Look Stranger

Bill Houston is the kind of cyclist who would abhor the Tour de France race almost as much as he abhors the motor car - he prefers exploring back roads and goat tracks. When he came out of the army in 1946 he vowed that no one was going to order him about for 20 years. Twenty-five years later he is still living for the bicycle. That is, 25 years, 34 countries and 400,000 miles later. And he can say, with modesty, that he envies no man - and few would disbelieve him. (BBC Scotland)

The ingredients for magic brews in Durham aren't bat's blood and toad's warts but farm manure and Epsom salts. They seem to work nevertheless. The prize-winning leeks they nourish make southern leeks look like shallots. Those southerners who know about the North East leek contests regard them as just a joke. But there is more to them than that. For men like Brian Shave of Lyton Leek Club, leek growing is a tie with a traditional culture that is still firmly held on to despite social change. (from Bristol)