Christmas came early

When I opened my morning post yesterday I was not surprised to receive the usual pile of tat that most retired persons receive, namely bills you'd rather not pay, offers of credit you don't need, special offers you can refuse only too readily, appeals for donations from charities you have no particular desire to support, and occasionally a letter from her Majesty's Customs and Revenue Officer, which is either replying evasively to a question you had asked them 6 months ago, or asking you a question about something you thought you'd done and dusted 3 years ago.

And then, mirabile dictu, Christmas and the Good Fairy arrived simultaneously in the form of a cream envelope containing a letter from the Astronomer Royal, who also happens to be the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and the President of the Royal Society, telling me that he had found that my "most engaging book" had resonated with the views he had expressed in his recent Reith Lectures.

Wow, how big a name can one drop! I was, as they probably say in the Royal Society, 'well chuffed'.

So folks, we still have a few copies left. Just E-mail your delivery address, asking for a copy of 'Why Man Made Gods and Dogs' to perrottpress@hotmail.com and it will be sent to you with an invoice asking for payment of £9 (this includes postage in UK).