Have you heard of Nicholas Swarbrick? I hadn’t until I read his obituary in today’s paper.

Yet his passing marks the end of an era – or at least its last moments. Mr Swarbrick was one of Britain’s last surviving veterans of the Great War. He died aged 107 last week.

How many more times will we read an obituary of someone born in the 19th century? The march of time moves relentlessly on.