Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that the perfect portable bike would be "like a magic carpet...You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: "But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel." It was a rare -- indeed unique -- occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case. Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated tyre. So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons, has developed a wheel that can be squashed into something like a slender ellipse . Throughout, the tyre remains inflated. Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I haven't the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It's as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than PS1,000 that can be knocked down so small that it can be carried on a plane -- minus wheels, of course -- as hand baggage. Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. Who came up with the Brompton folding bicycle?
2. What was the name of the inventor of the folding bike?
3. 
Q2:
1. What did Andrew Ritchie compare the perfect portable bike to?
2. What did Andrew Ritchie once say the perfect portable bicycle would be like?
3. 
Q3:
1. Who eventually came up with a folding tire?
2. Who at some point created a pilable wheel?
3. 
Q4:
1. What was the name of William Henry Grout's bike?
2. What did William Henry Grout name his bicycle?
3. 
Q5:
1. What was the case of Grout's Portable Bicycle made out of?
2. What was the material out of which Grout's Portable Bicycle was composed?
3. 
Q6:
1. What did William Henry Grout want his bike to be small enough to do?
2. Grout's Portable needed to be tiny enough for what context?
3. 
Q7:
1. Does the idea of the folding wheel no longer exist in the 21st century?
2. Is it absurd to consider the notion of a folding wheel in the 21st century?
3. 
Q8:
1. What is the name of the Brit who creates things?
2. What British person comes up with inventions?
3. 
Q9:
1. What did Duncan Fitzsimons create?
2. What was invented by Duncan Fitzsimons?
3. 
Q10:
1. Are there folding bikes for sale?
2. Do folding bicycles exist for purchase?
3. 
