Relearning An Old Skill

That dream I had a few nights back has spurred me into taking up water colour painting again. I bought materials in Bexhill on Tuesday and yesterday afternoon I spread them out on the dining room table and had a go. It must be twenty years since I last tried to paint and I'm going to have relearn whatever skills I had. My first attempt looks like Blake and water- lots of water and maybe a couple of ice cubes as well. No, I'm not going to show and tell. Maybe later- when I've produced something I'm happy with.

Ronnie Corbett

Little chap, bouncy but not cocky, sweet-natured and naturally funny. Working with Ronnie Barker meant wigs and accents, but he didn't need them- and the most reliably funny section of their show was the bit where he sat- as himself- in a huge leather chair and told shaggy dog stories. Not everything he did was first rate but- in a career that stretched from the post-war comedy clubs to a self-subverting cameo in Ricky Gervais's Extras- he did movies, sitcoms, sketches and stand up- and the best of his clips are going to go on being recycled for as long anyone continues to take an interest in 20th century British comedy.