Oxbridge seeks lateral thinkers

Applicants for places at Oxford and Cambridge universities are being asked increasingly "eccentric" questions, interview experts have claimed.

Students have addressed issues such as how much of the world's water is contained in a cow and the perennial teenage concern: "Are you cool?"

The findings come from a survey of 1,200 of last year's applicants by the Oxbridge Applications advice company.

It said hard questions were needed to pick the brightest students.

Earlier this month, Cambridge was ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement as the second best university in the world, with Oxford third.

Harvard, in the US, topped the table.