Status-Q

The Returning Soldier war memorial is a much-loved Cambridge landmark. He used to stride confidently up the middle of one of our main streets, but was moved onto the pavement recently, poor chap, to make more room for turning buses. A great pity, but perhaps it's just as well. You wouldn't want to make it back from the trenches in one piece only to be knocked off your pedestal by the number 14.

It struck me, as I cycled past tonight, how different his life must have been from that of the people in the cubicles behind him...

(Click to enlarge)

Rose and Tilly this afternoon

I took this while I was, well, waiting for Rose...

Click for a larger version.

If you're unfortunate enough not to have anything better to do at 19.45 on Boxing Day, you can watch me make a fool of myself in front of about 4 million people on BBC2.

I should point out that we were asked to take part in this by the producers; we didn't volunteer ourselves as being particularly skilled at This Sort of Thing! There was also no selection process, such as often takes place in undergraduate teams, to weed out people like me at an early stage. I went along with it, I must confess, mostly because I was reasonably familiar with the old Television Centre in London but had never been inside the new Media City studios in Salford, and I thought this would be a fun way to see them...

Having said that, I was blessed with really excellent team mates, it was great fun, and overall, we didn't disgrace ourselves.

More information on the Christmas series can be found here, and the University Challenge iPlayer page is here.

A morning shot from MediaCityUK in Salford, which I thought showed an interesting mix of the components of this somewhat bizarre new creation. Old Trafford is just behind me. The offices on the right are the BBC. The building on the left will contain the set of Coronation Street, which is being rebuilt here. There's some heavy industry in the background, and it's a nice spot for early-morning rowers. Oh, and you can't see the cormorant diving under the bridge.

I'm in Douglas, on the Isle of Man.

MediaCityUK, Salford, by night. Click for larger version.

...but on some mornings, it's enough.

If you combine beech trees, autumn, and evening sunshine, it’s hard to go wrong, but Weds was particularly pretty.

More pictures here.

A poignant message, I felt, spotted in a country churchyard.