Yet even here he remains himself - and you can detect a trace of humour somewhere in his soul.

The surviving monkeys were kept for two years to detect any trace of the virus - none was found.

He later pioneered it as a technique for detecting the traces, invisible at ground level, of vanished structures, field patterns and burials.

At the present time, research has not been able to detect a trace of a method for locking the gate or a defensive device for it.

Maybe the boffins could have detected a trace of irony in the way she said it.