Peter Rhodes on the Titan horror, a radio legend's boast and making the Vikings pay
New research suggests the occasional snooze is good for one's health. This prompts former Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray, 73, to declare in a column addressed to all youngsters that she's a regular snoozer and “I'll match you in sharpness for a long time to come.”
This is a case of either tempting fate or creating a hostage to fortune, or possibly both. It's certainly not something that any elderly public figure should commit to print, at least not without first touching a good, solid piece of wood.
Give thanks that the submersible Titan suffered a “catastrophic implosion.” It would have been a shattering, explosive event lasting a fraction of a second and the passengers may not have known anything about it. Any other scenario, including slow asphyxiation or hypothermia, does not bear thinking about, especially for Shahzada Dawood whose last hours might have been an agony of regret for taking his teenage son Suleman along for the ride. To oblivion, instantly. There are worse ways to go.
My continuing saga with BT involved waiting for a landline phone call in a two-hour time window. You know the drill: stay home, keep alert, avoid distractions and above all be next to the phone for when the call comes. Nothing happened for two hours and then three things happened at once. The postie called with a parcel. As I opened the door a big, friendly and hopelessly lost dog bounded into the house and charged around the ground floor, barking approvingly. And at that precise moment, the lady from BT called. I asked her to hang on while I rounded up a retriever. I bet she doesn't get many replies like that.
The dog? Never saw it again. It was one of those half-trained pooches whose dimwit owners let them off the lead in the countryside, thinking they can control the dog. And then the dog sees a rabbit . . .
Vikings (C5) takes us back to the early 11th century when the bloody-handed invaders seized most of England, pillaged churches, slaughtered entire villages and took thousands of English folk as slaves. To claim your reparations, contact The Embassy of Denmark, 55 Sloane St, London SW1X 9SR.
