Life goes on. For no particular reason I’ve gone for a crime theme in this week’s musical extravaganza. First up, here’s Gee Officer Krupke from West Side Story. I confess I’m not big on musicals (except the cool ones, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show and, um, Mary Poppins) but this ... Read More...
Month: November 2010
For Remembrance Sunday, some of the Dabblers select a favourite verse appropriate to the occasion. The pictures of veterans above are taken from the Drifting Camera blog... Brit - Seigfried Sassoon: Everyone Sang (1920) This gradually became my favourite of Sassoon's poems, then my favourite war poem, and is now just one ... Read More...
One morning, earlier this year, I spent a good few minutes standing in front of a large billboard close to Putney Bridge, trying to fathom out why models wearing curiously Continental, colour coordinated and perfectly clean clothing were made up to look as though they’d been in a punch-up. When ... Read More...
Reading Hugo Young's Papers one is reminded how much our approach to organising ourselves has changed in recent decades. Back in 1980, when Lord Lane took over as Lord Chief Justice there was a backlog of 600 criminal cases, or two years' worth. Obviously unacceptable. To rectify matters he put ... Read More...
It is a Thursday afternoon in Rome. In a house on the Via del Babuino, Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein is sitting at her escritoire, scribbling furiously. A tonsured abbé enters the room. But not just any tonsured abbé. It is Princess Carolyne's lover, the famous composer Franz Liszt! "Darling!" she cries. "Yes, ... Read More...
Ian Buxton is one of the UK's leading drinks writers, specialising in whisky and spirits, and is the author of the bestselling book 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die. Ever wondered what ‘London Gin’ means? Until recently, the answer would have been ‘not a lot’. Unlike Plymouth Gin, which is a ... Read More...
I have at home a cheapo (not Naxos, but similar, you know) CD of some orchestra or another playing Saint-Saen’s Carnival of the Animals and other children-friendly pieces. I’d never noticed until the other day that it has a quite magnificent bit of cover art. It is The Goose of the ... Read More...
Following on from Ian's post on Stonehenge this morning, we have a guest post from author Alexandra Harris. Alex teaches literature at the University of Liverpool and writes about all kinds of art, from novels and paintings to cookery and gardening. She has just written an excellent new book called Romantic ... Read More...
Ian Vince writes the regular Strange Days column in The Daily Telegraph and is the author of the highly recommended new book The Lie of the Land. He is also the founder of the British Landscape Club. I struggle to keep up on an unexpectedly warm autumn evening as I galumph my way ... Read More...
In our occasional feature we invite guests to select the six cultural links that might sustain them if, by some mischance, they were forced to spend eternity in a succession of airport departure lounges with only an iPad or similar device for company. Today's voyager is Gadjo Dilo, who brings ... Read More...
