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Monday night's pub quiz at The Swan was a thriller.

With two teams tied after 20 questions, both gave the same answer to the tie-breaker.

But with a second tie-breaker required, the quiz master did something unusual - he sought advice from an expert on teenage pregnancy.

As you may have gathered, this was no ordinary quiz.

The Swan, in Mansfield, is one of eight pubs which has joined an unusual campaign to promote awareness about teenage sex.

As part of the programme, the pubs are including questions about sexually-transmitted infections and other sex issues.

It is hoped the questions will prompt parents to raise the issues with their children.

Jackie Rigley, from Teenage Pregnancy, said; "Parents for an awful lot of reasons don't talk about sex... maybe they feel embarrassed or there is not a right time.

"Having a campaign in pubs lets parents go home and say 'Oh, guess what I found out in the pub last night'

"It makes it a lot easier to broach a subject that is potentially quite embarrassing and difficult."

In Monday night's quiz at The Swan, the final tie-breaking question was: "In 2000, what was the average number of heterosexual partners in a lifetime for women?"

The correct answer was 6.5.

Hayley Passant's team won the quiz by guessing the closest.

She said her team mates had noticed something unusual throughout the night: "One of the lads turned around and noticed there was a sexual theme."

Ms Passant believed the quiz was a clever way to get parents talking with their children about sex.

"I can imagine them going home and saying 'do you know what the average amount of partners for a woman' and things like that.

"It is more of a discreet way, rather than sitting down and saying 'right, the birds and bees and the STIs are...'"

Sue Jablonskas, from the Nottinghamshire County Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, said: "We felt that targeting parents and carers in this way would work well as it is highlighting an important and serious issue, but in a friendly, relaxed, everyday environment.

"This campaign will also reach grandparents and other relatives who young people may feel safe to discuss these issues with."

By Brady Haran
BBC iCan reporter

BBC News

Youngsters in Calderdale are being urged to practise safe sex with the introduction of a "condom card".

After speaking to trained professionals teenagers will be given a "C-card" which they can take into designated shops to get free contraception.

School workshops will also be used to enforce the safe sex message of the Choices project.

Access to drop in centres are also being provided for youngsters to get confidential advice.

BBC News

The authorities in China's capital Beijing have announced plans to install 1,000 new condom vending machines to fight the spread of HIV and Aids.

Machines selling high-quality condoms will be placed in hotels, bars and universities, Chinese media said.

They will also be installed on construction sites to target migrant workers from elsewhere in China.

The plans are part of a nationwide campaign to slow the spread of HIV, which affects some one million people.

Unofficial estimates are higher, experts say.

The UN says the number of HIV and Aids victims in China could quickly rise to 10 million if serious steps to fight the epidemic are not taken.

There are already 1,700 machines in the capital, many of which are often out of service or empty.

The authorities have said they will renovate those as well.

The new machines will dispense condoms for 1 yuan ($0.12) a piece and their quality will be guaranteed, Chinese media said.

BBC News

VAT should be removed from all over the counter contraceptives, according to a panel of government advisers.

The Independent Advisory Group for Sexual Health and HIV made at total of 29 recommendations.

The annual report said the cost of over the counter contraception was acting as a "disincentive to consistent use".

It also called for more access to free contraception at NHS outlets as part of its drive to reduce teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

The report said diagnoses of STIs are soaring and, despite recent reductions, the UK still has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in western Europe.

Contraception saves the NHS £2.5 billion a year in spending on STIs, pregnancy and abortions.

Abortions

But the group said over the cost of counter contraception remained "high and prohibitively expensive for many people".

It also said the NHS should aim to fund at least 90% of abortions.

At the moment 80% of abortions are performed by the NHS, although that figure drops to less than two thirds in some areas.

More than a quarter of primary care trusts have "unacceptable" waiting times for abortions, the 2003-4 report said.

The group also called for improvements in sex education, tailored sexual health services for ethnic minority groups and cutting waiting time to 48 hours or less for appointments at genitourinary medicine groups.

Baroness Joyce Gould said: "Some believe sexual health issues to be a kind of Pandora's box of sins unleashed on a permissive society.

"It's time to destigmatise sexual health and properly deal with what is and will continue to be a very real consideration for public health."

The Family Planning Association agreed VAT should be removed from over the counter contraception, saying it would increase the numbers using condoms.

Toni Belfield, director of information, said: "We welcome the recommendation that the NHS should prioritise sexual health and urge the government to take the lead on this through its forthcoming white paper on public health.

Sexual health

"We also support the proposed expansion in availability of free condoms and the reduction in VAT on over the counter contraceptives."

But Nuala Scarisbrick, a trustee of prolife charity Life, said the report adopted a "sticking plaster approach".

She said the recommendations were just "more of the same policies" which were causing the current sexual health crisis.

"Young people need to be educated how to value themselves enough to say no to casual sex."

The government is expected to formally respond to the report later in the year.

The Department of Health said the removal of VAT was a matter for the Treasury but a spokeswoman pointed out that contraception was free on the NHS.

She also said the NHS was not aiming to increase the number of abortions it funds.

"It is a matter for people to decide whether they go private."

The Treasury said it would not comment on the prospect of VAT removal as it was a matter for the Budget process.

BBC News

China does not have enough sperm donations to fulfil demand, according to state media reports. One of the country's five sperm banks, in southern Guangdong province, says that in the last 18 months more than 50 couples a month have sought help.

But only about 350 donations have been received from men with the proper health clearance, the China Daily said.

A medical consultant at the Guangdong sperm bank said many men were too shy to come forward and donate.

Guangdong Human Sperm Bank (GHSB), which was established in April 2003, said it had attracted 700 donors so far, but only about 50% had passed the health examination required.

Compounding the problem is a reluctance to donate.

"Currently, most couples suffering from sterility can seek help from the sperm bank, but many men are still too shy to arrive to the sperm bank to donate their sperm," said Tang Lixin, a senior doctor at GHSB.

Saving for later

According to a recent survey, there are more than 10 million families suffering from sterility in China, the paper said.

As a result, a sperm bank in Shanghai is offering a storage service for young men who want to donate their sperm for use later, when they are ready to have children, Xinhua news agency reported.

But Li Zheng, a doctor in Renji Hospital, Shanghai, warned that this process could be risky.

"Sperm storage is not the same as saving money in a bank. It is possible to store sperm and later discover it is not able to fertilize an egg after years of refrigeration, especially if it was not of especially high quality to begin with," he said.

BBC News

Officials at Lord Bath's Longleat residence in Wiltshire, want police to take action over 'dogging' sessions which occur in the grounds.

The sprawling estate, which attracts thousands of genuine tourists each year, is being advertised on a website as a venue for couples to have sex in cars while others watch.

Sky News Online says former footballer Stan Collymore put "dogging" in the headlines after he was caught at a session.

The website lures people to drive to scenic locations where people in cars begin having sex while spectators crowd around.

One Longleat aide told the Western Daily Press: "We are concerned to hear of this and will not tolerate it. It is now in the hands of the police."

Managers of the dogging site have pulled Longleat from its list of hotspots.

Ananova.com

Playboy magazine is to feature nude pictures of video game characters.

The October issue of the men's magazine features detailed computer illustrations created by game companies.

The five-page section starts with a topless image of the half-vampire, half-human title character from BloodRayne.

The next image is a full-frontal, two-page foldout of a character named Luba Licious from adult comedy game Leisure Suit Larry.

"Hopefully the purists won't get too bent out of shape. This is just the next version of the pinup," said Playboy senior editor Scott Alexander.

"We treated these women just like they are celebrities. We treated them real, as if they had turn-ons and turn-offs."

Ananova.com

A sex school is being set up in Calcutta to teach Indian couples the secrets of the Kama Sutra.

The school describes itself as a 'multi-faceted lifestyle provider' that will provide sex education, counselling and therapy.

The promoters claim the as yet unnamed school will promote fidelity by ensuring healthy, pleasurable and satisfying sex for partners.

The school's chief spokesman Girdhari Joshi said: "Fidelity is ensured by removing boredom in the sex life of married couples. Once one finds pleasure in sex within marriage, one would not find the need to philander.

"The Kama Sutra is a treasure trove of information on how to achieve pleasurable sex. The book of love would be the basic guide in this matter."

The students will have a choice of three courses taught by doctors, psychiatrists and other medical professionals.

The first costs £30 and covers the basics of lovemaking, the second course focuses on increasing sexual satisfaction for £40, while the third course includes advanced sexual anatomy, physiology and behaviour.

It is reported students opting for all three courses will enjoy a discount in the fees, reports the Hindustan Times.

Ananova.com

Authorities in a regional Australian airport shut down services for an hour on Monday after a vibrating sex toy was mistaken for a bomb.

The terminal at Mackay Airport in Queensland was evacuated, causing upheaval to flight schedules.

The suspect package was later identified as a vibrator-type "adult novelty device". The incident was the latest in a string of false alerts regarding air security in Australia.

The alarm was raised by cafeteria manager Lynne Bryant, whose staff was cleaning the area near a bin where the package was found.

"It was rather disconcerting when the rubbish bin started humming furiously," she said, Australian media reported.

"We called security and next minute everybody was being evacuated while they checked it out."

Police were about to call in bomb experts when an unidentified passenger came forwards to identify the contents of the package.

Two weeks ago an incendiary device caused a scare at Sydney airport which turned out to be a teenager's home-made firework.

And in July, a flight bound for Los Angeles was forced to return to Sydney when flight staff discovered the letters "BOB" - interpreted as possibly meaning "bomb on board" - scrawled on a sick bag in an aircraft toilet

It later transpired that "BOB" can also denote "Best on board" - a term used by air crew to identify good-looking passengers.

BBC News

People with attractive voices are likely to be more sexually adventurous, according to a study. US researchers got 149 men and women to rate the attractiveness of a series of recorded voices.

They found the most appealing voices belonged to people who had sex at an earlier age, had more sexual partners and were more prone to infidelity.

The team at the University at Albany also said there was a link between the attractiveness of the voice and body.

In the study, men with broad shoulders and narrow hips, which are related to testosterone and growth, also tended to have attractive voices.

Attractiveness

In women, voice attractiveness, which was rated between one and 10 in the study, was linked to a narrow waist and broad hips.

Report co-author Gordon Gallup, from the New York university's department of psychology, said: "In short, ratings of voice attractiveness are correlated with promiscuity in both men and women.

"When the phone rings, even though you may not know the person at the other end of the line, as soon as they speak you usually know whether you are talking to a male or female, and a child or adult.

"In other words, the sound of a person's voice conveys information about the biological status of the speaker.

"Our research shows that voice might be a medium that also conveys subtle information about sexual behaviour and body configuration."

Body

The authors also said that there was evidence to show the quality of the person's voice could be used to predict the body's symmetry.

In comparing the length of the little finger on both hands, they noted that people with voices rated as attractive tend to have similar length fingers on each hand.

As the voice attractiveness rating decreases, the difference increases.

The report said one theory to explain the findings was that prior to the development of artificial lighting, people were more reliant on voice at night as a means of discerning sex appeal.

Evolutionary biologist Dr Sarah Collins, of the University of Plymouth, said she had done research on the subject but not found a link.

"There are many things which make a voice attractive and it does not mean that a person will be physically appealing.

"Look at David Beckham, people think he is attractive but they often say they don't like his voice.

But she said one explanation for the findings could be that people found confident voices attractive.

"If someone is confident, it is not that surprising that they may have had more girlfriends or boyfriends."

BBC News