Well, at least Prof. May could take solace in the fact that if the death ray thing didn't work out, there was always Alpha the Robot to fall back on.
Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we should have people standing in the corners of our rooms.
The humourist Alan Coren has died at the age of 69. Times columnist, editor of Punch for two decades and a regular on The News Quiz, Mr. Coren had a marvelous writing voice as the Cricklewood Middle-class Everyman and such an evenly balanced sense of humour that even when economic hard times brought the Great Purge to the library at Chez Szondy a book of his columns survived on the grounds that I was still trying to figure out how to crib his style.
Orbital death rays came a step closer to reality as scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Osaka University unveil their laser that converts sunlight into world-dominating photon goodness.
He often told the story of meeting Bette Davis at a party. The movie star asked, “How does it feel to be responsible for all that death and destruction?” It took until the end of the evening for the reticent Mr. Maiman to formulate a reply: “I don’t know of anyone who’s been killed by a laser, even by accident, but I do know several people who have been healed by lasers."If it was me, I'd have replied with "BHWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
