I posted last week about my longtime client losing his wife, and so he has. I will have to go to the funeral and now I have a new challenge, because I read her death notice and discovered they have a son called Gandalf.

They have two daughters with unremarkable names, nothing literary or fanciful... and they have a son called Gandalf. 

Nobody warned me about this – well, maybe nobody else knew either. I didn't know his wife's name till she died. I never met her.

In case I have to be introduced to Gandalf I suppose it's best I've been warned. My mother had a tendency to laugh inappropriately at funerals and I don't want to follow in her footsteps.