Leaning against bookcases filled with medical works were huge test tubes of alcohol and formalin preserving the remains of many of the most dangerous characters of reptiledom.

As far back as 1803 Captain Flinders met the swarthy, sea-going Malajs, clad then, as they are now, in badju and sarong, wearing gracefully-folded turbans on their heads, and with murderous-looking krisses stuck in their girdles.

When the youth of Cairo and Madrid occupied the main squares of Tahrir and Puerta del Sol in 2011, they meant to take possession of the urban fabric which had lost the meaning of being a natural arena for social action, either because of obsessive security policies (Cairo) or because of mercification into open air malls (Madrid).

This service has suffered badly from Department for Transport-inspired cuts which reduced it from hourly to two-hourly. This, coupled with regular cancellations, has rendered the train service between the area's two biggest towns almost unusable.