9 More Random Facts About Jan Dean

I can't do joined-up dancing. I went to tap-dancing lesson and could do all the steps, but I couldn't move from one sort of step to the other without stopping completely first. This kind of ruined any dance routine the teacher had planned. I was a waste of space.
 

My favourite game is Scrabble (or anything scrabble-ish). I like 'in the manner of the word' too and charades. When I was a teacher (millions of years ago) we used to play these on the train coming back from our annual pilgrimage to Stratford-on-Avon.
 

Favourite song? Today I am mostly singing 'Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes'. Tomorrow it'll be something else.
 

My favourite place in Britain is Sanna Bay on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. It's remote and wild, and the sand is white and the sea is turquoise. My favourite holiday destination is Acharacle (Western Highlands) - it's by the banks of Loch Shiel and sometimes eagles fly over it.
 

My favourite insect is the damsel fly. It has all the oomph of dragonflies without the clunkiness of looking like a helicopter.

My favourite comedian is Eric Morecambe. Brilliant even in black and white. He didn't even have to do anything. Just standing there was enough to make us all feel happy.
 

Favourite saying or proverb: Fret not lest ye be fretted upon. (Worrying is just no fun.)
 

My favourite flower or plant is Lilium longiflorum.... as good to say as to look at. Favourite tree? That one with the tree house in it.
 

Did you know that the colour 'magenta' (a sort of purplish red) was named after the Battle of Magenta (1859) which was famously horrible and bloody. How yukky is that?