Bid for a partial set of Winston Churchill's false teeth as I've just heard is happening tomorrow according to one of the final items on the 9 pm Radio 2 news slot? Perhaps not. Leave that auction joy to the hard core collectors

But I'm happy to celebrate running into an old friend. A real "where you've been all these years...how's it going... you've not changed at all !" encounter.

No lines around the eyes, not a wrinkle, or grey hair in sight, liver spotted hands ? Of course not. You're in great shape, sparky, buzzy, so why had I forgotten all about you?

Even when I heard you mentioned in the office, I still could n't quite place you. Took a good few minutes before the bulb finally popped on again and I recognised you.

All came back. Yep, flooding back. Those heady University essay days, when I'd season virtually everything I could with your good name in order to burnish my credentials as a tyro lit critic.

Leitmotif, how could I have forgotten you for so long?