Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

INSPECTOR Morse missed a trick there. When he met an attractive young lady pathologist who had a dark little secret to match his own, his knowledge of natural history let him down at the critical moment.

By The Newsroom

Published 15th Jul 2008, 11:44 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 04:09 BST

You may remember that his christian name of Endeavour was one he could not repeat in public or private. That was why he was always "Morse '“ just call me Morse".

Then he met the beautiful blonde whose name was: "Oh well, I suppose you'll have to know. My name is Grayling '“ that's what I was christened. It's the name of a fish".

So it is. But, can you believe that Times-crossword-puzzle-in-20-minutes Morse, the walking encyclopaedia, did not know that the name is also given to a butterfly?

I bet that name did crop up at some time in Times crossword puzzles because countryman Adrian Bell, late father of BBC correspondent Martin Bell (the man in the white suit and anti-sleaze activist) used to compile them. I remember him well, wandering about the lanes of Suffolk looking at butterflies and wild flowers.

For full feature see the West Sussex Gazette July 16