Ray sat in the restaurant of a local hotel, eating an evening meal with his friend Fred Undercliff, a lecturer at the local university and an authority on the history of the area. The two men were the same age and had known each other for more than twenty years. They finished their main course and talked as they waited for desserts.
"What do you know about the history of the Celts around here, Fred?" Ray asked. "They were an Iron Age people, but I don"t really know much more than that."
Ray"s comment wasn’t strictly truthful. He’d read many books on the Celts, but he hoped his feigned ignorance would draw more information from his friend than if he claimed to have some knowledge.
Fred smiled. "I"ve got to sing for my supper, have I?"
"You can always pay for it!"
They laughed, before F
