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Sunday, November 13, 2005

The BBC is good for something after all

You MUST listen to Thursday's In Our Time, which will be available online (and you can download it as an MP3) until, I presume, 9am on Thursday coming. The estimable Henrietta Leyser and the splendid Alexander Murray, and Anthony Kenny (no adjective as I have no strong opinions here), talk about the origins of the mendicants. It includes a classic Mr Murray moment where the Loch Ness Monster metaphor of the Church is used. You'll have to listen to it to find out what that means! (And, in case you're perturbed, I'm not being disrespectful: he is one of the last of the great breed of academics who didn't need doctorates to prove anything.)

Incidentally, happy St Machar's day for yesterday to all Aberdonians out there.