Minerva II

We like type. So, on our travels when we happened across a small tribute to master typographer, engraver and painter, Reynolds Stone (1909-1979), we couldn’t resist a quick snap.

2009 marks the centenary of his birth, so it’s the perfect time to show a little appreciation of a man who spent some time in his formative years working with Eric Gill (another of our heroes, Gill Sans et al). Stone’s work is more widespread than you might think; he engraved the coat of arms seen on a British passport, created the lettering for masthead of The Economist and designed the font Minerva. Bravo.

Minerva I

Perched on the clifftops our intrepid reporter snapped this not so gleaming vessel moored up in a sheltered bay. Are these the first spy shots of another addition to All Leisure’s growing fleet of cruise ships we ask ourselves?

No, we reasoned, more likely a dreadful case of ‘passing off’. If you call your tanker ‘Minerva’ the crew are less likely to mutiny when asked to spend weeks moored in the Channel waiting for the oil price to rise before unloading the precious cargo. They’ll be expecting small ship cruising, country house style!