In Memoriam

I was looking at the BBC's most-read stories of 2009, and I especially loved the caption written for Natasha Richardson's photo. "Vanessa Redgrave's daughter was married to actor Liam Neeson." They didn't even mention her name! Wow, even in death she lives in her family members' shadows. That caption probably represented 20 years of therapy in Natasha's life.

[And I know they mentioned her name to the left in the body of the text, but usually people label photos with people's names. Hell, someone could think she was Ashley Cole (who is actually a male), a member of that cricket team, one of the teachers, etc. You think most people actually know what Natasha Richardson looks like?!]

MARCH

March offered little in light relief, until the end of the month at least. First, gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team near the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing six police escorts and a driver.

Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole was arrested for being drunk and disorderly after swearing at police officers.

Vanessa Redgrave's daughter was married to actor Liam Neeson

A teenage gunman killed 15 people on a rampage at a school in south-west Germany, including nine pupils and three teachers.

Then, actress Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident in Canada.

But the mood was lifted by the most clicked on story of the month, which raised smiles and possibly a few pilots' eyebrows.

An 18-year-old secretly painted a 60ft penis on the roof of his parents' £1m Berkshire mansion. It was there for a year before they found out.