Caleb Samuel Bettany... er, I mean Bassford

I can't wait to meet you Baby Caleb!

The Other Famous Bettany

Who remembers the notorious Michael Bettany, who was convicted of treason and sentenced to 23 years in 1984? First off, I should mention, he's not related to us!

He is, however, apparently still around, having been paroled in 1998. There's not a lot of information about him on the web but there is a short article at Wikipedia , a reference at the BBC and I did find a PDF document, the gist of which goes as follows:

One of the most recent examples of bungling concerned the case of Michael Bettany, convicted as a spy in 1984. He was the stuff of which Messiahs, not spies. are made. After enjoying a sudden conversion to Roman Catholicism at the age of sixteen, he went to university where he was defiantly traditionalist, refusing to make any concessions in clothes or manners to the 1960s generation. Because of his old fashioned ways he did not enjoy much success with the girls, but consoled himself by listening to Hitler's Nuremberg speeches on record. A friend recalled, "He was easily goaded and if ever rebuked he would storm off, goose-stepping and cursing in fluent German.

MI5 snapped him up as being just the man for them. During the summer of 1982 perhaps tiring of Roman Catholicism and Nazism, Bettany became a Communist. In October of that year he was arrested and fined on a drunk and disorderly charge in central London. The policeman reported that when he came up to Bettany. Our hero babbled, "I am a spy. I am a spy". Within days Bettany was in court again for failing to pay a railway ticket fine. If a police officer in Britain were to be found guilty of a criminal offence, he would automatically be suspended from duty and quite probably dismissed. Bettany's superiors at MI5 decided not to follow the example of the British Bobbies. Within two months, he was promoted to the ultra-sensitive 'Russian desk'. Four months later, Bettany was caught attempting to pass information to the Russians who, suspecting a ham-fisted attempt by MI5 to implicate embassy staff in London had ignored him.

My favourite line: "I am a spy. I am a spy"!

Interestingly I also found an article written by the KGB officer who turned Michael in, Oleg Gordievsky. He describes Michael as "the traitor who offered his services to the KGB..." Slightly rich coming from the man who, himself, turned double agent. More on Oleg here.

One for you, Howard

No Smoking

Almost a year ago now and with a heavy heart I bought another packet of cigarettes, having attempted to kick the dirty habbit several times previously the same year. The longest period I had quit smoking was probably a few weeks and the shortest probably a few minutes. I recognised that I clearly wasn't devoting enough energy into the idea to quit and if I'm honest, deep down, I'm not sure I really wanted to.

Why is it do you think, millions of people around the world smoke?
The answer to this question is not as simple as some may think.
Ranging from peer pressure to cultural tradition, the bottom line is that each person who smokes a cigarette, pipe, cigar, joint, etc is making a choice. In the modern world we are fortunate enough to have been educated in the ways of medical science and fact. We all know that smoking is the single most harmful past-time and that it is directly and indirectly responsible for some of the worst medical debilities known to man. We all know what they are!!
So given a choice between a potentially longer and healthier life or a slow and painful death surely it would be stupid not to stop.

So what if your addicted? I say, pull yourself together and put yourself through some pain,just see how much better you feel afterwards. Ask yourself this, are you strong enough to take control and make a life saving decision in your life or are you so weak that your happier to take your chances.

2+ years ago I was given a darn good reason to quit smoking when I was diagnosed with a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung). How naive I was, believing that I could continue to live the unhealthy life I was leading without some serious consequences. I continued to smoke.

I loved smoking, cor the feeling of a cigarette after a tasty meal with a cup of coffee. You might find this difficult to believe but for me personally, there have been points in my life where I have conciously made decisions that I have known would not have a positive effect but I would pursue regardless in order to damage myself. What a strange concept. We self-harm ourselves by smoking in pursuit of some sort of sick pleasure or relief.

I knew that deep down I should stop smoking because if I didn't, for me, with a history of lung problems there may possibly be incurable implications.

So, last October when our cousin Marie-Lou was visiting Bristol and told me about how she had given up it was massively reassuring to here her success story. The very next day, with nasty guts from Jakes's sausage stew, I walked by the shop and bought 10 Lucky Strike Lights and a newspaper. Perusing the newspaper on the bus home I saw a small picture of Ronnie O' Sulivan and Dennis Taylor weeping uncontrollably as a coffin was carried past them.
It was the first I had heard but it was of course the funeral of the snooker legend Paul Hunter who tragically died days earlier, a week before his 28th birthday, from a rare form of cancer. A shroud of sadness fell over me and moved me in an indescribable way. This young man whom I had watched for several years playing some of the finest snooker I have even seen lost his fight with cancer. The man Paul Hunter in my eyes was a hero. Battling cancer with intense courses of chemotherapy and no doubt the fatigue and anxiety associated with this, Paul showed huge courage in the face of uncertainty and continued to work and raise money. Paul Hunter wanted us to know that even under the severest circumstances anything is possible. He wanted to give us hope.I arrived home and flushed my cigarettes down the toilet. For the first time in my life I really felt compelled to quit smoking and I really wanted to stop. I even felt stupid for doing it for so long.

Experiencing cold turkey symptoms, disturbed sleep & nighmares shortly after giving up, it really wasn't long before I started to feel a whole lot better, both physically and mentally. I had more energy and was generally more focused. My battle was just beginning but over time it has become easier and easier. I don't even think about it anymore. I'm still tempted to smoke a cigarette but the more you resist the stronger you become.

Paul Hunter has inspired me in a huge way.

Here's a tribute the BBC put together shortly after he died.

Rest in Peace Paul! :)

Tom