Every now and again the book industry is convulsed by a bout of plagiarism. Someone is suspected of lifting material from another author, there is a court case, someone wins, someone loses and the loser not only loses the case but is typically subjected to abuse from the literary police force. This is not much different from athletes being caught taking performance-enhancing drugs. It used to be otherwise.

I was listening to a Prom (an annual series of concerts broadcast by the BBC) last night and heard for the first time Michael Haydn's Requiem pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo which was first performed in 1771 when Mozart was fifteen years old. The introducer of the prom mentioned the friendship between Michael Haydn and Mozart in spite of the near twenty year age difference. He also mentioned the similarities between the Haydn Requiem and the later Mozart Requiem. There are references in various sources to the fact that the Haydn work 'greatly influenced' Mozart. I wonder what is the difference between being greatly influenced and pinching.

Go listen. If this were raised in a contemporary court I reckon Mozart would be branded a top-class plagiarist and would have to hand over his gold medal and a chunk of his reputation to Michael Haydn.

And for today's light relief go to Scott Pack's blog. He wa sthe chief buyer at Waterstone's book chain for a period and he tells the inside story of his departure. He is now working for the innovative Friday Project who might well become the exemplar of a modern book publishing company.