Tempus Fugit, as we always knew it did …

From time to time on this organ – or indeed sometimes (in real life) quite by chance, perhaps when either undertaking some trivial domestic task or reading a newspaper – one has occasion to reflect upon the passing of time. I had experienced one of the latter on Monday when glancing at the list of birthdays in that day’s copy of The Times. Amongst the notables featured in the list was former England rugby union captain and fly half Richard Sharp, whom that day was celebrating his birthday.

The metaphorical effect this information had upon me reminded me of a famous Monty Python TV sketch in which two members of the cast (one of them Michael Palin), dressed in pith helmets and khaki shirts and trousers, took turns in running up to the other and slapping him across the face with a large wet fish until finally one of them was knocked over 20 feet down into a canal.

See here – courtesy of – YOUTUBE

Richard Sharp –  of Oxford University, Wasps, Bristol and 14 caps for England, including captaining his country to the Five Nations title in 1963 – is now 85!

He shouldn’t be 85. A great rugby player like him should be eternally 24 – the age he was when, captaining England against Scotland in 1963, he scored one of the most memorable tries ever scored at RFU Twickenham.

See here – courtesy of  – YOUTUBE