Two out of five jobseekers have been asked a “weird” question during an interview, such as “How would you get an elephant into a fridge?”, new research shows.

A survey of 1,000 adults by recruitment firm Michael Page found that many jobseekers were failing to prepare properly, saying that their main concern was making a good first impression. Many jobseekers said they were “bamboozled” at being asked a strange question, such as: “Why are manhole covers round?”.

Meanwhile a separate poll of more than 10,000 adults by employment firm Monster showed that most believed wearing flip-flops to work was unprofessional.

Bingers said to be happier

University students are happier when they binge drink – at least in some American colleges, a study has found.

Scientists in the US discovered that students who engaged in alcohol-fuelled nights out were generally more cheerful and content than their restrained colleagues. But the “positive social effects” of binge drinking were no protection against its health hazards, they stressed.

The researchers found a strong drinking culture among “high status” students which they said could explain the link between binge drinking and happiness.

Restoration ruins mural

A small Spanish town is trying to figure out what to do with a 19th-century painting of Christ that has been disfigured by a local artist who took it upon herself to restore it.

Juan Maria Ojeda, an official in Borja town, said 80-year-old Celia Gimenez decided to touch up the fresco of Christ wearing a crown of thorns in the Misericordia church because she thought it need restoration.

He said no one realised how badly disfigured the painting was until she rang town hall to say what she had done.

Now the fate of the painting has made national news in Spain for the wrong reasons.

Sex and money are taboo

Sex and money have replaced politics and religion as the topics friends are least likely to discuss, according to a survey.

Almost 32 per cent of people would not discuss their sex lives with even their closest friends, with 31 per cent seeing infidelity as off-limits – and yet, they are more open with each other than ever, O2’s All About You report said.

The research, based on a poll of 2,012 UK adults, said money came a close third as a subject which is off-limits as more than a quarter of people would refuse to talk about their finances with their nearest and dearest.

The same proportion would not discuss their salary.