Astronomer Heather Couper passed away last week, following an illness. She was 70. Having graduated from the University of Leicester with a BSc in Astronomy and Physics, she made her mark in 1985 with a landmark Channel 4 series The Planets, a grand tour of our nearest neighbours. This was followed by The Stars and The…

Thankfully I’m still several timezones ahead of most of you, or someone might notice I keep forgetting it’s Saturday. :)

You might have missed it, but this week sees the 40th birthday of a cult British superhero - with the muscles of 20 men but the brains of 20 mussels - though his big thing is bananas. Apart from comics, he has been a tv star, had his own stage play, promoted producers of a certain product and has a movie stuck in…