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Tag Archives: South Africa

Year’s mind

Monday, October 12, 2020

On South Africa’s historic 1995 Rugby World Cup win, its aftermath, and the sad death of James Terence Small . On Sunday morning, the first big international rugby fixture – All Blacks vs the Wallabies – was played since Covid halted the Six Nations back in early March. This will be followed by the other […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Andre Joubert, Andrew Mehrtens, apartheid, Australia, Bledisloe Cup, Butch James, Chester Williams, Chris Hani, death, drugs, Ed Morrison, Eric Cantona, Francois Pienaar, James Small, Joel Stransky, Johannesburg, John Smit, Jonah Lomu, Jonny Wilkinson, Joost van der Westhuizen, Kent, Nelson Mandela, New Zealand, Os du Randt, parents, Paul Gascoigne, Robben Island, rugby, Rugby Championship, Rugby World Cup 1995, Sean Fitzpatrick, Six Nations, Siya Kolisi, sport, Springboks, The Critic, Tom Hardy, TV | Comments (0)

In-line, online, and where to draw the line?

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Notes on Colombo’s books and bookmen in the time of Covid-19. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged alcohol, Aleksandar Hemon, Amazon, Ashok Ferrey, B&Q, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, books, bookshops, Buddhism, Ceylon, Ceylon Bible Society, charity, China, Chuck Palahniuk, clothing, Colombo, Colombo Fashion Week, Colombo International Book Fair, construction, Covid-19, Dan Brown, David Duchovny, democracy, Denis Johnson, Donald Trump, Dr Sudath Samaraweera, Dutch Burgher Union, education, Emma Donoghue, Emmanuel Carrere, England, Eventbrite, Facebook, Galle Literary Festival, Harrods, health, hygiene, Iran, James Hadley Chase, Jilly Cooper, Kumar Sangakkara, letters, LIDL, Lt General Shavendra Silva, Malaysia, Michael Chabon, Milo, money, music, Nicholas Mosley, Nixon, Northern Ireland, novels, One Galle Face, Ottawan, Panos Karnezis, rain, religion, Robert Knox, satire, schools, Shangri-La, Shehan Karunatilaka, shopping, Sinhala, snacks, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Exhibition & Conference Centre, Tamil, TASCHEN, taxes, TGI Fridays, The Big Bad Wolf, The Critic, the internet, the Sistine Chapel, Tisara Prakasakayo, TS Eliot, tsunami, VIPs, Waterstone's, weddings, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Thusith Wijedoru

Sunday, July 12, 2020

The Sri Lankan sports photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged advertising, Alex Hales, Australia, Bangladesh, Carlsberg, Chandrishan Perera, cricket, England, Hong Kong, India, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, New Zealand, Percy Abeysekera, rugby, security, sport, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Thusith Wijedoru, Tillakaratne Dilshan, United Arab Emirates | Comments (0)

The Ones That Got Away

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Introduction to a new column on photographic misfires, beginning with my own amateur misadventures. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Antarctica, Argentina, birds, cows, England, Ethiopia, France, Gamini Jayantha Molligoda, Gundulf, in-laws, Instagram, leopards, London, phones, photography, Russia, statuary, Sunday Times (SL), technology, The Fast Show, The One That Got Away, Wilpattu | Comments (0)

Strength and honour

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

A love letter to 20 years of watching Gladiator. — For The Critic

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Alain de Botton, army, Classics, Cleopatra, Commodus, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, drink, Edward Gibbon, Facebook, film, Germans, Hans Zimmer, Harry Sidebottom, history, Holst, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Kent, Loeb Classical Library, love, Marcus Aurelius, Moravia, Morocco, music, Nick Cave, Odeon, Oxford, painting, religion, Rich Hardcastle, Ridley Scott, Rome, Royal Albert Hall, Russell Crowe, Slovakia, Spain, Suffolk, Surrey, tattoos, The Critic, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, war, YouTube | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, November 4, 2019

. The Government of India collects about £7,000,000 from the sale of opium. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Thursday, July 19 1906 . Jacob Zuma is the only black South African president never to lift the rugby world cup. At Morrisons, your opinion gets rewarded with a £500 voucher. Vegetarianism, which is based on false hypotheses and ideas, […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged basketball, blindness, Canada, CENS, children, construction, cookies, death, democracy, drugs, Dublin Zoo, fathers, fruit, government, India, Jacob Zuma, lions, Mahler, money, Morrisons, Necessity, Nelson Evening Mail, news, philosophy, property, Rugby World Cup 2019, satire, sex, the Soviet Union, trees, vegetarianism, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, April 1, 2019

. There are now about 54,000 Chinese coolies in the Transvaal gold mines. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Thursday, March 14 1907 . Los Angeles is a lousy, boring little town. A European could die there from boredom. January ain’t about the blues. Piers Morgan is sick. The veins of Englishmen flow with rainwater. In a land […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged Andy Murray, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brexit, Cana, Chernobyl, crime, death, deer, Dominic Hilton, drink, Englishmen, Europeans, fathers, gold, health, hobbies, homosexuality, January, Los Angeles, marriage, men, money, Nelson Evening Mail, philosophy, Piers Morgan, rain, Sellafield, sex, Sri Lanka, the Chinese, the West, women | Comments (0)

Extracts from the letters of Gerald Spence Smyth, Capt., 1st South African Irish Regt., Abyssinian campaign, 1941

Monday, February 25, 2019

6.2.41 I am given to understand that this is the 6th day of Feb. but for the life of me I don’t know what day of the week it is. Anyhow it doesn’t make any difference here. Excuse the dirt. A.A.¹ has just spilt some tea on my pad. The journey from the forest² to these […]

Filed in Non-fictions | Also tagged Abyssinia, Allan Arnott, biltong, Cape Point, censorship, Cyril Cochran, death, East Africa, Ethiopia, food, Gerald Fayle, Gerald Fayle Preston Smyth, Gerald Spence Smyth, infantry, Italians, letters, Mega, Micky Williamson, Muslims, Somalis, South Africans, the Irish, war, WWII | Comments (0)

Did The English Patient send me to Afghanistan?

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Two nights from now, by way of (ahem) a birthday present, I will be attending a live-orchestra screening of The English Patient at the Albert Hall. I had invited an old friend, a raven-haired young lady (named in Debrett’s) of impossibly romantic tendency, who first exposed me to the film in, I’d say, about 1998 […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Afghanistan, Ahmed Hassanein, air travel, American University in Cairo, anatomy, Anthony Minghella, Arabic, army, Banana Republic, bedouin, Benny Goodman, Booker Prize, books, bookshops, Brighton, Bruce Chatwin, Byron, Canada, Charing Cross Road, Christopher Hitchens, clothing, Debrett's, deserts, Dorset, Egypt, Egyptology, exploration, film, French Foreign Legion, Gabriel Yared, Geoff Dyer, Geographical, Geographical Journal, Herodotus, Hungarian, Hungary, JM Coetzee, John Ball, John Hare, Joseph Conrad, Justin Marozzi, Kensington Gore, Kristen Scott Thomas, László Almásy, London, Long Range Desert Group, Lorenz Hart, love, Michael Ondaatje, mountains, music, novels, Orientalism, Oscar Wilde, Oxford, Picador, plums, Ralph Bagnold, Ralph Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes, Richard Bermann, Robert Twigger, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Saul Kelly, Sinai, SOE, song, the Himalayas, the Nile, The Oldie, the Sahara, the Western Desert, war, WG Sebald, William Golding, wind, women, WW2, YouTube, Zerzura | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, April 2, 2018

. There are more Jews in New York than there are in Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland put together. They worship in 37 synagogues. Every fifth person belongs to the family of Abraham. — The Nelson Evening Mail, December 1 1906 . Coleraine Blackjack is the cheapest porter in the world. Thomas Nelson […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged anatomy, Australia, Ben Affleck, books, Britain, Bruca Chatwin, Canada, Coleraine, Colombo, computers, crime, Cuba, death, Devon, drink, East Africa, emojis, flags, France, Germany, health, hyenas, Italy, Judaism, London, Microsoft, money, Nelson E, New York, Northern Ireland, philosophy, religion, River Dart, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, tattoos, Thomas Nelson, West Africa, West Dart, Wittgenstein | Comments (0)