Reporter’s diary

Press, 5 January 1987, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Costly service WHEN FIRE destroyed Christiansborg Castle in 1795, the Danish Royal family was financially ruined. To raise funds for rebuilding, it sold the Meissen armorial tea service which had been ordered for King Christian VI when he ascended the throne in ,1730. Recently the same service was sold again. This time the 38 pieces fetched £303,600, the highest auction price for a service of porcelain. Unfortunately it was dispersed in separate lots. The highest single price, of £52,800, was paid by a German dealer for a milk jug and cover.

Song., titles THE J FRENCH avant

garde composer and conductor, Pierre Boulez, can take the credit for the title of a hit pop song. The American singer/ songwriter, Paul Simon, tells how Boulez, aged 71, attending a party at his house, inexplicably called him “Al" all evening. When Boulez left he thanked “Al” for the party. Simon corrected him, but added: “You can call me Al” ... hence the song title of the same words. We can, however, assure' readers that no Frenchman can take credit for the song “Over the Rainbow.” Z-scars

OUR ASHBURTON reporter was impressed by the battle wounds sported by a police sergeant: scratches, grazes anil cuts

to his lower right arm, and a particularly nasty gash near his left elbow, were obviously the result of some heroic tussle. Hurling himself through a plateglass window to apprehend an escaping criminal perhaps? Nothing quite so dramatic: on Christmas Day, full of good cheer, he decided to do some skateboarding with the kids. He ended up in a blackberry bush.

Did you know...? YOU NEVER know — this one may crop up in future editions of the game of “Tr*v**l P*rs**t” Our agricultural mole tells us through “The Main Report” that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has one staff member for every 10 farmers. Until

last year, it was larger in numbers than the Social Welfare Department. What is worse (or better, depending on your point of view), M.A.F. now has more journalists than the Tourist and Publicity Department arid more economists than the Treasury. A cynic might see the plethora of journalists as a good thing — for documenting the decline and fall of the New Zealand farmer. Toad-in-a-hole A READER spotted this notice in the car-parking area of a Manchester Street business which warned: “Unauthorised vehicles will be toad away.” Do they get turned into amphibious vehicles? Jenny Feltham