Crime-fiction connections can be found in the strangest places

I spent the weekend in Sheringham on the Norfolk coast and for the first time ventured into the Shell Gallery. It turns out shell art is not to my taste, but the Minor Offences (aged 5 and 6) absolutely loved the collection and were inspired to spend the afternoon collecting seashells on the beach. The attendant was a very nice person and helped them out with advice on colouring.

The crime-fiction link? The shell artist who created the collection, Peter Coke, portrayed Francis Durbridge’s Paul Temple between 1954 and 1968, the seventh actor to play the sleuth. He was something of a polymath – actor, playwright, antique dealer and finally shell artist.