Saturday, August 14, 2021
or; Acts of settlement A brief investigation of the first few Falklands conflicts . A few months back, my family and I took advantage of the Falkland Islands Government’s TRIP scheme (a Covid-era measure to help stimulate internal tourism) and booked a flight to Saunders Island, one of the largest of the 770-odd ‘other’ islands […]
Conundrum by Jan Morris Ukemi Audiobooks read by Roy McMillan . Born in 1926, into Anglo-Welsh upper-middle comfort, James Humphry Morris was educated at Christ Church, Lancing, and Christ Church again, served in the dashing 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers during WWII, climbed much of Everest and broke the news of Hillary and Tenzing’s successful 1953 […]
Also filed in review
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Tagged Adolf Eichmann, audiobooks, cabbies, cars, Casablanca, class, gender, identity, in-laws, Jan Morris, Journalism, Lancing College, memoir, men, Mount Everest, Oxford, Perspective, Roy McMillan, Suez, surgery, the Olympics, the Queen's Royal Lancers, transsexuals, travel, women, writing, WWII
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On becoming the Breakfast Show host on Falklands Radio .‘Are you an early bird? Do you love music? Do you enjoy interacting with members of the public?’ Well, no; yes – but with major caveats; and, er, not in most cases, honestly. ‘If so, Falklands Radio may have the perfect job for you.’ Oh, well. […]
Notes on the life (and afterlife) of JS Mill, philosopher . The classical liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill was born and died this month – in, respectively, 1806 and 1873 – and in between he wrote (or co-wrote, with his wife, and then his step-daughter) On Liberty, Utilitarianism, Principles of Political Economy, Considerations of Representative Government, […]
Also filed in correspondence
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Tagged Amazon Kindle, Avignon, Bertrand Russell, bookshops, champagne, Charles Darwin, Colombo, death, Dilsiri Welikala, economics, education, Edward 'Clerihew' Bentley, Eliza Jarvis, Falkland Islands Radio Service, finance, Florence Nightingale, France, Frederick Langmead, furniture, GF Watts, Greek, Harriet Taylor Mill, health, Helen Taylor, Homer, housing, India, James Mill, Jean-Henri Fabre, Jeremy Bentham, John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Journalism, Joy Lo Dico, Kalpitiya, Latin, Matt RIdley, medicine, Millicent Fawcett, Monty Python, obituaries, philosophy, politics, Rupert Jarvis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sri Lanka, the Chapman brothers, the East India Company, the Falklands, the London Stereoscopic Company, The Spectator, The Times, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, Tom Holland, UCL, Utilitarianism, Vernon Bogdanor, Westminster, women, writing
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Review of Alexandria: the Quest for the Lost City, by Edmund Richardson. — For The Spectator
Also filed in review
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Tagged Afghanistan, Alexander (‘the Great’), Alexander Burnes, army, Bagram, Bamiyan, Bengal, Bombay, books, Buddhism, Charles Masson, China, Edmund Richardson, Harappa, India, Josiah Harlan, Kabul, Kharosthi, London, Macedonia, non-fiction, Pakistan, spies, the British Museum, the East India Company, the Great Game, the Hindu Kush, The Spectator, tigers, war, William Loveday
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Review of Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard. — For Geographical
Confessions of a bibliomaniac in the South Atlantic. — For The Critic
Also filed in correspondence
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Tagged Alan Hollinghurst, Amazon, Angela Carter, Antarctica, Anthony Burgess, Anthony Farrar-Hockley, Antoine de St Exupéry, Bernard MacLaverty, Bernard Malamud, books, bookshopping, Brendan Whittington-Jones, Charing Cross Rd, charity shops, Charlotte McConaghy, Christopher Hitchens, Covid-19, Damon Runyan, Daniel Defoe, Dave Bentley, Don DeLillo, Flann O'Brien, FOPP, Freya Stark, Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Geoff Dyer, George Melly, Goethe, Google Maps, Gore Vidal, Graham Greene, Graham Swift, Harold Nicolson, Henry Kissinger, Ian Fleming, Jack Grimwood, James Clammer, James Hilton, James Joyce, James Kelman, James Meek, Jared Diamond, Jerome K Jerome, JG Ballard, JG Farrell, Jim Crace, John Julius Norwich, John le Carré, John Steinbeck, Joseph O'Connor, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut, Laurence Sterne, libraries, Maria Stepanova, Michael Blencowe, Milan Kundera, Mordecai Richler, museums, Oxfam, Patricia Highsmith, Penelope Lively, Peter Høeg, Philip Roth, Rabelais, Richard Flanagan, Rupert Everett, Salman Rushdie, Schopenhauer, Seth Burkett, Shalom Auslander, Sri Lanka, The Critic, the Falklands, the Lonely Planet, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Keneally, Thomas Mann, TS Eliot, Umberto Eco, Uruguay, William Faulkner, William Golding, William Thackeray
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An ancient livery company celebrates St George’s Day and a year of successful ‘virtual’ operation in the teeth of Covid-19 . A year ago today, around the swelteringest part of the Sri Lankan year, I clambered to the roof of our apartment building in Colombo, donned my lairiest tropical shirt, cracked a Lion ‘larger’, and, […]
Interview with members of the George Formby Society, as they attempt to break an online ukulele-playing record. — For The Critic
Also filed in feature, interview
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Tagged Alastair Cook, America, army, Australia, banjos, Batley, BBC, Bette Davis, bingo, Blackpool, Canada, Covid-19, cricket, Cyprus, dating, Ed Balls, Facebook, Falkland Islands Radio Service, France, Frank Skinner, friends, George Formby, German, Germany, grandmothers, Guinness, Gyles Brandreth, Harry HIll, Hawaii, Humphrey Bogart, Italy, jellyfish, lyrics, mental health, music, naturism, nuclear power, proletarians, Queen Elizabeth II, records, Royal Albert Hall, Russia, Simon Rose, smut, Swahili, The Critic, The Daily Telegraph, the George Formby Society, the Queen Mother, the RAF, Tottenham, ukuleles, Warrington Museum, Welsh, windows, WWII, Yorkshire, Zoom
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From the submarine service to the world’s southernmost post office: Q&A with dentist Sally Owen, in the sub-Antarctic. — For The Critic
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Tagged Antarctica, British Antarctic Survey, British Army, dentistry, Port Lockroy, Royal Navy, Sally Owen, Stanley, The Critic, the Falklands, travel, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, work
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