Monkey business at large in Vienna

Date: 21/01/1999

The secret of Austria's EU presidency success can now be revealed: an orangutan was called in to design the logo which was splashed across the end-of-year gifts handed to all those who helped the nation through its first six-month stint in the European limelight.

The clever creature from Vienna Zoo is apparently famed for his artistic powers, and some people say it might have been a good idea to let the animal loose a bit sooner on some of the presidency's political priorities.

After all, experts claim that if you give a monkey enough paper and a typewriter, it will eventually reproduce the Treaty of Rome.