the first poem here explains how, at the table of Mr Maxwell of Terraughty, "one of the guests spoke of nothing but the dukes and lords with whom he had supped and dined". [Robert] Burns apparently scribbled his verse The Toad-Eater (being a reference to "toady") on a scrap of paper and passed it around the table, much to the amusement of the other guests and the discomfort of the name-dropper. from Frieda Hughes: The Times: Monday Poem: Dealing with a name-dropper
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My most recent excuse to purchase more plants has been the aviary, which I had built last autumn for George, my magpie. I found George as a tiny fledgling in the garden last May, with two dead siblings, after their nest had been destroyed in ferocious gales. For the first two months I fed him and cared for him, his cage remained on the floor beside the Rayburn next to the baskets for our three small dogs; he came to believe they were siblings and that I was a strange, featherless parent. I took him out every day and he lived half his life on my shoulder. I was smitten.
from The Times: Frieda Hughes reflects on the aviary she built in her garden
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