…Professor Gordon Claridge, of the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, studied personality questionnaires filled in by 523 comedians (404 men and 119 women) from the UK, US and Australia.

“We found that comedians had a rather unusual personality profile, which was rather contradictory,” Prof Claridge says.

“On the one hand, they were rather introverted, depressive, rather schizoid, you might say. And on the other hand, they were rather extroverted and manic.

“That was a rather unusual profile. The actors we compared them with didn’t show that, and this was highly significantly different from the norms on the test.

“Possibly the comedy – the extroverted side – is a way of dealing with the depressive side. Of course, this is not true of all comedians.”

Laughing to cope

It is not. Not every comedian has difficulties, and depression is far from particular to creative personalities.

Depression is the single biggest killer of men aged 20-49 in the UK, according to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm). It touches all corners of society…

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Several commenters in Florida have asked us to post this reminder. So here you go, for those who are interested and can make it to Tallahassee on Saturday. (apologies for the incorrect information originally posted. We’ve corrected the info below.)

Funeral Service for Bishop Stephen Jecko

In Memoriam
Bishop Stephen Jecko
January 15, 1940 – June 7, 2007

A liturgy for The Burial of the Dead and Celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Thanksgiving for the life of The Right Reverend Stephen Hays Jecko will be offered on Saturday, July 14th at 2:00 pm. at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Tallahassee. The Right Reverend Frank Cerveny and The Right Reverend John Howe, bishop of Central Florida will concelebrate and The Reverend Eric Dudley will be the preacher.

It is important to Joan Jecko that Bishop Jecko’s ashes come back to Florida for a special celebration with those who knew him well and loved him as our Bishop.

Because they were not able to have his ashes in Dallas, this will function not as a memorial service but as a funeral. A reception with the family will take place on the grounds of St. Peter’s immediately following the service.

St. Peter’s Anglican Church is located at 901 Thomasville Road , Tallahassee, Florida. For more information call St. Peter’s at 850-701-0664, or go to our website at www.saint-peters.net.

After nine years at Glasgow, he moved in 1962 to be Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York. He became known very widely and lectured all around the world. During this period he also changed his ecclesiastical allegiance and became an Anglican priest.

This was a gradual process influenced in two particular ways. In his book on spirituality he described the experience of attending the service of Benediction at the extreme Anglo-Catholic Church of St Andrew’s, Willesden Green, just after the war. From then on an Anglican Catholic spirituality began to imbue his life.

For many years he was a priest associate of the Order of the Holy Cross (an American Anglican Benedictine religious order).

The other influence was his colleague, John Knox, the New Testament theologian. Knox became convinced that episcopacy was an essential element in the continuing expression of “the Christ myth”. Knox became an Anglican, and Macquarrie followed him.

In 1968, when he had been an Anglican for only three years, Macquarrie was invited to be a consultant at the Lambeth Conference, a role he again took ten years later. In 1970 he was appointed Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford and Canon of Christ Church. After New York, he found Christ Church quaint and eccentric but attractive. He enjoyed its traditions and lifestyle. His and his wife’s friendship and hospitality were widely appreciated.

Macquarrie delivered the Gifford Lectures in 1979 and turned down the opportunity to become a bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He served on the Church of England Doctrine Commission and was often engaged in ecumenical dialogue. In his Christian Unity and Christian Diversity (1975) he argued that both were needed in the Church. He could see a place for a reformed papacy in a united Church.

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