A worthy successor to Winston Churchill

Snarky remarks aside, the news that the Nobel Prize for Literature has gone to Bob Dylan cheers me up no end. I certainly don't have a problem with rewarding him for his words, rather than his music: yes, his songs are deeply embedded in my mind as songs, but it's the words which are magnificently Dylan's own; his best tunes are borrowed. The Academy is quoted as saying it was not a difficult choice - though in that case, I wonder what took them so long: all his best writing was done decades (I prefer not to contemplate how many decades) ago. Perhaps they were nervous about his reception of the award, recalling his not exactly gracious acceptance of his honorary degree from Princeton.

Bonus facts: I didn't realise, until I came to write this, that the locusts were real. Nor that he was only marginally mellower accepting an honorary degree from St Andrews. I shall look foward to the Nobel award ceremony.

But whether he wants it or not, he deserves it.