IT was the pun what dun it - Ales Angels. I saw the T-shirt and could not resist talking to the bloke inside it who turned out to be Graham Chaddock, not surprisingly slurping a pint in the Five Lions, Walmgate.

Along with three drinking chums, Sid Scott, Jim Hardie and Steve Morrison, Graham is all geared up for their coast-to-coast sponsored charity bike ride from Galway to Dublin on Tuesday.

"We have already done England and Scotland coast to coast runs and we fancied a few pints of genuine Guinness so where better than Ireland were the liquid gold was first mined by leprachauns?"

The four amigos' first charity ride raised £800, the second £1,400 and this time with your help they are hoping to raise even more for the Lidgett Grove Special Needs School just off Boroughbridge Road in York.

The lads are regulars at the Blue Bell in Fossgate where Jim Hardie is the landlord.

Graham says: "We decided to have fun, - and a few pints, at our own expense mark you - for charity and knew we would need a snappy name to clinch sponsorship cash. So Ales Angels it was... and is."

He says the Galway to Dublin ride is about 180 miles "give or take a few pubs" and they expect the trip to take about three days "give or take a few pints."

If you want to sponsor the intrepid drinkers - oops, sorry, riders - ring Graham or Jim at the Blue Bell on 01904 654904.

They are such a caring lot at the tiny pub, since last October regulars have raised more than £1,700 for various local charities.

More power to their elbows.

u IF your hound's gnashers are white unto glowing then at least the postman is in for a healthier bite. This strange two-headed toothbrush arrived in my post along with a rubber thimble with knobbly bits. This, I learned, was the ultimate toothbrush for dogs. (The floppy thimble-thingy is for finger brushing Fido's fangs).

It was all by way of trying to sell me Primary Direct pet insurance and a reminder that more than 80 per cent of pooches show some signs of gum disease by the age of five (just 70 per cent of cats who, oddly, prefer plain crisps as tid bits.) This promotion is to drill into owners that not all pet insurance policies are the same.

Some extract vital components from the policy leaving pet owners with gaping holes in their cover.

So chew over investing in a policy that won't put the bite on your finances or leave your mutt down in the mouth.

u I WAS honoured to be among the thousands of journalists from all over the world who covered Yorkatt and Eric's press conference at Lawrence Street's premier watering hole, the Waggon and Horses.

It was called to mark more than four hundred 'hits' on their new web site www.yorkatt.com within just ten days of launching.

As the world's press scrambled over tables to get a better view of the furry felines who feature every week on the facing page as drawn by Wolf, the pairs' spokesmog, Yorkatt, said he would like to say a few words.

"A few words" said Yorkatt before being drowned out by thunderous applause.

Specially invited to this prestigious event was newlywed Chris Evans and his teen bride Billie Piper, Cherie Blair, Noel Edmonds, George Formby, Richard Branson, Mick Jagger and Yorkatt's elderly Uncle Darryl.

Sadly none were able to attend owing to previous engagements.

I know this is a bit of a plug but after all, Yorkatt is ours and... it keeps the Wolf from my door.

u SIR Alan Ayckbourn has turned trendy with the titles for his latest plays at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. "I've got 'logoised'," says the Scarborough playwright, by way of explanation for calling his brace of premieres GamePlan and FlatSpin rather than plain old Game Plan and Flat Spin.

"I used to pluck titles off the shelf and so I think I've written more plays than anyone else with titles that people forget! Now I write the plays first and come up with the titles afterwards, so that they reflect the play and also make you take note of them - and I always want people to look at things."

Hence GamePlan and FlatSpin, but the playwright definitely remains Alan Ayckbourn not AlanAyckbourn.

u THE Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some recent winners:

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of sex.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

u IN a landslide victory, the blackbird was today elected top UK songster by the nations' birdlovers, I can exclusively reveal. At the end of a frantic week of electioneering, Turdus Merula has beaten its closest rival the song thrush by polling a massive 44 per cent of the vote in the first 'favourite birdsong poll' conducted by the RSPB.

More than 35,000 visitors logged on to the conservation charity's website each day during the polling, which was carried out as part of the RSPB's first Wake Up To Birds week.

At the count, it was a disastrous night for the once-popular nightingale, which is now kicking it's heels around Berkley Square in third place. But it was a good night for the smaller parties, and wren surprised a lot of 'experts' by beating robin to fifth place. It seems that the redbreast, while most popular with younger voters, has lost much of its traditional heartland support.

Political pundits commented that the margin of the blackbird's victory has raised fears that we are in danger of becoming a one-birdsong state.

The resounding win diappointed many RSPB staff, whose favourite feathered friend was the unfancied skylark. Here's the full results, in percentages:

Blackbird - 44

Song thrush - 17

Nightingale - 14

Skylark -12

Wren - 7

Robin - 6