Jill Sparrow

The author was only a teenager when she wrote A Taste of Honey! It is a brilliant film which I have on DVD. Dora Bryan is unequalled as Helen, Jo's irrepressible mother, yet manages to convey the tragic life she's had. Bryan, I feel, was a greatly underrated actress. Her face is able to tell a story without the need for dialogue.

I read The Little Grey Rabbit books before I started school. I've always loved them and still have a collection of most of the titles. Another book I really loved was When Marnie Was There.

Years ago, I worked with a girl who lived in Grantham with her husband. They had a dog named Daisy and a cat. Silly enough to leave a joint of meat wrapped in foil on the kitchen worktop one Saturday evening, having invited friends over for Sunday lunch, they discovered the wreckage the following morning. The cat had jumped onto the worktop and pushed the joint to the edge,where Daisy took over and pulled it onto the floor. Both then stuffed themselves silly. Come lunchtime, when everyone was sitting down to beans on toast, both Daisy and the cat chose to throw up all

Cats are good at helping themselves...to anything they fancy!

You're right, Brew, but as Shakespeare said, "All things that live must die." All my cats have been strays and rescues. All the moggies down at cat rescue were either feral or dumped. To care for them and experience the truly unconditional affection they give in return is beyond price. We are all mortal and among the happiness there must be grief but there is the comfort of knowing you've made life better for a fellow creature...and they for you.

I know a family who have an Akita. Beautiful looking dog but whenever the owner walks him, he always warns people not to touch Moomin, as the dog is called. They also have 3 Norwegian Forest Cats. Guess who rules the roost in that house...and it's not the dog!

I know exactly what you mean, Loppy. Increasingly, I feel like an alien on this planet. Thank goodness for the moggies!

No contest. Animals win, paws down, every time!

Well said, Woody!

They were a favourite with me when I was at The Manning. I always took sandwiches because the dinners looked disgusting. Mum usually included a fruit pie as well! Not seen them for years.

Massive cerebral haemorrhage, Loppy. GG was, by all accounts, a bit of a hypochondriac who took all sorts of pills for what were, possibly, imagined ailments. His blood pressure, however, was not under control and was the cause of the stroke that took him on his way.

Whereas Glenn Gould, who left us aged 50, neither drank, smoked nor indulged in recreational drug abuse. He was, to quote a well known phrase, "too clever to live long."

This was my grandad Louis's motto. Eat when you're hungry and drink when you're dry. All things in moderation. I was quite pleased to see the name Louis in the news today, too!

Bet he didn't live there though! Wonder if he was related to Alan Whicker? He certainly looks like him!

I prefer to remember it as it was a little more than half a century ago, in my childhood.

The vandal should have been strung up!

My grandad, Ted Sparrow worked at ROF during WW2. He'd done his bit in the Royal Artillery during WW1 and was 48 in 1939. Exactly what he did at ROF I'm not sure but he was in charge of shipments of military equipment and on occasions when he was needed urgently, probably because some supply ship had been sunk, a car would arrive outside 12 Chapel Street in Beeston in the middle of the night to transport him to the ROF. This made him feel very important! He also fancied his chance with the ATS girls. Grandma Kate soon put him right about that! Ted was supplied with all

Interesting. Chulla says his name should have been Newton. My maternal auntie married a Newton in 1938. Chulla, old bean, we could be distantly related!

Don't tell us you like cats!!!

Cry, God for Harry*, England and St George! * Henry V, not Diana's offspring!

Yes, loved Eric Morecambe who made me laugh without saying a word but I couldn't stand Ernie Wise. As for Ronnie Corbett...Grrrrrrr!

You need a white trenchcoat and a lamppost stuck up your back for that one, Ben!

I wonder what our Ben's theme song is? Possibly "I fall in love too easily," as crooned by Frank Sinatra! I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast. I fall in love too terribly hard For love to ever last. My heart should be well schooled, Cos I've been fooled, in the past. I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast. Certainly describes our Ben...and we'll overlook the split infinitive in line 4!

The Oxfam shop was just across the road from where I worked at 24 Low Pavement and I remember the first floor for its book department. In addition, much of the timber frame of the building could be seen exposed on the first floor. A fascinating building, centuries old. I don't know what it houses now as I've not been in that area for many years.

Don't you believe it. He'll be busy interviewing scanties for his latest project: Dalai Chulla's Heavenly Tibetan Tipple Emporium. By the time the rest of us get there, it'll be a chain to outrival Wetherspoons!