"An insane ending ruined everything.Many newspapers used the same language to describe the " buttock-clenching " tension as Ajax let their lead slip away.

Nuno Espirito Santo's men came within two minutes of completing a home-and-away double against Chelsea, but, my goodness, for 45 minutes this game was buttock-clenching boredom.

Aptly named, it is skiing suicide for anyone not talented or confident enough to attempt this 1,500m-long run, which has a buttock-clenching gradient of 78 degrees in places.

The Focus is a best-seller worldwide, which makes the introduction of each new model something of a buttock-clenching time for Ford.

For the hundred-odd Apprentice wannabes who've sat trembling outside Lord Sugar's office, the challenging tasks and back-stabbing fellow contestants are nothing compared to the buttock-clenching terror of facing up to the man himself.

You've even got a decent amount of front-end grip, too, so cross-country driving at pace isn't the buttock-clenching experience you might expect.

Disgrace: Oldham's Tom Adeyemi was racially abused by Liverpool fans It's easy, of course, to dismiss racist and sexist remarks as mere banter - to complain that those who object are miserable, buttock-clenching puritans obsessed with political correctness.

You get buttock-clenching pace with the traction only a four-wheel drive vehicle can deliver.

Letters To Juliet is undone by Egan's grating performance, trying to convince Sophie and us that: "I'm not the buttoned-up, buttock-clenching killjoy you make me out to be." It's a pity because Seyfried lights up the screen and Redgrave brings gravitas to her supporting role as the spinster who confesses with a glint in her eye, "Tough as old boots, me - Churchill in a dress!" The cheesy denouement is sign-posted well in advance, courtesy of Shakespeare's text, to groans of disbelief.

Letters To Juliet is undone by Egan's grating performance, trying to convince Sophie and us that "I'm not the buttoned-up, buttock-clenching killjoy you make me out to be."

Rather the buttock-clenching is a canny trick for public speakers trying to counter nervousness.