Apols: Ilse Schwepcke

That’s brought so much joy (“Melvyn, here’s a message from a ship’s crew - here’s one from Mongolia - here’s a student in Iceland who’s heard every show). It’s like an elixir.

We have the best listeners. Thank you.

One of the glories of working on In Our Time is that listeners around the world constantly share their love for the programme.

They know what they got, to paraphrase.

And I have no idea about his digestion, only that according to Birkin his favourite meal was boiled in the bag cod with parsley sauce so who knows.

I paused briefly, before explaining that it was not me. Anyway that was 19 Rue Jacob, the address on the advert for constipation cures and somehow I feel Serge Gainsbourg would have liked that coincidence

And I saw Jane Birkin walking along the pavement towards me and then step right up to me to ask ‘Is it you?’

Which may have been my most Parisian experience up to that point.

I was standing outside her flat in Paris waiting for my wife who was already inside waiting to interview her