The Professor is Pursued by a Robot

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I have often urged the Professor to cast a little light upon some of the less documented periods of his life. Eventually one Tuesday afternoon last spring, as he sipped a cup of particularly doubtful Lapsang Souchong, he recalled a quite unexpected episode of many years ago: 

“I must confess that there was a disturbing period of approximately 3 weeks in which I was pursued by a robot. At the time I was attempting to publish my now-famous and, dare I say, groundbreaking paper entitled ‘Formidophobia in the Sermons of the Reverend Mawkin Barcarole’. I was so unnerved by this paranormal episode that publication was delayed by some months. I surreptitiously took this photograph at the time.”

Pursued by a Robot

I studied this image for several minutes before venturing to suggest:

“Forgive me Professor, but I can't help noticing a striking resemblance between the robot in this photograph and Professor Atrabilious of Kirmond le Mire University, dressed in a ludicrous costume. Professor Atrabilious is, I believe, the author of the popular paperback published around that time, ‘Bats in the Belfry: A Life of the Reverend Mawkin Barcarole’, ”

The Professor considered the photograph for some time before going on: “You may be correct but, in defence of dear old Atrabilious, who amongst us has not considered how an unconnected circuit board glued to our head might not improve our appeal to the opposite sex?”

Who indeed?


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