The 'Telegraph' Obituary Page

It can, on occasion, be utterly fascinating. On Tuesday, the man of the day was the Reverend Roger Holloway:

Roger Graham Holloway was born on November 24 1933, the youngest of six children of a civil servant. The family was a military one, and while a small boy in his high chair he discovered that every time he hummed the National Anthem at the dinner table, all would rise; in such a fiercely patriotic family this became very trying.

I'll just bet...

Clearly not a man who wished to spend his years on earth in quiet contemplation; we are informed that he 'led a life of rich and unusual variety as a soldier, big game hunter, international wine and spirit merchant and Anglican priest'!

He was once leading a night-time patrol in the forest when he cannoned into a Mau Mau insurgent, and shot him dead. On another patrol his unit was charged by a buffalo, which Holloway also dispatched; the animal's stuffed head was mounted above his bed in his London flat.

Presumably, the Mau Mau head wasn't of sufficient size to be worth bothering to mount...

Holloway was always thoughtful when selecting gifts. Visiting friends on a remote Kenyan farm who were worried about being attacked, he handed his hostess a box. She opened it, then shouted in delight across the landing to her husband: "Oh look, darling! Roger has brought us some grenades."

They really, really don't make them like that any more, do they? More's the pity...