It’s occurred to me recently how enormously impressive is the range in design of corkscrews.

I managed for years with a conventional one; one-pieced with a T-bar, as I still have on my penknife.

But now I may choose between those with a collar and side-arms, those which lever on the bottle’s neck or even those which inject gas to pop the cork out.  There’s the Raymond Blanc, the rechargeable NScessity, the self-pulling Eva Solo (I like the sound of her), the OXO Good Grips, Brabantia or Le Creuset.

How gratifying that such tireless research has gone into pioneering new designs for corkscrews rather than, say, finding a cure for cancer.