BEACHCOMBER 108 YEARS OLD AND STILL YAKKITY-YAKKING...

YAKS, I am horrified to report, have not graced this column for 18 years. I deeply apologise to our yak-loving readers for this omission and also to International Olympic Committee for whom I have harboured a yak-related grudge all that time. I shall explain this in a moment but should first attempt to mitigate my offence by pointing out that Charles Darwin ignored yaks even more than I have.

- 

Darwin’s Origin Of Species was published in 1859, which was more than 60 years after the word “yak” first appeared in English, yet he did not give them a single mention.