Greetings reader, and welcome back to another week of chaos.
One of our reporters spent the week gearing up for their media law exam in a rather apt climate of Twitter users saying very libellous things. But we are legalled out – so instead of trying out our best legalese on you, Diary will mosey along with some (very carefully worded) charity news.
Sneaky little hobbitses
First things first; a very well-to-do hobbit. Cancer Research UK has earned £10,000 from a rare copy of the Hobbit found among donations at a shop in Dundee.
The first edition was found in the back room of its superstore in the city. This prompted Diary to have a little rummage in the back of their bookshelves, and it was a goldmine – a thousand copies of Jacqueline Wilson’s finest, 32 copies of Charity Finance, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Tolkien's classic was found by Cancer Research shop manager, Adam Carsley, who had been at the Dundee superstore to assist with staff training and the organisation of stock.
He said: “I opened the first page to see it was a first edition and thought it may be worthy of sending to the eBay team. I thought we'd get a maximum of £500 if we were lucky, so I couldn't believe it when I heard a few months later it had sold for over £10,000.” What a day.
In its lengthy research, Diary has learnt that in 2015, a first edition of the Hobbit, with an inscription in Elvish written by Tolkien, sold at auction in London for £137,000. Diary is a book lover, but is baffled! Perhaps we should all take up Elvish? Should we start writing the news in Elvish? Does anyone know of a good Elvish tutor around Clapham?
Spinning Around (in all the cash)
In other wondrous charity-shop-news, Kylie Minogue and Steven Fry donated to a charity shop to mark £1m raised for an HIV charity.
Terrence Higgins Trust’s only charity shop in Pimlico has raised £1m since opening its doors in 2008, and the celebrities helped the charity mark the milestone by donating items to the shop.
Diary will certainly be stopping by in the hope of picking up a few items. Gold hot pants ten times too small, a velvet waistcoat, and a transparent PVC trench coat? Yes, please.
Word on the street is that Stephen Fry donated a collection of his ties, which are known to be his “greatest clothing companion”, so Diary is hoping to show up to CSM offices looking rather suave come Monday morning. How many ties are too many ties?
Wensleydale, anyone?
In a fortuitous turn of events, Diary is writing about two of their favourite things this week: cake and tea.
Bird & Blend Tea Co has announced its quarterly charity drive, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, and Vicky’s Sponge Cake is the brew chosen for the charity. It probably would have been more apt to have some sort of Wensleydale-tea, but that might not have gone down too well with everyone.
Instead, they have (more sensibly) chosen a cake-flavoured cuppa that’s a blend of vanilla and raspberry, with black tea.
For all you history buffs out there – this is a black loose-leaf tea blend inspired by Victoria’s sponge cake, which was invented by Queen Victoria herself – or so Diary is told (we can’t check everything OK).
The Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal is the dedicated charity for Bristol Children’s Hospital, so a wonderful cause to drink tea for – made easier by the fact it is not cheese flavoured.
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