How Sooty the fish nearly had his chips

LONDON: What is transported through the air by another creature and comes down the chimney at Christmas?

Answer: Sooty the goldfish.

The 25-centimetre long fish is thought to have been plucked from a garden pond by a heron which then landed on a rooftop television aerial before gulping down his victim. But a touch of carelessness by the bird saw Sooty slip out of the frying pan, as it were, and onto the fire.

Bill Brooks, 65, was eating his dinner when Sooty - as he has been christened - popped down the chimney. He said: "I was watching TV and actually eating fish and chips for dinner when there was a noise up the chimney. Suddenly this thing appeared out of nowhere and bounced … out of the flames and landed on the hearth. It was covered in soot and I thought it was a bird, but when I poured some water over it and it started flipping, I realised it was a fish."

Mr Brooks, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, called a wildlife expert, Terry Marsh, who examined Sooty. "He's got a heron's beak mark on his back and has lost some of his scales," Mr Marsh said.

"I think the bird must have landed on the chimney and had it in its mouth sideways. When the bird tried to flip the fish straight to swallow, it must have dropped him, maybe because it was too big or too slippery."

Sooty is now enjoying a second lease of life, in a pet shop.

Telegraph, London