Prophets, soothsayers, doomwatchers, dopesters. Call 'em what you will, but with the millennium approaching, the world and his wife seem to be dredging up prophecies from days of yore. We confidently predict that websites regarding the aforementioned subject will appear in the next paragraph.

Mother Shipton was born in a cave by the River Nidd in Knaresborough in 1488. She wrote some smashing little poems, too.

Here's a wee extract:

'Carriages without horses shall go. (that's cars, that is)
And accidents fill the world with woe. (you can get run over by them!)
Around the world thoughts shall fly (Internet anybody?)
In the twinkling of an eye... (it is fast, after all)
Under water men shall walk, (got any lead boots?)
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk; (or a submarine?)
In the air men shall be seen (yup!)
In white, in black, and in green. (British Airways, Stealth Bomber and, um... RyanAir!)
Iron in the water shall float (Titanic? Maybe not)
As easy as a wooden boat.' (almost as easy as... )

But get this! Even though Mother Shipton (real name Ursula Sontheil) died in 1561 (and 73 was a damned fine innings in those days), you can email her at MotherShipton@compuserve.com. Prophetic or what?!

Next...

Then there was this old fellow called Nostradamus. He was quite literally bonkers! Born Michel de Notredame in France in 1503, he predicted, among other things, the rise of Hitler and that man would land on the moon ("you're talking out of uranus," etc ). Oh, and the world's going to get smashed to pieces by a huge meteor. There are loads of sites about the chap, but our favourite is called, chillingly, King of Terror. Peruse it at your leisure and, naturally, feel very afraid.