SOMEWHERE in the depths of rural Mongolia, a horse gallops proud and free. His name? Selby.

The stallion was named after the town by its MP John Grogan when he visited the country last month.

As well as being the champion of British beer, Mr Grogan is a top man in the Commons All Party Mongolia Group. This interest dates back to his time working for Leeds council: it transpires the Burton clothing group in the city relied heavily on Mongolian cashmere.

Despite being neighbours with China and Russia, Mongolia has been a democracy since 1992 after Russia pulled out.

Officials invited Mr Grogan to oversee fair play at its latest election, which was won by the left wing Mongolian Revolutionary People's Party.

"It's not very New Labour," confessed John.

During a lull in the election, he was taken into the remote countryside.

"I slept in a ger, a nomadic tent," he tells the Diary. "A nomad gave me a horse which he invited me to ride and name.

"I named it Selby. Even though I am a racing fan I can't ride a horse so one of the Mongolian officials rode it for me."

But he resisted the temptation to bring Selby home. "I don't quite know if I would have been able to fit it into my luggage."

That said, Mongolian mounts "are smaller than horses we race on the Knavesmire. They're small and stocky, and their ancestors swept across most of the known world under Ghengis Khan."

The locals have promised to send John a picture of Selby once he grows his winter coat. He is also tipped as a potential champion in the Summer Games. "The jockeys are little lads of eight or nine years old. It's not like one-and-a-half miles at York, but 30 or 40km."

John said it was a great honour to be given the horse. So it is for the whole of Selby, forever linked with outer Mongolia.

NOW to fulfil our threat to present more of Tony Blackburn's thoughts.

He was on the blower to the Diary to promote Nestl Rowntree's revived Seventies sweetmeat the Texan Bar. They are hoping it will prove more popular than a Texan president.

These days Tony DJs for the Classic Gold radio station and promotes GMTV competitions with Keith Chegwin in the guise of The Clues Brothers. To meet this tough brief, the pair are soon being flown to Florida to swim with dolphins. No doubt the dolphins will receive counselling afterwards.

"We are both very childish, so what we are doing for GMTV is what we do anyway," said Tony, who has worked with Cheggers on the radio before.

What are his thoughts on modern Radio 1, changed beyond recognition from the station he launched in the Sixties?

"I listened to it the other day. I thought it was very good. It's moved with the times."

Today's breakfast star is Chris Moyles. "He's appealing to different fans," said Tony. "Some of the stuff he does I don't quite understand."

He was particularly miffed when Moyles burped on air. "I was driving my daughter back from school. She was appalled by that.

"I met him later and asked, 'why did you do that? It's not funny or clever'. He said, 'I don't know, I didn't think about it.'"

Updated: 09:41 Wednesday, September 07, 2005