Today's paper had lots of things that caught my eye:
- good news that the economy seems to have clambered back to where it was before it fell of a cliff in 2007/8;
- Angelina Jolie (and Brad Pitt) on the cover, as she's in London to promote the new Disney film Maleficent, which is out at the end of this month, and which may well be worth a trip to the cinema to watch;
- a rather amazing double page spread Etihad advert for their "Residence" cabin which is available for the A380 - a three room private cabin which looks truly amazing (check it out here);
- a great little article tucked away on p34 under the headline "Digital leaders back future of books on paper" which is essentially saying that previous reports of the demise of books on the printed page might turn out to be rather premature;
- Celebrity Watch, which is always fun!;
- Friday's Bricks and Mortar supplement, with details of the semi-detached house on the market for £5.5m (available to admire on the Hamptons website here). Hopefully very much the exception rather than the rule (bubble, anyone?!);
- an advert for the Sunday Times rich list which will be out a week on Sunday (a rather voyeuristic pleasure I know). I'll have to ask Nicky to get that week's Sunday paper for me, as I'll be rather a long way from home then;
- news in the business section that Apple might be able to buy Beats Headphones - a story Jake might be interested to hear about; and
- the obituary of Colin Pillinger, a proper mad professor, and sporter of the best sideburns since Isaac Asimov.
When we were camped out in Brighton at the start of the year, rather busy with work, as a brief diversion over lunch, we would turn to the register of birthdays, and one person would read out some of the familiar names, and the rest would try to guess their ages. Well, there are some good names on today's list:
- Alan Bennett (80) - one of our very best writers;
- James L Brooks (74) - described in the paper for being the director of Terms of Endearment, but Simpsons fans will recognise his name for a different reason;
- Vince Cable (71) - possibly the only good reason for the Conservatives being in coalition with the Lib Dems;
- Billy Joel (65) - singer of occasional concerts in London (although sometimes Elton John has to fill in for him!);
- Geraldine McEwan (82) - famous actress, but for me will always be the scary Mortianna in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Had some great scenes with Alan Rickman hamming it up as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
And one other thing, if there was any doubt as to whether The Times was the newspaper for me - 10 across in the T2 crossword today:
Accounts checker (7) - AUDITOR
To wrap up today's post, a rather lovely photograph.
