Anyone who read William Mayne’s “Chorister Series” will know today as the Feast of the Holy Motorists — that is St Simon and St Jude, AA. Of course the AA does not refer to the Automobile Association but is simply an abbreviation for Apostles. However, it is a feast day that sticks in my brain particularly because of that joke in Cathedral Wednesday.

Jude was martyred by axe (or club) and is the patron saint of lost causes, Simon was martyred at the same time, cut in two by a saw. He is patron of leather workers and sawyers.

They are joined together today because on this day in the 7th century, a church was dedicated to their memory having recently found their relics.