EMMA B'S DAD GOES A BIT ANCIENT MARINER

Brian Broughton, father of Emma B (the Radio 1 one, not the cough model), is a fully paid-up member of the RSPB. However, it seems he doesn't feel the remit of the Society would run to protecting seagulls which poop in his wife's salad - when one did so, he shot it.

And not just shot, either:

The lifelong RSPB member downed it with an airgun, beat it with a stick and strung it up by its wings in his garden.

It's not recorded if he then buried it in unconsecrated ground, or merely hung a sign round its neck as a grisly warning. We should point out, by the way, that Dr Broughton is in his 60s, which makes it unlikely he picked up Elizabethan execution techniques during his childhood.

Dr Broughton pleaded guilty to killing a wild bird, and was given a conditional discharge. He appears to have been allowed to keep the gun, so if you find yourself in Totnes, we'd suggest you be very careful how you tread.

music radio