Twenty years ago yesterday, Slappy Squirrel was introduced to America as "the crankiest of creatures in the whole wide world". The next day, however, another contender entered the race: Marty Crane! That's right, today marks the twentieth anniversary of the début of another excellent television programme, Frasier! This day twenty years ago, a Thursday, NBC donated an extra minute of airtime to their new programme, a decidedly generous move to help the teams at Grub Street and Paramount avoid a last-minute rewrite!

There'll be no drawing today, but my mind's eye is currently trying to show me Slappy Squirrel in Marty Crane's chair, something which I might commit to paper by Friday...