A Flying Start

When it comes to whizzing through the air, soft furnishings are low down our list of suitable vehicles.

We’d rather go by plane, but if we must pick a household object, a broom seems safer than a rug.

Nevertheless, the legend of the flying carpet endures – and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata may be one of the only people in the world to have actually flown on a rug.

In 2009, he let gravity work its magic (carpet) aboard the International Space Station. Rather less magically, he had to use sticky tape to keep his feet in place: something we bet

King Solomon and Aladdin never had to do!