on BBC 1 at 6.30 on Reporting Scotland ("Scotland's number one news show", as Jackie Bird thoughtfully informed me).

It was one of those vox populi things where they stopped me in the street. I had my big furry hat and my scarf on and was covered in snow, and they asked me what I thought of the acquisition by the scottish galleries of that Titian painting.

I rambled a bit about it, was relatively incoherent and not as eloquent as I would have liked, and then came up with all sorts of erudite points to make when I was continuing on my way. (I believe the french call this 'esprit du escalier', the spirit of the stairway, when you come up with all manner of fantastic retorts to a situation after the fact. I am very glad there is a name for it).

Anyway, they showed me talking on the telly, and I sounded far more reasonable than I thought I would! Probably because they only used 2 sentences of my chat.

Have you ever been 'vox popped'? Did you feel as cool as I do right now?