Hurrah for Dr Johnson

Dr Samuel Johnson, patron saint of this blog, earned an honourable mention in yesterday's Independent on Sunday. Katy Guest wrote in praise of blogging as a way to quash rumours and gossip. In "What's the best way to keep a secret? Tell the world the details on your website" she wrote about a Lancashire millionaire, Gary Dean, who has published full details of his divorce settlement on his blog to stop people talking about it behind his back.

Katy Guest paraphrased Dr Johnson for the "internet age":

Samuel Johnson said: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money." This could be rewritten for the internet age. No man but a blogger ever wrote about his private life online.

I'm not sure that I quite follow the parallel here, nor I am quite happy with the suggestion that every blogger is a "blockhead" in any sense of the word, but I raised a small hurrah for my favourite quote from my favourite "harmless drudge" getting a few nanoseconds of fame.