Tim Blair

Oi! I heard that!

They can be eaten? I'll be damned.

A smoke alarm is the greatest innovation? There must be a lot of fires in Britain....or the average level of imagination has gone down.

I live in a part of rural england where we still point to the skies in fear and wonderment at the 'Great Metal Birds' that make a terrible roar'

I wonder if they've heard of the Internet© in England?

And.....I hate to tell them, but the Smoke Alarm has been around a lot longer than this last 20 years.

Fred: compared to most British cooking a smoke alarm would be quite tasty.

20 years? The microwave oven was invented in the fifties (by James Lovelock of Gaia fame, incidentally). I'm surprised they didn't mention Ponsonby and Smythe's patent spat-polishing device.

The main statistical finding I draw from this survey is that most people are deeply, deeply thick.

My vote goes to polyurethane coatings on the inside of beer cans so you don't get that tooth-tingling rush of instant Alzheimer's every time you crack a tinnie.

i'm fairly partial to the Guiness in cans that injects CO2 or something when you open it. Cool. Plus the beer still tastes pretty darn good. Best invention since, well since pop-top cans, anyway.

Actually, I think they're right on the smoke alarm. In my opinion, to be regarded as innovative it has to bring something significantly new to the table. A smoke alarm qualifies; cell phones don't (wireless is a natural progression). Microwaves, laser eye surgery, DNA testing, and MP3 players rate; long-life light bulbs, digital cameras, and DVD players don't.

That's not to say that they aren't great inventions, just that I don't consider them innovative.

Come on, everybody knows that it's the ATM. Remember when, if you wanted money, you actually had to go to a bank?

In the top 10 "must-haves" smoke alarms are joined by air bags, ABS brakes, DNA crime testing, and the long-life, low-energy light bulb.

Rounding out the top ten was the wet blanket.

So, no votes for...
'the blog'
'reality television'
'the third umpire'
'hip hop / rap / etc'
'deep ambient-trance-garage-retro-drum&bass'
'personalised ringtones'... or is that just Rolf Harris and his Stylophone?

Hey Ross, I was born in that part of England. A big yellow ball appeared in the sky one day and we all threw stones at it till it went away and the rain came back.

The cheap handgun. Useful for population control, demographic adjustment (depending on where you decide to sell them) and a useful social safety valve for people who might otherwise development a real political sense.

Hey, it's been working in LA for years...not to mention Detroit, New York, Boston... doesn't seem to work as well in Texas since people who work for the money to buy guns buy better guns...

For me the greatest inventions of the last 20 years are the catapult and the battering ram. When I was a kid, high walled fortifications were virtually impenetrable to infantry or cavalry. But now, thanks to miracle of siege engines, instead of having to starve them out (which can take months) you simply make a breach in their walls and -presto!- rush in and sack the city.

It's a great time saver.

As usual, the answers are all male-centric. Obviously, the greatest invention was the tampon. It has the added benefit of multiple uses, such as polishing boots and plugging holes in boats. Top that.

Rebecca: good ones, but also used as a substitute shell dressing to treat wounds.

Cheers
JMH

#1) Pay-at-the-pump gas stations
#2) the Web

In that order

comments preview

and online cinema bookings

And here I am, thinking about sliced bread and frozen pizza, instead of all those other great innovations: beer in cans, the INTERNET, cheap weapons, and tampons. Talk about being behind the power curve.

Wasn't this the plot of Time Bandits?

Ross, you see those Great Metal Birds too! I thought it was just me, thank God I am not alone.

Carbon Monoxide detectors with snooze alarms.

Microwave popcorn in previously un-popcornlike flavors such as Cinnabon and Jalapeno.

Best invention of 20 years?

100% of men surveyed: the TV remote

100% of women surveyed: what's a TV remote?

SMG