I'll just mention that on the mantelpiece in her bedroom reside Boston Terrier tchotchkes of every pose and permutation.

WSJ: At 88, a World Full of Wonders

It was displayed on the mantelpiece of a New York family who had no idea of its real worth, auctioneers Sotheby's said.

BBC: NY garage $3-bowl sells for $2.2m at auction

On the mantelpiece stood a card with the telephone numbers of his closest friends, Artemis Cooper (whose biography of Fermor is being published this month) and Deborah Mitford, later the Duchess of Devonshire.

WSJ: At Home in the World

Heywood, who keeps a bust of Gandhi on his office mantelpiece, was one of the few to maintain peaceful relations between the two camps.

BBC: Profile: Jeremy Heywood - the next Cabinet Secretary

With sentiments like this, and a glittering collection of junior titles already on her mantelpiece, it is easy to see how the Radcliffe comparisons started.

BBC: 'New Paula' targets gold in 2012

He wrote so many solo dissents in his early years as a Justice, when the court was more liberal, that he kept a Lone Ranger doll on his mantelpiece.

CNN: A very public trial for a very private justice