Curiouser and curiouser.

Tulkinghorn was struck by the bizarre coincidence on the eve of Peter Cornell's election as the new chief executive officer at Clifford Chance. A keen reader of this illustrious publication felt obliged to point out that as Cornell was being voted in, there was a film being shown on BBC1 starring Dennis Quaid. Quaid plays a character called – you guessed it – Peter Cornell. And the name of the film: DOA, which means dead on arrival. Our avid reader writes: “I hope that's not a sign…” Indeed.