HUMAN share a few things in common - the faces they pull when they eat something sour, are feeling horror or fear or just sharing the look of someone who has just tossed a pancake!

Will it land in the pan? Have I tossed it to low or too high? Do I have the skills to catch it.

The only people who look relaxed in these photos are the MPs taking part in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race but maybe that is because their daily lives include issues far more stressful than making sure a pancake lands!

Most people would know the history of Pancake Day and why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

This is the day before the Christian observation of Lent - the 40 days leading up to the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday.

During that time Christians would fast and prepare themselves spiritually for what is the most important day in the Christian calendar.

Pancakes allowed homes to use up perishables that would not be eaten during Lent such as milk, eggs etc and top their pancakes with anything else they had left in the house. In earlier times, it was more than just giving up chocolate or alcohol or even cigarettes although in modern times it is almost a second chance to remake those New Year resolutions.

Pancake Day's official name is Shrove Tuesday.

This was first observed by Anglo-Saxon Christians and is mainly found in English speaking countries - perhaps Where the English colonised countries or where early English missionaries introduced the custom.

Shrove Tuesday saw Christians going to confession to be Shriven (absolved of all sins) before Ash Wednesday.

A bell would be rung to call people to confession, which became known as the 'Pancake Bell' and is still rung today..

While many will still be aware and will still acknowledge the solemnity of the day and the 40 days to follow, for many pancake day has become a day of fun tinged with fear.

The fun comes from watching others splatter ceilings and floors with pancakes wrongly thrown or badly caught.

The fear comes when we have to try it ourselves!