On Sunday I attended the memorial service for a long-time Macmillan (and various other publishing company) employee, John Watson. Ian Taylor's obituary in the Guardian says it all. Apart from the budget-saving orders he managed to extract I'll always remember him as being the gentlest off-spin bowler I have ever faced - and he still got me out. In work too the combination of his huge size and his rather Nigerian pace of life still resulted in enough energy to succeed thus proving that E really does equal mc squared.

The turn-out at the service in Oxford and the warmth of the addresses were indicators of his friends' and colleagues' respect and affection for him. It also reminded me how lucky we are to be in an industry which cherishes people like John who break most of the corporate rules. Thank God.