Still Price boss has lead in his pencil

Never having watched breakfast TV, the Diary takes a sniffily dismissive view of it and stoutly maintains that it is tawdry, tabloid trash which a man of taste and sensibility should avoid at all costs.

So, on glancing at the TV (at a friend’s house, naturally) last Tuesday the Diary was surprised to see Anthony Simonds-Gooding, chairman of Still Price Lintas, on the Big Breakfast. Settling down for what would no doubt be a rigorous analysis of British popular culture, you can imagine the Diary’s surprise when Ant took out a yellow pencil, and proceeded to offer a handy household hint: keep the shavings when you sharpen a pencil, add aromatic oil and create your own pot-pourri.

The Diary was reassured to discover his prejudices justified, though he couldn’t help thinking that if Simonds-Gooding is looking for another job he may find his niche in children’s TV.