A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

Lady Orkney's history, to whose house we are going, is a curious one. As Miss Elizabeth Villiers, by her charms she pierced the cuirass that enveloped the well-disciplined heart of William III.

Orthopedic surgeon Robert Marx, with New York's Hospital for Special Surgery, says that findings from the current study should not give arthroscopic knee surgery a bum rap.

And you shall do nothing but what you choose, and shall be as happy as the day is long.