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Winner of the Florence Nightingale award

Lots of good entries to the Florence Nightingale award. When asked the best (most ridiculous/famous/notorious) person you have shaken hands with at one removed, Chris gave us this:

Ted Heath gets me Saddam Hussein and Hermann Goering

But the winner is Frank Upton:

I shook hands with Dr Ian Paisley, who has shaken hands with God

His prize is a fabulous, you have to see it to believe it, Tom Vilsack for President in 2008 thong.

Florence Nightingale Award - update

I've just remembered that I have shaken hands with George Galloway who has shaken hands with Saddam Hussein.

The Florence Nightingale Award

Right. Time for another competition. This one? The Florence Nightingale Award.

I want to know the best person you can think of who has shaken the hand of someone you have shaken hands with.

Best, incidentally, need not describe their moral worth. I mean notable/funny/powerful/famous etc. There are extra points if you take an interesting route to your destination. If you have shaken hands with someone like the Queen or Bill Clinton you need to have an imaginative idea and provide me with the best person that they have shaken hands with.

Here are a couple of my own entries:

• When I was a little boy, I shook hands with a man who, as a little boy, had shaken hands with Florence Nightingale.
• I have shaken hands with Henry Kissinger who shook hands with Chairman Mao.
• I have met Ron Silver (Bruno) who has shaken hands with President Bartlett

I have been playing this game informally for years. My favourite entry? Seb Coe said that he had shaken hands with Jesse Owens, who didn't shake hands with Hitler.

To enter, post a comment or email on commentcentral@thetimes.co.uk.

(UPDATE: I can get to Saddam via...)