Seafood hero

Along with Frank Robinson aka Xylophone Man, cockle seller Dave Bartram was one of the most legendary figures in Nottingham during my time living there. So it's bittersweet to hear that he's suffered injury at the hands of aggressive robbers, only for the consequent medical examination to reveal a cancerous tumour at a sufficiently early stage for it to be dealt with by chemotherapy. It's characteristic of the man - a cheery, hardy soul who treks from pub to pub flogging his wares - that he was able to say his assailants "did me a favour".