Barker and Lear: A posthumous double act

British artist and writer Edward Lear (1812-88) – whose bicentenary nonsensical people are celebrating – wrote limericks for children. British comedian Ronnie Barker (1929-2005) thought the endings dull and rewrote them.

Only in Australia…

Last week BBC News carried a story about a new and unusual land speed record for the fastest motorised toilet.

Sleeping on the job

“Sleep is sweet to the labouring man,” wrote John Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress. But only if it’s not on the job!

“When all aloud the wind doth blow”

Book publishers are not slow to spot a winner, especially when it comes to the olfactory sensitivities and lack of decorum of children. No surprise, then, that a new book about farts will soon assail the public’s eyes and nostrils.

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good

Operatic squalls are not uncommon. Rossini depicts a passing storm in his overture to William Tell, Wagner conjures up a tempest at the start of Die Walküre, Verdi begins Otello in a gale, and there is a rough sea interlude in Britten’s Peter Grimes. Now, Glyndebourne Opera House has stirred up a tornado in a teacup.

It’s official: No aliens in the attic

Many scientists and mathematicians believe the chances are high that there is life somewhere among the trillions and trillions of stars in the universe. But what kind of life?