On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:49:07 +0000, Allthumbs wrote:

Is this type of rather drastic blown fuse and scattered glass a
feature of the halogen bulbs? (I don't fancy it again, might change
kitchen light to something else).

Halogens can go with a helluva bang. You don't want to be in the
firing range if one decides to fail that way, red hot, molten, silica
glass at high velocity.

--
Cheers
Dave.