I backed against the door as Lena took a tiny step forward, her body curving towards Phil. She thanked him again – she really was a stuck record – and he shushed her again.

The Brazilians are eating their hearts out over their defeat by Germany in the World Cup.

In this last-mentioned chamber there is a central doorway, leading to the holy recess, or sekos; and two other doorways also communicate with the two ends of a gallery which runs round the sekos.

The bright-green ring-necked parakeet, originally hailing from India and Africa, has established itself in European cities thanks to the caged-bird trade for much of the 20th century.