These cases form the forlorn hope in surgery; all saved are snatched from nearly certain death. [From the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.]

I was on a jaunt to collect a bar of soap from Kaethe Burt-O'Dea's Bi Urban, a studio workshop initiative in Dublin's Stoneybatter, and already aware of the work of Feargus De Brun, a well-regarded furniture-maker who runs stoolmaking workshops there.

I thought that was some bloke from off the telly until I tapped his name into a search engine and found out that he was this amazing revolutionary who really rocked the beret and got a lot of stuff done.

He wasn't there, just the dog, conked out on the porch.