Few words to inspire us all

WING Commander Paul Farnes, who has died aged 101, was the final “ace” pilot of the Battle of Britain.

Fighting off the German Luftwaffe in the skies above southern England he shot down eight enemy aircraft in the summer of 1940 and saved countless lives.

But, like so many other wartime heroes, he never felt he did anything exceptional and just “got on with the job”.

Now there are just two remaining members of The Few – the RAF aviators to whom we all owe so much.

Sadly they are unlikely to attend the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Britain later this year.

And the first-hand witnesses to war’s human conflict are few and far between.

So it is vital that we teach the younger generation about their sacrifices.

So their soaring spirits continue to inspire.

I WONDERED when someone would dig up The Wombles to join the environmental crusade.

The furry critters were TV favourites back in the 70s and later become a hit pop band.

After going to ground on Wimbledon Common in the mid-80s they briefly came out of retirement to appear at Glastonbury in 2011.

Now though, a whole new generation will get to know about these weird litter-picking warriors because they’ve joined forces with 180 MPS for The Great

British Spring Clean campaign. Of course, they’ve had a modern makeover and a bit of CGI tweaking.

And I trust the Employment Equality Act will see Madame Cholet freed from the underground kitchen to womble more freely overground with Great Uncle Bulgaria, Wellington, Tomsk et al.

Orinoco headed to Westminster this week to enlist Boris’s help and show him the new Wombles slogan: Recycle, Reuse, Rethink.

Maybe they should have kept the old one – Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish.