Simon Mayo

I've always enjoyed the references to Flanders and Swan and Douglas Adams on the podcast.

And the evident affection you hold for these giants of British comedy.

Usually I'm content to chuckle along, but last week's show prompted me to write, not only for the rare double-sighting of Flanders and Swan and Hitchhiker's Guide, but for Mark's claim that Simon's Canuther Camus gag only applies to, quote, very, very old listeners.

While I'm not going to cancel my subscription in offence, I want you to know you have at least one listener in his early 30s who's caught every allusion to the Gnu, the Hippopotamus, Deep Thought and Slartibartfast.

Thanks to tapes and CDs played relentlessly by my parents, I've been devoted to both Flanders and Swan and Hitchhikers since childhood.

Two examples illustrate this.

At 11, I entered my school talent contest, not with violin or yo-yo tricks, but an unaccompanied from memory performance of the Gasman Cometh to a baffled hall of children.

The applause was fitful, but I somehow won first prize, still a point of pride.

And the Gasman Cometh is a famous Flanders and Swans song.

I think it was even like a hit.

Like it was a 45.

And during a PSHE lesson on the life education bus, I didn't know there was such a thing.

Did you have a life education bus in your day, Mark?

I've never heard of such a thing, no.

Anyway, Dom from London has travelled on the life education bus.

I was asked what alcohol was.

And I replied via the encyclopedia Galactica, a colourless volatile liquid intoxicating to certain carbon-based life forms.

An awkward silence followed the teacher staring at me with an apparent combination of bemusement and fear.

Eventually she gathered herself and I wasn't called on to answer any more questions for the remainder of the class.

So keep up the good work.