Helen MacDonald

Yeah, I did.

I read it all and I laughed.

I laughed out loud at the...

That hilariousness, well, I laughed out loud at the dryness of their writing and I love that they sent a picture of themselves so I can imagine them sitting in their lab.

So here's a question for you.

Chuckling, writing this paper.

Well, funny you should ask that because it's quite a mysterious question and nobody actually knows the answer.

Nobody living at the BMJ appears to know the answer.

It just appears spontaneously.

We know from Tony Delamoth, who is one of our retired deputy editors, that it was already a tradition in 1987 when he joined.

So we know it's been going at least 30 years with the idea that you take a break from normal publishing and focus on things that are light-hearted, sometimes satirical, sometimes thought-provoking.

What's the altmetrics?

I think you should explain that.

Especially if you're in your middle age, it says.

Yes.

Yeah, I think I'll take 50.

Yeah.

Let's take 50.

I know.

It's the things that aren't particularly medical.