Peter Rhodes on more gags in Endeavour, explaining the Beast to our descendants and the changing face of Max Mosley

IT occurs to me that in a century or so when our descendants stumble across today's computer files and discover references to The Beast from the East, they won't have a clue what it was. This is not helped by a sudden flurry of social-media posts recently in which unchivalrous men have been portraying ladies of their acquaintance as the Beast.

SO, for the benefit of you readers in the year 2118 trying to decipher these 2018 records, The Beast from the East was a severe weather phenomenon. It was not a fat lass called Sharon from Cromer.

THE strain may be taking its toll on Max Mosley. Does anyone else think he's morphing into Twister (Karl Johnson) from the Beeb's Victorian drama, Lark Rise to Candleford?

FOR us spoof-spotters, Endeavour (ITV) is the gift that keeps on giving. After sly references in the scripts to fictional things such as Crossroads motel and the Battle of Mboto Gorge, a reader points out that the latest episode referred to Nazi sympathisers interned during the war including "Spode." This can only be Reginald Spode, Seventh Earl of Sidcup, leader of the notorious Blackshorts and, being created by P G Wodehouse, an entirely fictitious character. Meanwhile another reader points out that the family name of the Nazi-loving aristocrat in a recent Endeavour episode was Creighton-Ward, which happens to be the name of Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds.

A READER reckons only 20 per cent of Britain's daily newspapers are left-wing which he interprets as right-wing bias in the Press. Well, that's one explanation. Another is that most people buy papers they happen to like. That does not make them fascists, dimwits or brainwashed. It just means they are somewhat to the right of him.

WHICH leads on to the strange definitions used by Scotland Yard who tell us there is Islamist terrorism and extreme right-wing terrorism, as though they are entirely different. How did this distinction creep into the system? By any normal definition, extreme Islam, being racist, restrictive, authoritarian and deeply conservative, is as right-wing as you can get. The days of left-wing violence (Suffragettes, IRA, Angry Brigade, etc) have mercifully passed. These days, all the nasty stuff comes from the far right.

EXACTLY one week after our old cat died, the first mouse appeared in our living room, pausing on the rug to watch the telly. Damn cheek. Being out of regular practice, I'd forgotten that, when setting a mousetrap, steady hands and nerves of steel are useful but what you really need is a pair of thick gloves. I have not had a thumbnail this black for some time.

OUR changing language. I was surprised to hear someone on the radio saying: "Everyone is in agreeance". The word is "agreement," surely? Not necessarily, it seems. "Agreeance," according to one dictionary, is "a word that seems to be constantly reinvented and recycled." I suppose the experts know best but I'm not sure I entirely agreeify with this.