Have you heard the story about the man whose wife 1 (just have) a baby? he 2 (work) in london at the time but he 3 (live) in newcastle, which is in the north-east of england, not far from the scottish border. as soon as he 4 (hear) the news, he rushed to king’s cross station, bought his ticket and jumped on the first train north. he was so excited at the news that he told the woman who 5 (sit) next to him. she asked him if he lived in edinburgh as that was where the train 6 (go) and was surprised when he said that he lived in newcastle. the man realised he 7 (make) a terrible mistake when she said, ‘but this train doesn’t stop in newcastle. it goes straight to edinburgh’. despite the man’s pleas and offers of money, the driver of the train 8 (refuse) to stop, but he did agree to slow the train down to 15 m.p.h. as it went through newcastle station so that the man could jump off with the ticket collector’s help. two and a half hours later and the train was approaching newcastle station. the ticket collector 9 (hold) the man out of a window at the front of the train, and the man began running in mid-air. when the platform appeared, the ticket collector gently 10 (drop) the man onto it. just then, the guard at the back of the train 11 (look) out and saw a man running very fast along the platform. putting his hand out, he pulled the man onto the train. ‘lucky i saw you,’ he said. ‘you almost 12 (miss) the train
