For most of the cold war, Mr Pipes was a lonely ploughman.

ECONOMIST: Sovietology

It struck me as a lonely odyssey, but Mr. Boss says he has plenty of support, starting with Phil Schrader, editor and publisher of the Sovereign, a small circulation monthly specializing in news about the surveillance state and UFOs.

WSJ: And a Chicken in Every Pot

That "horn" is the trumpet with which Mr. Alpert climbed the pop charts first with "The Lonely Bull, " the garage recording he made in 1962 after hearing the sounds of a Mexican bullfight, followed by a string of singles in the '60s with his band, the Tijuana Brass.

WSJ: Cultural Conversation: Herb Alpert

Mr Herring said the most common issue they found was people who were lonely or had been left behind by friends.

BBC: Guernsey Street Life Pastors aim to cut crime

But as Mr Brown is already discovering, and will discover more over the next few years, it can also be lonely.

ECONOMIST: Gordon Brown, the lonely chancellor