Vernon was also known to perform unique and darker sketches, such as his ultimately tragic attempt to turn a watermelon into a housepet.

We'll leave aside the smaller ones, such as China's attempt to leverage its monopoly of rare earth metals for geo-political purposes, and concentrate instead on the two biggies.

Many of his expeditions have been placed on water, such as his failed attempt to sail around North Pole on a traditional sailing boat (1991-1994).

Resisting the imposition of local burdens on doing business, such as Suffolk's attempt at local regulation of VDT's in the workplace.

Other rebrandings, such as the British Post Office's attempt to rebrand itself as Consignia, have proved such a failure that millions more had to be spent going back to square one.

More relevant today perhaps, is the critique of Arup as lacking historical feel and holding anachronistic views (such as his attempt to find "parliamentarian" traces in medieval government).

And "It is true that some evolutionary psychology does seem simple-minded," such as Randy Thornhill's "unconvincing" attempt to argue that a tendency towards rape is an evolutionary adaptation.

Most of these are comical, such as Captain Cluffe's attempt to woo the elderly (and rich) Rebecca Chattesworth.

Congress is also the main decision maker regarding covert actions and can reject the funding of operations supported by the CIA, such as their attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government in 1982.

There are innumerable subplots, some with Hollywood overtones (such as Boris's abortive attempt to shoot Beria from a rooftop), and many historical figures are walk-ons.