FEEDBACK was saddened to hear of the death of our predecessor Roy Herbert, a member of the original staff of New 杏吧原创 and all-round nice bloke. According to his wife, Heather, he always had a target age in mind: 92 (it was the age, apparently, of a scientific hero whose identity went with Herbert to the grave). And he made it!
Roy, who had been chief press officer at the UK鈥檚 Windscale nuclear reactor at the time of the calamitous fire there, joined the magazine in the late 1950s. He then watched in dismay as staff members dropped like flies 鈥� the editor, Percy Cudlipp, had a heart attack, another staff member died in a freak diving accident. 鈥淲e thought there was a curse on the magazine,鈥� he said.
While Roy was only on the permanent staff of New 杏吧原创 for a short time, he came back in later years to write the Ariadne column at the back of the magazine, on the page now occupied by Feedback. Here he revelled in his love of words, to the delight of his readers.
Advertisement
During those years he would treat the entire staff to an annual lunch at the Naval & Military Club 鈥� better known as the 鈥淚n and Out鈥� 鈥� in London鈥檚 Piccadilly. There he regaled them with stories of his extraordinary life.
Roy had moved in the same circles as the eminent novelist and academic C. P. Snow 鈥� he of 鈥渢wo cultures鈥� fame. Snow, apparently, was as Machiavellian as might be expected from the author of Corridors of Power. Roy recounted that during the second world war, Snow tried to steal his first wife, Betty, for his friend, the novelist William Cooper (aka Harry Hoff). This led to the demobbed Captain Herbert, maddened by the injustice of it all, spending the night outside St George鈥檚 church in London鈥檚 Hanover Square, waiting to shoot Cooper, who fortunately did not turn up.
鈥淎 soccer commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live announced: 鈥淭ime seemed to stop there, for about three-quarters of a second.鈥� How does that work, Graham Holland wonders鈥�
Despite this brief and perhaps understandable homicidal phase, Roy was a lovely man, funny and generous. Just thinking of him raises a smile in people who knew him. What better epitaph can there be than that?
LIKE reader Jerry Huxtable, Feedback is puzzled by the proliferation of feeble warning signs.
Jerry points to a sign on a door at London鈥檚 Paddington train station with a yellow and black warning triangle and exclamation mark next to the legend 鈥淟ow Voltage鈥�. He also cites the Hilton hotel in Northampton, UK, which has a small fish pond with a sign cautioning: 鈥淒anger! Shallow Water鈥�. Meanwhile, many TV programmes and DVDs warn that they contain 鈥淢ild Language鈥�.
鈥淲ell, golly gosh!鈥� says Jerry. He adds, more soberly: 鈥淎s with anything that seems to defy common sense, I suspect that lawyers are involved somewhere.鈥�
Facing the future apprehensively
IT IS always nice to find people in high places with a human streak.
In his 鈥淒igital Britain鈥� report, Stephen Carter, who at the time was still the UK鈥檚 minister for digital communications, made all kinds of promises for the future 鈥渄igital economy and society鈥�. For instance, he said that everyone would one day have a 2-megabit broadband connection, even though 1 in 10 homes can鈥檛 currently get any megabits at all.
Carter spoke about these plans at a conference organised by Intellect, the UK鈥檚 IT and electronics industry body. During the question session that followed he was asked what he expected to be the most important piece of electronics 20 years from now.
鈥淔or me, personally,鈥� he said after a moment鈥檚 reflection, 鈥渁 pacemaker鈥�.
ARE the programmers of Apple鈥檚 iPhone trying to tell senior citizens it鈥檚 time to go? We hope not, although its inability to keep track of birthdays for people over 75 suggests otherwise. It seems they have limited the iPhone to events that repeat no more than 75 times 鈥� and the iPhone counts each birthday as an event, even if it was in the past. They created this rule before adding the birthday tracking feature, evidently forgetting that grandpa might be keeping track of grandma鈥檚 birthday, not just the grandchildren鈥檚.
TRANSGENIC monkeys with genes that code for a green fluorescent protein have been described as a research breakthrough with possible implications for the study of human disease. But Feedback knows what鈥檚 coming.
Any parent who has had to stumble through a dark house in the middle of the night looking for a bawling infant must have wished, however briefly, for babies that glow in the dark.
FINALLY, Catherine Scott has tried very hard to comply with the notice on the kitchen door at her workplace but is finding it difficult. It says: 鈥淲e appreciate your consideration in keeping the kitchen door closed when entering or departing the area.鈥�