Poet Alan Gilbert brought up another potential calendar conflict, interrupting himself during his own poem to ask the crowd about the relationship between the phrase "midnight madness, " used in his poem, and the nickname of the NCAA basketball tournament, March Madness.

WSJ: Celebrating a Decade of the Believer

The newspaper reported the firm had made preliminary inquiries about an offer, but was not as far through the process as the other potential bidder brought to light by Mr Spowart.

BBC: Lloyds TSB to detail HBOS offer