Table Talk: Boulestin, London, SW1 | The Sunday Times

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Table Talk: Boulestin, London, SW1

Atmosphere ** Food ****

AA Gill Published: 20 October 2013

Boulestin’s artichoke salad Boulestin’s artichoke salad (James French)

Nominative determinism is the serendipity of having your name choose your job for you. As in the oft-quoted article from the Magazine of the Institute of Urologists written by Messrs Splatt and Weedon. Nobody remembers what they wrote about; it was never going to be as interesting as their names.

Jung pondered telltale names in his paper on synchronicity, noting the totemic augury of naming. He pointed out that it applied to psychiatrists. He was Young and had proposed the theory of rebirth, though you and I might think it a depressing joke that Freud translates as joy.

The legal profession is full of name-calling: Fiona Shackleton the divorce lawyer, Baron Judge who was a judge. I chose my literary agent because he’s called Ed Victor. You wouldn’t want to be represented by Ed Compromise. You know that Eric Pickles was never destined to be a limbo-dancer. India Knight was

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