Goody goody yum yum
The Goodies, in case you can't recall, were three blokes who, in the 1970s, lived together (no, not in the 'biblical' sense). It's recently come to my attention that they only lived together on the television, not in the real world. I was a bit cross when I learned this, life is full of disappointments though. The Goodies was a BBC television series in which our heros 'did things'. 'We'll do anything, anytime'. That was their moto.

They traveled everywhere on their trademark three-seater bike - the Trandem - at one point attaching balloons to it to make it fly. Very fanciful.

Mary Whitehouse (a mad woman (now deceased) who tried to 'clean up pubic morals' via attempting to control what was shown on television) described them as being 'too sexually orientated', taking particular issue (rightly so) with Tim Brooke-Taylor

Another less controversial Goodie was Bill Oddie, who is pleasantly bearded, and watches birds a lot. Then there's Graeme Garden, he was a bit of a mad scientist character. You had to be there.

Coincidentally, there was some Mornington Crescent discussion on the mailing list recently. Tim Brooke-Taylor being a leading expert in this historic and perculiarly British parlour game.

Our dead hard Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
John Prescott went to school in Cheshire, where you have to be hard or you just get beaten up (I got beaten up). He left school to work in hotel catering at the age of 15, then joined the Merchant Navy, which just between you and me is almost exactly what your Fencemaster did.

Just in case he's not the well-loved public figure in your country that he is here (No - he IS), he likes sailing and diving and being Deputy Prime Minister. He's also the one you might have heard about who was innocently walking through some protesters on the way to a conference or something and someone who I can only describe as 'a Welsh farmer' threw an egg at him, from behind, and it hit Prezzy on the head. Our Deputy PM turned on the spot and punched him in the face with an excellent left jab. We were very proud in the Fencemaster household.

Where are you two from, Nose City?
Anyone called 'Eric' is surely destined for a career in comedy. Mr Idle proved no exception and was arguably the funniest of the Pythons, except for John Cleese of course (and Graham Chapman). However my usual minimal amount of research reveals he is one of the most personable.

Note that Eric is dressed for comic effect, as one would get much too hot riding more than a few feet in such a get-up. However, it was a bit damp and dreary going through Richmond Park this morning. My route takes me through the centre of the park, where there's no signs of civilisation. It's like being in the highlands of Scotland. Apart from the lack of any high lands. Oh yes, there's also the steady stream of Boeing 747s nervously tiptoeing into Heathrow Airport to give the game away too.

Check out this picture I took one slightly brighter day, in preparation for my next block-busting web site: www.myjourneytowork.com

It's that nice Mr Blair
Here he is - the first cycling celebrity. I spotted this picture in a newspaper, and a 'Cycling Celebrities' section seemed like a good idea. At the time anyway.

At least I haven't splashed out and bought the domain www.celebrtiycyclists.com or, for that matter, www.cyclingcelebrities.com (both available, surprisingly). Please see what you can do to provide or point out any more pictures of cycling celebrities.

Maybe I could print some out and put them on the fence, to give it a lovely showbiz theme. Let me know what you think. I have heard Richard Rogers the architect cycles, and Jon Snow the news reader does too. Jarvis Cocker has been mentioned as well.

Otherwise, perhaps cycling celebrities are quite rare. We'll see.

Who's this then?
Born in 1879 in Germany, Einstein's story is fascinating. It's full of skipped school, moving about a lot, and dodgy jobs. A bit like your Fencemaster really. However, that's where the resemblance ends, as your Fencemaster went on to acheive great things to the benefit of all mankind. Not.

His Theory of Relativity was born in 1905, almost certainly while Albert was riding a bike. It was part of a paper he submitted to a German Physics journal "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (such as those on bikes)". He came out with some smart one-liners as well. Here's one that certainly sounds fence-based: "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them."

You see?

A cycling news reader
He doesn't cycle while reading the news (for Channel Four here in the UK) well not yet at least. Although it's an idea they might want to think about. He cycles everywhere, apparently. I wonder where he locks his bike? Not on the fence in Bentinck Mews, I'll be bound. You can read about his top ten favourite books here. Go on, get inside that newsreader's head.

Do you know of any other cycling newsreaders? If I get a few more they can have their own, dedicated section. Maybe.

Buckets of rain
I'm not sure how great a part cycling plays in the life of Bob Dylan Bikes get a mention in one song: Buckets of rain. Other than that 'Little red bike', his lyrics have so far neglected the plight of the urban cyclist, which is a shame. Your Fencemaster would be delighted to have the wonders of the bicycle celebrated in song.

Via the magic of song, Bob could have persuaded an entire generation to take to two wheels and, er, go for a ride. Although looking at the picture (left), he doesn't seem too happy about his bike.
PERHAPS HE WANTED TO LOCK IT TO A FENCE.