I remember an occasion just before Christmas years ago when my two lads were young. The younger one, Robert, who at that time was about 7, had been reading The Hobbit while Carol and I were writing our Christmas cards. I asked Carol "Have you sent a card to Eve and Bill Bone?" (two friends of ours). Robert leaped to his feet and exclaimed "Even Bilbo?" Sadly, we had to disappoint him. And another one, which may well be apocryphal. There's a story from many years ago about a lady who, alone in her house one day, switched on her radio to listen to whatever was on. After a short pause while the radio warmed up (I said it was many years ago!), the first words she heard were " . . . great tits like coconuts."
She leapt for the radio, turned it off again, and forthwith sat down and wrote a blistering letter of complaint to the BBC – you know the style " . . . shocked . . . do not expect to hear such language . . . absolutely disgraceful . . ." and so on.
In reply, it was explained to her that she had turned on her radio while a Natural History programme about British Birds was being transmitted, and if she had had a little more patience, she would have discovered that not only do great tits like coconuts, but also that blackbirds are very fond of worms!
*FOMCL* 