Yesterday’s episode of Hooting Yard On The Air was briefly interrupted by the dulcet tones of Miss Blossom Partridge with Miss Blossom Partridge’s Knitting Half-Hour, before Mr Key managed to regain control of the studio. Thereafter, listeners – deprived of tips such as keeping your knitting needles stuck in a jar of rice* – were treated to gobbets of prose about a Beatle, Cuxhaven, another House of Turps, and part of a lecture by Little Bo Peep.

* NOTA BENE : Miss Blossom Partridge has asked me to confirm that this is a wholly genuine knitting tip. I have seen the evidence with my own (admittedly myopic) eyes.