I spoke with Mr Baumel, socially for instance, on a few occasions.

He carries on two conversations actively, about completely unrelated subjects, and can speak with authority on any of them in turn. And he’s listening to another conversation so if economics of late Sumeria or gauges of railways in Europe vs China get boring to him, he can ditch one and talk about artwork of early Iceland as vikings adapted their style with the change in local materials; or something.

It’s dizzying to hear. He’s just not on our level.