BBC News | UK | New light on human torch mystery

We start by lighting ourselves on fire. Parts that are easier to put out than our faces. Hands, to begin. Arms outstretched, palms toward the darkening sky, I watch as a flaming torch is wiped across my hand from wrist to fingertips. For one, maybe two seconds, I am on fire. The flame trail is two inches high. My hand warms. It doesn’t burn exactly

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wok-frying remains the basic Chinese cooking technique, a cuisine born of fuel poverty. Every meal had to be founded on frugal calculations about how to extract the maximum taste from the minimum input of energy. ‘Les Rosbifs’ had no such worries. The roast beef of England reflected our densely wooded landscape, and the fact that we had plenty of g

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