CHRIS Woodhead seems to have taken the Diary’s advice and overcome his obsession with Tim Brighouse. Another book review appears in the Sunday Telegraph this week (you’ll recall his last one opened with a lengthy diatribe against the good Professor) and guess what? It doesn’t mention Tim once.
Admittedly, the book in hand concerns avalanches and how to survive them (Chris is a keen amateur mountaineer - Chris Bonnington was presumably unavailable) but we feel sure that if he really wanted, he could have worked a jibe in somehow.
Interestingly, Chris likes avalanches (“innocent ...deserve a better press” - you can see why) but is marvellously scathing about the book, White Death, (“nauseatingly adolescent”), especially the bit where author McKay Jenkins alls mountaineering “a good way to die”, a sentiment echoed by many teachers.
The book offers some interesting insights, though. For example, if you’re buried in snow and have to dig yourself out, how do you tell which way is up?
The answer, apparently, is to spit and see which way the dribble goes.
A JOKE:What do you do if you’ve been buried in an avalanche of OFSTED paperwork?
A: Spit.
