milk, then hang it on a nail ready for subsequent use. In the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series (against Australia) at the Oval, Derek Pringle counted that he used the same bag for all five days, which roughly equates to 100 cups. For lunch, Russell would eat two Weetabix, soaked for exactly fifteen minutes in cold milk. He was one of the first to eat bananas on the field of play at drinks break. For dinner, steak and chips or chicken without skin was a favourite meal – Russell once spent every night of a Test at a Chinese restaurant in Perth, ordering chicken and cashews: without the cashews. He also insisted on always wearing the same battered old flowerpot sunhat during his time out in the field, a constant companion from his debut in 1981 to his last game in 2004. Russell lined up the ball with the specially cut back rim, but it ended up rather worn out. Only his wife Aileen was allowed to repair it, while Russell carried an emergency repair kit of cotton thread and rubber. Its state of age and hence apparent disrepair caused more than one argument with the authorities. Russell refused to wear the official coloured one-day sunhat in South Africa, with a compromise only reached when it was agreed the hat was indeed coloured because it was an off-grey. On one occasion in the West Indies, Russell placed it in an oven to dry; a few minutes later the hat was overbaked and caught fire, and was only just rescued from total incineration – the top collapsed like puff pastry on removal. Russell has stated his desire that his hands be amputated after his death, and preserved in formaldehyde. Art Although not studying art at school, he had an interest in art, expressed at an early age through diorama railway modelling. During a rainy early-season county cricket game at Worcestershire, while sitting waiting for the rain to stop, he walked into town and bought a sketch-pad and some pencils. When England toured Pakistan in 1987, Russell had two days' cricket in a six-week tour, so kept his mind sane through sketching and photography. On return to the UK, he displayed 40 sketches in a gallery in Bristol, which sold out in two days. Russell now has his own gallery in Chipping Sodbury, and exhibits in London, displaying a portfolio