Holes: We're looking into 'em

TODAY we're bringing you the hole truth - with everything you never needed to know about them. As we reported yesterday, the AA has warned drivers to "avoid puddles" that could be hiding dangerous potholes following a record month of breakdown incidents. Here, NADINE LINGE goes deep with 12 facts about holes...

- NADINE LINGE

1 Located in Russia, the world’s deepest hole is the man-made Kola Superdeep Borehole which has a depth of 7.6miles – more than the height of Mount Everest.

2 Work on it began in 1970 as the Soviets and the US battled to drill as far as possible to the centre of the Earth. It took 20 years to excavate but has been largely abandoned since the turn of the millennium.

3 Meanwhile, the world’s deepest natural hole is China’s Xiaozhai Tiankeng, above, which is up to 2,172ft deep. Tiankeng means “heavenly pit” and while it’s been known to locals for thousands of years, it’s now becoming a tourist attraction.

4 The smallest thing described as a hole is an electron hole – where an electron is missing from an atom – while the biggest is a supermassive black hole, billions of times bigger than the Sun.