Greatest Philosopher Poll

In Our Time is running a poll to discover who the nation (or, at least, the section that listens to Radio 4) thinks is the Greatest Philosopher Ever. Julian Baggini put a persuasive case for David Hume, but I voted for John Stuart Mill, because some stupid people recently said he was harmful, and also because so far as I know he was the only one on the list to write about women. Also, half a pint of shandy would make me feel ill too.

All he needs is the love of a good woman

I rang my mother yesterday to let her know I was OK; mother is in her mid-seventies and vaguer even than me. Anyway, she hadn't been in the least bit worried (I suspect she has no idea where I live in relation to London) so we talked about The Fellowship of the Ring, which someone had got for her on DVD. Mother has made various attempts to read Tolkien (which my dad adored) over the years, and not really got much past the bit about the mushrooms.

So did she enjoy it? It was "very violent". Well, yes, it is - I suppose that's because it's about World War 1. "Is it about WW1?" I think you could make a case for that... "Oh. Does Gandalf live?" Sort of... (Didn't much want to get into an involved explanation.) "I did like that young man." Which young man? "Frodo. He has very expressive eyes."

Yes, my friends, my seventy-five-year-old ma appears to have a crush on Elijah Wood. I moved on quickly. A little time was then spent explaining that there are two more films to sit through.