Never smile at a crocodile

The association of the crocodile with the Cavendish Laboratory comes from Peter Pan and Ernest Rutherford who was the director of the Cavendish for many years. Rutherford apparently had a great booming voice so you knew he was coming long before he turned up just like the way J.M. Barrie's crocodile's presence was prefaced by the tick of the alarm clock it had swallowed.


Tick...tick...tick...