The Bishop that thinks he's a Cathedral

Richard Chartres is the current Bishop of London. The current Bishop of Chartres is called Michel Pansard, which is a pity. We think it would be nice if his name was 'Michel London' - or at the very least 'Londres'.

Roger is all sopping

Roger Allsop is the oldest person to swim across the English Channel. He's 70 - even older than me. 

On 31 August he swam across in 17 hours 51 minutes. At its narrowest, between Dover and Cap Gris Nez near Calais, the Channel is 34km (21 miles) wide, but looking at the zigzag route he took he must have covered twice that distance. As you can see from the videoclip, when he came out he was all sopping.

Mustn't grumble

Clare Bridge, Cambridge, was designed, and possibly built, by Thomas Grumbold around 1640. One of the stone balls on the bridge parapet has a segment missing. It is said Grumbold vowed he would never finish the bridge until he was paid. He never was. Though they did pay him three shillings for a drawing of it.


When asked "How's things?", he of course replied "Well, I got three bob for the drawing. Mustn't grumble".

Thomas Grumbold did not do this drawing, though.

Thanks for this one to friends in The Gavin Tempest Brigade on Facebook

Singer not a singer

Sadly, Malcolm Singer MA (Cantab) is Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music, and a Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The one thing he doesn't appear to be is a singer.

Cash on costs

Brian Cash can put a figure to the cost of Alabama's new immigration law: at least $100,000.

And behind this frivolous post, the harsh social and economic facts: in Alabama, formerly the heartland of white supremacy, the administration is trying to get rid of thousands of Hispanic workers and their families. It seems old habits die hard, or not at all. However, as Brian Cash's disappearing workers and rotting tomatoes show, the local economy depends on the immigrants. The US government is challenging the law.

Price on Prices

Bob Price, Chief Executive of the National Association of Cider Makers, argues that Higher prices won't deter heavy drinkers. And he should know - in the cider industry, there aren't many higher Prices than Bob.

Scholar and egg-head

Richard Scholar is a man after my own heart - he's a language teacher, and also does good work for Amnesty International. As you can see, he's well on the way to becoming a fully fledged egg-head.

Thanks for this one to friends in The Gavin Tempest Brigade on Facebook

Kitchin's kitchen

Tom Kitchin is, of course, a cook. So he spends his entire working life in his kitchen, which he even calls 'The Kitchin'. 

The poor lad had no option really. I wonder what his dad did?

It's not a bad restaurant, apparently: "The Kitchin was recently awarded ’Best UK Restaurant 2011’ by Square Meal".

Thanks for this one to friends in The Gavin Tempest Brigade on Facebook

What do you call a really small comet?

Une météorite tombe chez... Mme Comette !

"Son nom la prédestinait"

Une météorite chez Mme Comette !

"Un nom prédestiné"

- and in English:

Comette family home damaged by egg-sized meteorite

"When your name is Comette . . ."