Caterer

"Among the odd, curious and out of the way people I encountered during a recent visit to the Pacific Coast were four robust young cannibals. They are strong and rugged, enjoy vigourous appetites, and, according to the manager of the troupe, the best way to keep on the right side of a cannibal, which is the outside, is to give him abundance to eat. 'Feed him well three times a day, and see that he don't get hungry between meals when strangers are about.'"

(From "An interview with cannibals")

Colonel J J Llewellin, Minister of Food, paying tribute to mobile canteen staff working in areas hit by flying bombs: "When a doodle-bug falls, a canteen with tea, snacks and other light refreshments is on the spot within a few minutes. There is nothing better for people than a cup of tea and something to eat after they have been blasted out of hearth and home."

Kit Chapman, managing director of the Castle Hotel in Taunton, spent £30,000 on a new gents' loo. He was so proud of the installation he gave a dinner in its honour. Joe Hyam writes: "I found myself in the new gents with a mixed party including restaurant critic, Fay Maschler; travel editor, Jill Crawshaw; humorist, Miles Kingston; Sue Arnold, who writes every week for the Observer; Egon Ronay, totting up percentage points; and Lord Lichfield.

Our eyes flitted uneasily to the Armitage Shank urinals, whose use was temporarily restrained, less by the presence of women than by vases of sweet peas. These provided a pun of a slightly higher order than those in the speeches of Lord Lichfield and Kit Chapman during the opening ceremony, which involved Lord Lichfield tugging a Victorian bell pull that triggered a tape of Handel's water music."