Giving the pip

(First Edition)

Half a million ripe tomatoes will fly through the air next week when a town in eastern Spain indulges in its annual tomato battle, Reuter reports from Bunol. This year's tomatina will use around 100 tons of the fruit. The fiesta, which coats the main square with tomato juice and leaves thousands of participants smeared from head to foot with squashed fruit, is thought to have been started about 1945, when a group of friends having lunch together got into a fight over the salad.