THAT anonymous man of letters, Hickey – whose family crest bears the inscription, ‘In Gossipus Veritas’ – writes in his idiosyncratic diary in the Scottish Daily Express: ”How lovely to hear that Mr Brian Taylor, the portly Political Ed of BBC Scotland, is to receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the ‘university’ of Abertay Dundee.
“I am sure this is largely due to my unstinting lobbying on Mr Brian’s behalf, but I fear he will henceforth demand that I refer to him as ‘Doctor’, which, of course, I shall, particularly if there is a heavily pregnant lass or some horrid old buzzard about to tumble over present. That’d teach him to flaunt himself as Doctor, eh?”
