Books of travel and adventure were as much enjoyed as by any bedjacketed explorer, but there was also From Bapaume to Paschendaele by Philip Gibbs (which started my interest in all to do with the Great War), Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, The Guide to Music by P. A. Scholes, and a biography of Chopin.

The isabelline (or Daurian) shrike is a greyish-yellow and hunts from prominent perches, impaling the corpses on thorns as a larder.

The crystal system to which a particular molecule belongs can make a considerable difference to how easy it is to solve.

Purfled with gold and pearl of rich assay.