Max Brown, a young father-to-be, was waiting anxiously outside the maternity ward where his wife was giving birth to their first baby. As he paced the floor, a nurse popped her head around the door.

Its a boy, Mr. Brown, she said, But we think youd better go and have a cup of coffee because there might be another!

Max turned a little pale and left. Some time later, he rang the hospital and was told he was the father of twins.

But, the nurse went on, Were sure theres another on the way. Ring back again in a little while.

At that, Max decided that coffee was not nearly strong enough. He ordered a few beers and rang the hospital again, only to be told a third baby had arrived and a fourth was imminent.

Whitefaced, he stumbled to the bar and ordered a double scotch. Twenty minutes later, he tried the phone again, but he was in such a state that he dialed the wrong number and got the recorded cricket score.

When they picked him up off the floor of the phone box, the recording was still going strong, The score is 96 all out, and the last one was a duck.