Concerning sparrows in Ethiopia, more than one Alma in Wisconsin, and William Langley in Port Stanley. — For The Emigre
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged beards, berries, birds, Cameroon, death, dogs, Ethel Smyth, Ethiopia, facts, fleas, government, Guinness, intelligence, Moondog, music, Nelson Evening Mail, news, patriotism, publishing, rivers, Rome, Russians, satire, sex, Shantha Bandara, Sri Lanka, Stanley, TE Lawrence, The Emigre, the sea, typos, William Langley, Wisconsin, women
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The odd (and possibly inconsequential) story of Pepys’s portrait, his song, and his relationship with Mrs Knepp. — For The Critic
Filed in feature, Journalism
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Also tagged composition, Elizabeth Knepp, fire, friends, health, John Hayls, music, National Portrait Gallery, Oliver Cromwell, opera, Pelham Humfrey, portraits, Royal Navy, Samuel Pepys, sex, The Athenaeum, The Critic, the Royal Society, William Davenant, women
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. The Paris Louvre is in future to be guarded by watch-dogs. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, July 13 1908 . The human population has almost doubled since we landed on the Moon. Genital preferences are transphobic. The third umpire will have the final say on the snatch. It is against the rules to take a […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Adolf Hitler, anatomy, Argentina, babies, Bertha, business, cell-phones, chewing gum, coconuts, cricket, death, dogs, drink, education, Florence, German, girls, Greeks, history, humans, lambs, law, Nelson Evening Mail, newspapers, Paris, philosophy, satire, Stalin, the Louvre, the moon, West Sussex, wisdom, writing
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Trailer for the ‘new’ and ‘improved’, all-singing-no-dancing, NEWS AT A GLANCE – coming soon to a Queen Mob’s Tea House near you! — For Queen Mob’s Tea House
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged air travel, America, anthems, Austria, children, death, Donald Trump, Dutch, Hinduism, Johannesburg, marriage, Nelson Evening Mail, New Zealand, Queen Mob's Tea House, satire, sleep, translation
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. We call our day 24 hours, but it is really 23 hours 56 minutes 5 seconds. — The Nelson Evening Mail, September 28 1906 . ‘Facetious’ is the shortest word in the English language including all the vowels in alphabetical order. The English theatre loves the joker. Samuel Beckett notched up 35 runs in first-class cricket. UK funeral directors are […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged America, anatomy, baking, californium, comedy, cricket, death, education, English, fishing, funeral directors, gun violence, JR Ewing, mackerel, men, money, murder, music, Nelson Evening Mail, republicanism, Ross Brown, Samuel Beckett, the pentatonic scale, the UK, theatre, time, torture, Uzbekistan, vowels, weather, work
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Wednesday, April 18, 2018
This weekend I will be joining a local choral society for their performance of Haydn’s The Creation – and what better way to welcome Spring now that it’s finally arrived. An avowed and much-loved masterpiece from its earliest performances – Vienna, 1798 – ‘whose appeal [I read from A Peter Brown’s DECCA sleeve-notes] was irresistible […]
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged A Peter Brown, Aled Jones, army, bassoons, Beethoven, Chapel Royal, choral societies, Christianity, cosmology, cricket, DECCA, German, Germans, Hampton Court, Handel, Haydn, Italians, Kent, King James, Maidstone, Milton, music, Napoleon, oratorio, Oxford University, Poetry, religion, school, sheep, Spring, the Bible, the Church of England, the French, The Oldie, the Oxford Spezzati, tigers, Vienna, war, West Kensington, whales, worms
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Tuesday, December 12, 2017
A festive gripe about Cornelius’s lovely ‘Three Kings‘ – and the solo I have never got to sing in it. — For The Oldie
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged Alexandra Coghlan, All Saints Maidstone, baritones, barristers, Bayreuth, BBC Books, carols, cellos, Christmas, Christmas Badger Singers, English, Franz Liszt, Gerald Finley, German, Germans, girlfriends, Hampton Court, HN Bate, Ivor Atkins, King's College London, Knightsbridge, men, music, Oxford University, Peter Cornelius, Radio 3, silk, Smarden, Southwark Cathedral, Sri Lanka, The Judd School, The Oldie, translation, University of St Andrews, YouTube
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Monday, November 20, 2017
. More than 6000 editions of the “Imitation of Christ”, ascribed to Thomas a Kempis, have been issued in the past 400 years. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 21 1907 . The record for the fastest hole in golf is 32.7 seconds. Acres of quiet farmland set a peaceful scene. ‘Bert’ is like a […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged agriculture, air travel, anatomy, Athens, chocolate, Christianity, diplomacy, education, elephant, golf, Hector, Iran, London, maniacs, money, music, Muslims, Nelson Evening Mail, Nobel Prize for Literature, nomenclature, nurses, publishing, reality, religion, security, sex, Smooth Radio, Special Air Service, Sri Lanka, Tarjei Vesaas, the Sinhalese, Thomas á Kempis, WWE
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Monday, November 13, 2017
. Throughout Denmark there is not one person over 10 years of age who cannot read or write. — The Nelson Evening Mail, September 4 1906 . There is a whale whose voice is too low to communicate with other whales. Seatbelts do not statistically improve your chances of surviving a car accident. London’s Mithraic temple is […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged accidents, advertising, Aeneas, anatomy, archaeology, Aung San Suu Kyi, Basque, Bell's, Bloomberg, cars, Christmas, cliché, criticism, Daniel O'Donnell, Dante, Denmark, drink, education, Euclid, Facebook, finance, humans, John Lewis, law, limbo, London, maths, Missouri, Mithras, music, Myanmar, Nelson Evening Mail, Nicholas Lezard, Nobel Peace Prize, nomenclature, philosophy, Poetry, politics, religion, sex, the West, traditions, whales, whisky, women
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Saturday, October 14, 2017
From deer park to gun park… . Sixteen years ago, American and British forces hurled themselves into Afghanistan the same week I arrived at Magdalen College, Oxford. I didn’t give them much thought – although the ‘War on Terror’ was immediately everywhere. I had an Egyptology degree to get to grips with; and choral evensong […]
Filed in feature, Journalism
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Also tagged Afghanistan, army, education, Frank Ledwidge, George MacDonald Fraser, Honourable Artillery Company, Max Boot, me, Oxford University, TE Lawrence, The Oldie, war, Yorkshire
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