Very sad news. Though my outstanding memory of her is of her in the Theatre Royal, Bristol, 1996, presenting the trophy at the Mastermind Final.

Marcel, I completely blame you for any spluttered coffee, together with the mental image of an elf on a collapsible unicycle on a tightrope between the trees.

Caras Galadhon. Greensward plus tree roots, then you have to climb a ladder.

Or, you'd rather get work done while commuting. If you only work while in the office and count that train time towards the life part of your work-life balance, then you'll have to leave the office later and spend less time at home.

1400 vs 1326, 600 vs 526...

And if you really think a particular tax is unjust, you protest by paying double. Literally where the term "walking the extra mile" comes from.

Possibly peak Oxford?

Drive home through horrible traffic yesterday redeemed by a sign warning that Dragon Road was closed, and parsing it as "Dragon - Road closed"

Pity my cat wasn't listening.

I can't remember every gift I've ever received, but even if he is living at such a rarefied level that that seems like trifling small change, he ought to know that kind of gift leaves a paper trail.

Or at least make certain that nobody ever graduates with a degree in economics until they've demonstrated understanding that the economy is a subset of human society, which is in turn a subset of the environment.

When I was a teenager I was regularly pranked by one that had learned to imitate the phone.

It reminds me of the days when the Web was young, and companies used to stick an "e-" in front of every name.

We had trimmings (pigs in blankets, devils on horseback, stuffing balls), salad and really good bread. Easy and relaxed.

I mean, of course, 1947!

My father's version of the winter of '48 - it was very cold and snowy, and the milk pushed out of the top of the bottle in a really funny frozen-milk tube. My grandfather's version, from letters to my grandmother - there are no longer any fresh vegetables to be had at any price anywhere in London.

It looks a great deal more law abiding than Bristol. Last time I was in the city centre after dark, I saw people breaking the law quite shamelessly - riding bikes without lights. On the (otherwise empty) roads, not the pavements, of course - we're not completely lost to all sense of decency.

I might have accidentally ordered a paper copy for my father as well.

I didn't know this book existed! Thanks for the tip off

Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and of course Peter.

Cougar; bobcat; polar bear; road runner; coyote (not on the same trip, and not, sadly, on rocket-powered roller skates).

Just the three of us, so I'm going to do a chicken.

I thought it was only ladies' clothes that came with pockets sewn shut!

I have long suspected a subtle joke in Caspian being taught just two of the Trivium - grammar and rhetoric both get a name check, but there's no mention of logic.

Remind me, what was the ultimate gate of the Master of Laketown?

It's not just about the Turkish Delight, though, is it? Tumnus lures Lucy with the promise of a slap-up tea with cake.

Albert Einstein s pent a few months in Oxford between Germany and the US. He lived in Lewis Carroll's former rooms. You couldn't make this stuff up.

N Svalbard, we crossed the 80° line. E Auckland NZ, though all I did was change planes. S Ulva island, NZ. W Point Reyes, CA.

You really need to go to Orkney and Shetland.

Fire alarms, twice (Yellowstone, 1988, smoke from a forest fire drifting over and setting off the alarms. They closed the park the next morning) (the original Queen Mary last summer, in Long Beach. That was a regular false alarm).