The birds and the bees

A couple from Germany went to a fertility clinic to find out why - after eight years of marriage - they were still childless. The cause of their trouble conceiving was an unexpected one.

After eight years of childless marriage, the 30-year-old wife and her 36-year-old husband decided it was time to find out why they couldn't get pregnant.

They visited a fertility clinic and the doctors ran some tests which indicated they shouldn't have any trouble conceiving a child.

A spokesman for the clinic said: "When we asked them how often they had had sex, they looked blank, and said: "What do you mean?"

"We are not talking retarded people here, but a couple who were brought up in a religious environment who were simply unaware, after eight years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary to procreate."

The couple now knows about the birds and the bees, and with some luck they will have a child in about 9 months.