The French veteran Sylvain Chavanel, on what may well be his final Tour, was the first of several opportunist riders to mount a challenge after one lone banner-waving protester was lucky to avoid causing serious injury to himself and others by wandering out in front of the peloton as they approached the stage's sharp end.
But it seems just as plausible now to regard him, in Shakespearean terms, as a comic figure, who endures all manner of slips and humiliations to remain alive and standing, smiling, on stage at journey's end.
The letter published today is signed by the American Geophysical Union, eLife, EMBO, Hindawi, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, the Public Library of Science, and the Royal Society the latter began mandating used of ORCID IDs as of 1 January but the rest have just pledged to reach that stage by year's end.
Shaw made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played the murderer Wyndham Brandon in Patrick Hamilton's stage thriller, Rope's End; although he played the role in New York, he was passed over when the show moved to London.
The concept of the tour was to feature the performers on opposite ends of the stage, with Gaga's end representing "home and humble beginnings" and West's end representing "the fame," with the two fighting for each other's positions throughout the show.
The "sets," intimate, whimsical and heavy on the wordplay, delighted the (relatively) small crowds of people who decided to post up at the GastroMagic stage, nestled in between the main Land's End stage and ChocoLands (a group of festival stands that served only chocolate-flavored desserts. Told you this music festival was a must for food lovers).
The blood-substitute that floods the stage near the play's end is gruesome and extreme, but would be routine and more believable in a movie.
Fans swarmed the stage at the show's end, tearing off keepsakes and trying out the six-foot-tall chairs fashioned after Coke cans.
Re "Kidney Disease, an Underestimated Killer" (Personal Health, July 16): For those with kidney failure, Congress delivered some relief in 1972 by enacting Medicare's End Stage Renal Disease benefit.
By the show's end, stage furniture strewn and mic-stand broken, Gilbert has burst blood vessels for our pleasure; here's hoping success does nothing to diminish his mock-heroic rage.
