"Jump in tinsel tits and grab yourself a Yorkie"

Further proof that Evan Davis has been a breath of fresh air on the Today programme (Radio 4) came with his piece on today's programme in which he set out to see if hitch-hiking was still viable by attempting to hitch-hike to Bournemouth.
One can't imagine John Humphreys, Ed Stourton or Jim Naughtie undertaking such an assignment.

In the case of Jim Naughtie, a 10 mile queue of traffic would have built up while he was asking a driver the question........"most people would say that your presence on the southbound carriageway is evidence that you are heading in a southerly direction and, assuming that is indeed the case, and given the fact that all the evidence would point to the fact that you have spare passenger capacity in your vehicle, would it be unreasonable to suggest that you might be minded to offer me a lift to Bournemouth which, as you and most listeners will know is a popular resort on the south coast of England and which, of course, was written about so memorably by John Betjeman......I'm going to have to hurry you because we're almost out of time."

This was rather a spurious experiment by Evan because many people will have recognised him from his TV appearances. There will have been truckers eager to engage Evan in conversation:

"That post-endogenous classical growth theory. What's that all about then?"

"That Peter Jones on Dragons' Den. He's well up 'imself, innit. Smug prick."

"Have you really got nipple rings? The wife's just had her belly button done. Silly bitch."

It's not known whether Evan's boyfriend knew that he was spending yesterday standing by the roadside smiling hopefully at lorry drivers. But that tell-tale aroma of diesel and the pocketful of Yorkie bars might have been a clue.