Radio 3 is not frightened of being quirky. On Sunday there was six hours of music with no interruptions. Sacred River was introduced by Neil MacGregor at 9.00 am and then flowed along presenter-less until 3.00 pm.
Neil MacGregor himself is sacred – his nickname while at the National Gallery was Saint Neil. His authorative voice is seldom off the radio as he shares an encyclopaedic knowledge on everything, making Lord Clark’s views on Civilisation seem positively parochial.
Meanwhile I have been making some improvements at home. I took a load of books down to Oxfam and took delivery of two plinths that I commissioned from a neighbour. They are to display sculptures on the stairs. Also I bought a new picture last week although there is not much wall space. I’m fine with throwing out books but I find it hard to part with a picture. An advantage of re-arranging pictures and sculptures is that I see them afresh, at least until they become familiar in their new locations.
I also threw out five old computers with miles of cabling and await delivery of a printer on Monday. I ordered it from Currys because they had Black Friday prices on Thursday afternoon. John Lewis, on Friday, matched the Currys price but unhelpfully labelled the printer as Out of Stock.
Eton like many institutions has its own language and peculiarities. One such is that the Houses where boys live are called by the initials of the House Master. In my time I got through three of them: JDRMcC, BJWH and RHH. Since my day Mr Williams, a Maths beak, has got a house and it is know by his initials, PGW. I wonder if the boys call him Plum?
I could have been the Sunday morning DJ on Radio 3 …