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Darwin also figured in the winning submission in this year¡¯s competition. That came from Adam Hart, professor of science communication at the University of Gloucestershire, who recalled a student¡¯s paper on the evolution of sex that opened with the unfortunate phrase: ¡°Sex has puzzled biologists ever since it was discovered by Darwin and Mendel.¡±

A late entry from Elizabeth Toon, a lecturer at the University of Manchester¡¯s Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, offered another surprising insight on the English naturalist¡¯s link with Gollum.

She pointed out the first-year student, writing in a history of medicine paper, probably meant Galton ¨C as in the eminent Victorian polymath Francis Galton ¨C rather than the JRR Tolkien character.

Other howlers that narrowly missed the first cut of student slip-ups include two from Dena Gilby, professor of art history at Endicott College, a private college near Boston, Massachusetts.

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Writing about an ancient Minoan octopus flask from the Greek island of Crete, one student remarked that ¡°every testicle was shown¡±.

Professor Gilby was also amused by another student¡¯s description of an Egyptian king, saying ¡°he was a pharaoh, not a common pheasant¡±.

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Medical students provided several of this year¡¯s clangers.

One error had a distinct Fifty Shades of Grey feel to it, with a student noting that ¡°depression rates are higher in areas of high social depravity¡±.

That entry came from Jean McKendree, senior lecturer in medical education at Hull York Medical School.

Claudia Cooper, a teacher on the English for Medicine Programme at Oman¡¯s Sultan Qaboos University, was also alarmed about one student¡¯s observation in a paper on HIV/AIDS transmission.

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When giving examples of ¡°risky¡± behaviour likely to spread infection, a student listed ¡°sharing a condom¡±.

Keith Redway, senior academic in microbiology at the University of Westminster, who submitted several entries, was amused by the statement that ¡°the patient was homeless with no fixed anode¡±.

And Simon Woodward, principal lecturer in tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University, was interested to read about one student¡¯s view on why holidaymakers might head to see one of Cumbria¡¯s best-known historic landmarks.

¡°Hadrian¡¯s Wall¡¯s heritage assets include a complex system of forts and earthworms¡±, the student said.

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Claire Hall, a teacher, was also keen to submit a student error, albeit taken from a GCSE history paper on Operation Barbarossa, Germany¡¯s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

¡°Stalin was extremely surprised when he was taken from behind by Hitler,¡± the student wrote.

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jack.grove@tsleducation.com