Every time I listen to ‘The Planets’ it strikes me strongly that the very last few bars of ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’ sound, more than almost any other piece of music I know, as if they ought to be the fanfare that introduces a TV news programme.

With any luck, one day, humanity will spread across the solar system and colonise the various moons of Jupiter. When that happens, if they do TV news broadcasts local to the Jovian subsystem, I really do hope they use that snippet as the signature fanfare.

‘And now, over to the studio desk for the weather. Jason?’

‘Thank you, Dennis. Well, the Great Red Spot is particularly active today, with wind speeds reaching a bracing 300 mph, so if anyone in that region was contemplating taking a shortcut through Jupiter's atmosphere I recommend staying at home instead…’