Hutton's googly

Alumnus to be proud of No 184 recently launched himself on the world as a higher education policy pundit. Richard Hutton, previously known as the son of the more famous Sir Leonard and editor of the Cricketer magazine, said the government's funding plans for Oxford and Cambridge were a game of "Blind Man's Blunkett" and offered a fulsome reference to "the ferocious Baroness Blackstone, whose hatred of Oxbridge knows no bounds, presumably as a result of its rejection of her at the time of her studenthood".

Mr Hutton's good taste and ability to distinguish truth from legend - Baroness Blackstone's spokeswoman said there was "no truth whatsoever" in stories that she was turned down by either Oxford or Cambridge - may or may not owe something to attending Repton School and (surprise) Christ's College, Cambridge.