Some people seem able to cope with just about any eventuality. Left alone on a desert island, they would build a house, catch their own food, and probably find a way of attracting rescuers.

Others would simply huddle under a palm tree and hope for the best. Where do you feature on this scale?

The following questions are designed to sort out the practical, ‘I can turn my hand to anything’ types from the hopelessly helpless. In these days of sexual equality I have deliberately made no distinction between tasks more usually carried out by one sex or another. My position is that to be regarded as really practical today, you should be able to build a brick wall or bake a cake with equal ease.