Happy birthday to the funniest man who ever drew breath — not to mention also a very dapper man at his best. The world is a poorer place without him in it. And a visionary, who believed in “Training BEES for uses against foreign powers, and so on” and “Elimination of spindly insects and encouragement of lovely little newts who dance about and are happy.”

In his honour, dance about and be happy (with or without newts). Julie Andrews!

“Everything I’ve ever told you has been a lie. Including that.”

What I am always tempted to say at meetings; probably why I am not much invited to meetings.

Not as well known as some bits, I love it just for the Dorian line.

Dirty uncle Bertie

He loved pretending to be German (and yes, studied the language)

Chris Morris: one of the few not to be too intimidated by Cook to spar well with him

On the importance of Latin

The three Ms

“He wasn’t just a genius, he had the genius’s impatience with the whole idea of doing something again. He reinvented an art form, exhausted its possibilities, and just left it. There is always something frightening about that degree of inventiveness… He didn’t lose his powers. He just lost interest in proving that he possessed them.”
~ Clive James