‘One bit of genius that Murray possesses is his ability is to make puns from the dialect when he introduces it into his books. The way he reeled off a list of East European countries in Cumbrian dialect kept the audience amused and the subtle differences introduced included the poor country Albania changing to Albany (a wealthy American city) when pronounced in Cumbrian’.

As a relevant footnote, John has to confess he has only ever been interviewed on two television channels: the late Border TV based in Carlisle, UK, and… Albanian television. He was present at the Legion d’Honneur ceremony held in Paris in December 1997 for Albanian author Ismail Kadare, and was interviewed by Albanian TV as the lone representative of a country neither French nor Albanian. His immortal words were ‘it’s a great day for France and a great day for Albania!’