Four out of five people who started a diet for the new year will have given up by today, according to a new report.

A survey of 2,000 adults also showed that one in five failed to continue with a new year resolution on healthy eating within a few days.

The main diet-breaking foods were chocolate, bread, crisps and takeaways, the study by V8 juice found.

Another survey, of 2,000 adults, showed that more than half of all British drinkers who vowed to have a dry January had failed after only two weeks of abstinence.

Almost one in 10 adults had planned to remain alcohol-free throughout this month, according to research commissioned by the Pharmacy2U Online Doctor service.

It’s bubble-bursting fun for gorillas

Young gorillas at a zoo have been transfixed by a new toy – a bubble machine.

The plaything has been entertaining young western lowland gorillas at Howletts Wild Animal Park, near Canterbury, Kent, as they try to pop bubbles belched from the device.

The machine was donated by a supporter of the park after keepers drew up an Amazon wish-list of useful items that would help enrich the animals’ lives.

Lorna Wanless, head of the gorilla section at Howletts, said: “We couldn’t resist filming the youngsters’ reactions to the bubbles.”

Trust charts return of rare rodent

A rare rodent has enjoyed a resurgence in numbers after more sightings were made than in the previous 100 years.

The harvest mouse is seldom seen in the northeast of the UK, but a recent survey by the Durham Wildlife Trust found nine new records. This was more than was seen in the whole of the 20th century, and the first in Teesdale for 40 years.

Vivien Kent, conservation officer at Durham Wildlife Trust, said a national survey in the 1970s reported only a handful of harvest mouse records in the North East.

“These new records represent more than were reported in County Durham during the whole of the 20th century,” he added.

Concern as pharaoh’s mask slips

Conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo say the blue and gold braided beard on a mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun has been hastily glued back on with epoxy after it was detached during a cleaning.

The museum, which many archeologists and restorers say is not run to professional standards, is one of the city’s main tourist sites.

Tutankhamun’s mask and other contents of his tomb are its top exhibits.

Conservators gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident or removed because it was loose.

They agree, however, that orders came from the top to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used.

Honey, I’ve demolished the house

A man demolished his home in upstate New York without telling his wife he planned to tear it down, according to police.

When officers arrived at the property owned by 48-year-old James Rhein’s wife they found him knocking it down.

He did not remove any household items, such as furniture, food and belongings and instead dumped everything into large construction rubbish bins.

Rhein told police he was demolishing the house because it had a bad foundation. He was charged with criminal mischief and was released on bail.

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