How longs a tear take to dry

Of course, it's tremendously unfashionable to admit it, but The Beautiful South were quite a brilliant thing when they were on form. And, yes, sadly the "were" is correct, as they've called it a day after nineteen years.

It's unclear if they're ending it now to avoid the 20th anniversary celebration horrors, or if it's got more to do with their last single, The Rose of My Cologne stalling at a not-encouraging number 99.

There is, of course, a statement:

In a two-line statement, the Hull-based band [...] attributed their break-up to "musical similarities".

"The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement said.

Hats off to BBC News online for rewriting, rather than quoting verbatim, the whole two lines.

Let us take this moment to remember the greatest contribution the South made to British cultural life: the moment during Christmas 1996 when numerous households put on their brand-new copies of Blue Is The Colour and turned pale as they realised that nice single Don't Marry Her, Take Me wasn't quite so nice in its album version.