How to Cure Hiccups

The following cure for hiccups has been successfully tried out on a number of friends.

Drink but do not swallow a small quantity of water. Instead, hold your head back so that the water rests in the back of your throat for as long as possible. When you simply have to swallow it, do so. Repeat this twice over (one swallow doesn't make a summer). It won't feel like it, but your hiccups will almost certainly have gone.

If they haven't, do the whole exercise again. It has never been known to fail on the second attempt.

If you do not have any water to hand, carry out the exercise with the same movements as if you did have some, gulping down air instead. This also has been found to work.

Martin Mosse,

April 2009.