MY LATE old friend "Boofy" (alias Lord Arran) was a great friend to badgers, and was constantly pushing legislation in Britain to protect these misunderstood creatures.
Now I read that, in Ireland, despite very specific legislation protection, badgers are being destroyed not only unofficially by farmers but officially by the Department of Agriculture. Worse than that, I see from Dr J M Barry in Irish Wildbird Conservancy News that they are using the "barbaric wire body snares, outlawed in all civilised countries". Shame on the lot of ye.
From the same excellent source, a happier piece of news that amazed this city-bred observer. Did you realise, for instance, that, thanks to ringing, it is now known that gannets live to be at least 23, cormorants 39, the raven 41 and the throaty rook an amazing 50? And please don't write and tell me about your parrot!
DIGGING in my postbag I can't resist the simplicity of this from "Just Wondering". "Why do priests in America wear (or is the word sport?) moustaches and they don't in Ireland or England? Is there a rule about it? Did Pope John grow one while in the army?" Go on, you clean-shaven clerics, answer the man.
Jones, Engelbert Humperdink and Gilbert O'Sullivan.
He was a tough guy to deal with and he has just had his last battle, dying at the age of 51 in Los Angeles. I remember once doing a late-night TV talk show from Birmingham and Gordon asked us to include a singer he had over with him from Wales doing the clubs.
The singer sat patiently all evening and we just never got round to fitting him in. Nobody introduced us. On the way back to London, I asked our producer "Who was that poor chap last night who never got to sing?" "Don't know" he said. "Some fella called Tom Jones".