Mr. Wormwood switched on the television. The screen lit up. The programme blared. Mr Wormwood glared at Matilda. She hadn't moved. She had somehow trained herself by now to block her ears to the ghastly sound of the dreaded box. She kept right on reading, and for some reason this infuriated the father.

Just down the road is the western entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, an 800,000-acre preserve in an otherworldly monzogranite rock scape between the Mojave and Colorado Deserts.

Don't worry, Coach. In my cooler, I've got a greens superfood drink that will cancel out the chips, beef jerky, and candy.

The very date which put them beyond the pale as belligerents was that which they seem to have chosen in order to prove what active and valiant soldiers they still remained.