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Tag Archives: Yorkshire

Zooming windows

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Interview with members of the George Formby Society, as they attempt to break an online ukulele-playing record. — For The Critic

Filed in feature, interview, Journalism | Also 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, Zoom | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, November 2, 2020

. The Paris Louvre is in future to be guarded by watch-dogs. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, July 13 1908 . A gold coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar has been auctioned for more than $3m dollars. 50% of a man’s hair is gone before it becomes noticeable. Good socialists need not refuse […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged antisemitism, army, asteroids, biscuits, cigars, crime, death, dogs, Doris Lessing, Esperanto, gold, guns, hair, Indians, Jeremy Corbyn, Julius Caesar, LL Zamenhof, marriage, men, money, mountains, Nelson Evening Mail, news, Paris, police, roads, satire, security, socialism, Sri Lanka, stupidity, suicide, Sweden, The Democratic Party, the Louvre | Comments (0)

My first Carr

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

On my personal discovery of eccentric English novelist (and teacher, and artist, and airman, and footballer) JL Carr, the night before what would have been his 108th birthday. — For The Critic

Filed in feature, Journalism | Also tagged Andy Miller, architecture, Backlisted, Booker Prize, books, Byron Rogers, clergymen, Colin Firth, coronavirus, education, Englishmen, football, Frank Muir, Gambia, Goldsmiths College, Guardian Fiction Prize, JL Carr, John Clare, John Mitchinson, Joseph Conrad, Kenneth Branagh, Kettering, Laurence Sterne, maps, Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Berkmann, Methodism, Nicholas Lezard, novels, painting, Penguin, publishing, Pushkin, Quince Tree Press, RAF, religion, Richard Coles, South Dakota, The Critic, Thomas Hardy, Vogue, writing, WW1, WW2 | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE #2

Thursday, November 15, 2018

The Spanish Inquisition, and other matters unexpectedly arising. — For Queen Mob’s Tea House

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged Angola, anthems, Bosnia, Brazil, cricket, Croatia, De Selby, death, Denmark, Ecuador, film, Finland, Fox News, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, housing, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Laos, libraries, money, Mongolia, Nelson Evening Mail, Nepal, New Zealand, November, peace, Portugal, Queen Mob's Tea House, rainbows, religion, roosters, satire, Senegal, sex, sexting, Spain, Spike Lee, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the Forth Bridge, the Marseillaise, the Victorians, Tonbridge School, train-travel, Trinidad and Tobago, trousers, UK, Venezuela, writing | Comments (0)

A hero’s welcome

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Dunkirk – THE UNTOLD STORY!! — For The Oldie

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged 11th Armoured Division, 51st Highland Division, 97th (Kent Yeomanry) Field Regiment, army, British Expeditionary Force, Canterbury, champagne, Channel Islands, cricket, Croix de Guerre, D-Day, Dunkirk, Elsie Adeline Cockersell, film, France, Germans, incarceration, James Kingford Carson, Kent, livery companies, love, moustaches, Nazis, Normandy, Royal Artillery, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, sea-faring, St Valery-en-Caux, The Oldie, war, women | Comments (0)

An Oxford squaddie

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 | Also tagged Afghanistan, army, education, Frank Ledwidge, George MacDonald Fraser, Honourable Artillery Company, Max Boot, me, Oxford University, singing, TE Lawrence, The Oldie, war | Comments (0)

theASHtray, vol.3

Saturday, February 18, 2012

In which Whitney Houston spoils my Valentine’s evening. — For theartsdesk

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Alexander McCall Smith, art, David Shrigley, Elizabethans, film, John Banville, Julian Fellowes, literature, Lucian Freud, Minette Walters, music, National Portrait Gallery, Ricky Gervais, Sir Paul McCartney, Terry Pratchett, The Beatles, theartsdesk, Tracy Chevalier, TV, Valentine's Day, Whitney Houston | Comments (0)