vera Drake, added: “I don’t know why people can’t engage in just one thing. I don’t understand this obsession with having to eat or drink something at every moment of the day.”