I have such fond memories of John, over a friendship of more than 40 years. I think back fondly to a couple of games of cricket we (Bush newsroom) played against Broadcasting House. My contribution over both matches was an impressive zero runs, despite batting twice in one innings as we were a man short. John's comment afterwards was on the lines of: 'The one thing you can say about Lodge's batting is that he'll never be out caught - that requires contact between the bat and ball.' I also remember hilarious sessions in the locker room during night shifts, liberally lubricated, when we would mercilessly demolish the reputations of some of our more pompous colleagues. I can also recall a time when he came to stay with us in Moscow and double-locked the front door of the flat, immersing himself so deeply in a book of Russian obscenities that he remained oblivious to our desperate banging on the door. In the end, Caroline and I had to check into a hotel for the night. It was always a pleasure to see him, knowing every time that helpless laughter would inevitably follow. My huge sympathies to Lala, Branka and Helen (Flange and Leonard) - I hope we can all get together at some point and look back at some of the great times.