One of the hallmarks of the condition is deposits of insoluble fibres of a substance called synuclein. Normally found as small soluble molecules in healthy nerve cells, in people with Parkinson’s, something causes the synuclein molecules to warp into a different shape, making them clump together as fibres.

Maoling is located in Xingping City, Shaanxi Province, and is the tomb of the Han Emperor Wudi (also known as Liu Che).

I waited for him to take it up, to unravel once again his tale of plotting statesmen and deluded public, his great joke, his private toe hold on the world.

He was not the pompous university president from central casting, always pontificating; he was more like a charming professor who walked around his campus wearing the navy blue cap of his beloved Boston Red Sox and who just happened to be university president.