1.   His sudden plunge into the field of international diplomacy is a major surprise.

2.   Last week Walter Smith sprang a major surprise by giving striker Duncan Ferguson his debut in the Old Firm encounter.

3.   Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, the Scottish housing minister, said the preliminary findings contained no major surprises.

4.   And it will be a major surprise if the story is different in Paris, where avant-garde designers have been showing long skirts for a while.

5.   And there were no major offensive surprises.

6.   And the ease of highway travel has been a major surprise.

7.   Barring a major surprise, Jammer will be the first defensive back drafted.

8.   A search in genetic databases turned up a major surprise.

9.   But it came as a major surprise to veteran angler Allan Cole to find that his A.C. Plug looks so tempting from the air.