Switzerland: The Facts

• Meringues originally come from Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland.

• The St Bernard dogs were specially trained by the monks in the hospice on the Great St Bernard Pass to seek out travellers lost in the snow. The most famous of these dogs was Barry (1800-14). Barry is said to have saved between 40 and 100 lives. He and his ilk have recently been replaced by the mobile telephone.

• Napoleon and his followers crossed the Great St Bernard Pass in 1800 on their way to Italy. They partied extensively at the top and ran up a bill of 40,000 Swiss Francs. The unspeakable swine moved on without settling up! It is hard to forgive such caddish behaviour in someone who elsewhere, for example in Russia, showed himself the ultimate gentleman. The debt was finally paid off by President François Mitterand in 1984.