The words were emblazoned across two columns of print. Underneath, in one column, there was a photograph of Hedges. He looked like everyone’s idea of a jolly old tramp. (You weren’t to know that it was the most successful of twelve photographs, in some of which, despite the efforts of a very clever photographer, he had looked like a sex maniac; and in others like a pimp. The camera never lies, but it is possible to be selective among the different statements it makes.) “Those of our readers,” began the article chattily, “who are not well acquainted with botanical Latin, may not be aware that ‘Sonchus oleraceus’ is also called sowthistle. It is an old English plant, which grows in ditches and disused pastures and other such humble spots. It is remarkable for one thing. The length and tenacity of its roots. In short, it is very hard to remove. And so the authorities have found, to their cost, in the case of Samuel Hedges of The Barge, Easthaugh Island, Stoneferry, in the County of Middlesex.
