That first sentence is almost exactly what Jerry Coyne said. (Jerry’s 67 too.) Jerry was staying when John Clarke died and it was Jerry who first told me about it following an e-mail from another friend.

I did some great stuff. I remember him telling his “life story” once… He couldn’t find his birth certificate, but the hospital records noted for July 7 “the lady with gumboots in ward 7 had a baby.” The only other entry was noting her disappearance, and that the groundsman had reported his tractor was missing.

From his school years: the teacher says “I’ve got one apple in this hand, and two apples in the other hand. What have I got?” “Well if they came from our orchard, there’s a good chance you’ve got Dutch elm disease.”