When I told Richard Dawkins that his term, ‘meme’ which he coined in 1976, had been appropriated by the digerati, and that they had forgotten its origins in biology in general and with him in particular, he jumped up and said ‘Bloody Hell!” Then he smiled.

The father of the meme is very much alive and kicking. This week, he is on a luxurious riverboat on the Rhine, and I got to sit next to him at dinner last night.