Some Spectator readers may recall the rather charming story of the small local newspaper in West Cork which took on the might of the Russian empire. In September 1898, following Tsar Nicolas II’s success in securing a warm water base for the Russian navy in the south China sea, a thunderous editorial warned the expansionist ruler that: ‘The Skibbereen Eagle Is Watching You!’

Whether this suitably chastened the Tsar is, sadly, lost to history.