I grabbed you by the guilded beams, that’s what tradition means

One of the best press releases in a while drops into my inbox. It’s from National Assembly member William Graham and marks Trafalgar Day – it’s 200 years since Nelson’s last battle.
William is happy that the Queen will be toasting the ‘immortal memory’ of the admiral on board HMS Victory.
One of the wines on offer will be a Marsala.
This, I learn, was made popular by old Horatio when, on returning from the Battle of the Nile, he ordered 500 pipes of it for the British fleet.
Five hundred pipes, says the Tory AM, is the equivalent of around 348,000 bottles.
It’s unusual to learn something from a press release. No matter how irrelevant the fact to my everyday life.