Reporters Jim Douglas Henry, Jeremy James, Jeanne La Chard, Denis Tuohy, Desmond Wilcox, Harold Williamson

They do these things differently in South America. There they have fireworks and grotesque masks and parades that seem to last for days and the sun shines all the time. Even the nights are hot. It snowed in Birmingham even at midday in March, but the students did try. They had a procession with a rag time band and in the week before carnival day they dwile flonked, pedal-car raced and paddled home-built rafts on a pond only just not frozen. A typical students' rag week with a serious aim - to raise money for charity and some serious events, like donating blood.

Yet it all seemed to bring as much trouble as it did joy, particularly the traditional rag mag with its references to sex and bodily functions.

Jeremy James and a Man Alive film crew followed the students of the University of Birmingham and Aston in their annual rag week. An attraction to compete with the Mardi Gras? Well, hardly, but then Birmingham is hardly Rio de Janeiro. But the students were trying - all the time.