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I recently edited an article on American place names for a magazine, and here are ten that I found particularly diverting: Intercourse, Alabama Fannie , Arkansas  (you have to be English to appreciate that one fully) Kickapoo, Illinois Dry Prong, Louisiana Beans Corner Bingo, Maine Peculiar, Missouri Bivalve, New Jersey Idiotville , Oregon Oral, South Dakota Looneyville , West Virginia Tschuh! America, eh? What is it like?   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

Foster Beach, Chicago, looking north Every morning I get up at about six o’clock and go for a fast four-mile walk. I live less than a mile from Lake Michigan, in a vibrant part of Chicago’s north-side, and there are ten things I see on my route which are daily reminders of why this is such a great place to live:  The Nicholas Senn high school, a huge and impressive building built in the classical style, with columns, pediments, pilasters, and so on. The Indian ladies in their brilliantly coloured saris, sitting on the grass by the running path on the lakefront gently rolling their shoulders around and stretching their arms while the young people race by on their bikes or in their expensive running shoes. The three old Asian women doing Tai Chi towards the rising sun. The group of fit women doing group yoga at the lake’s edge on Foster beach. The young guys playing basketball on the cement court next to the beach. The Chicago-Tibetan Friendship Centre. Big Chicks, one of C...

Thomas Kinkade (sorry, that's too easy). Julian Schnabel. Marina Abramovic. Bill Viola. Roni Horn. Jeff Koons. Takashi Murakami. Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst. However, if Damien, who is known to buy lots of contemporary art, were to shell out for some of my work, he would instantly be removed from this list and installed at the head of the other list labelled 'Greatest Living Artists and All-Round Geniuses.'   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader