'Dull' award for inventor of gas smell

AN ENGINEER who invented the lifesaving smell that is added to natural gas has won a "dullest man" award.

- FILIPA GASPAR

Peter Hansen, 85, was asked by a company to produce a smell to add to natural gas, which is otherwise odourless. He said he had to create a smell that was "horrible and naughty" so people could detect gas leaks.

Mr Hansen has now received the inaugural lifetime achievement award from The Dull Man's Podcast.

Mr Hansen, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said: "It is like a smell of bad eggs - it is a sulphurous smell and it attacks your nose. It is a horrible and a naughty smell - it is distinctive, that's why people would pick up the gas because of the smell because there is no other way to naturally detect natural gas."

He added: "I think a lot of people, especially the younger people, don't know that natural gas is odourless."