Jonathon Green - visit his website here - is the English language's leading lexicographer of slang. His Green's Dictionary of Slang is quite simply the most comprehensive and authorative work on slang ever published. Today, with Lent soon to begin, Jonathon launches an epic survey of the Seven Deadly Sins ... Read More...
Month: March 2011
The education system is failing our kids, says Jamie Oliver. Well few would disagree with that, but what to do, Jamie, what to do? The answer, of course, is to take 20 GCSE drop-outs and give ‘em a crash course at Jamie’s Dream School (Channel 4, Wedneday 9pm), where they will ... Read More...
[The story so far… Ed Balls is determined to 'squash' his rivals; Alain de Botton has failed to persuade the Adult Contemporary sing-songwriters to build him his own international airport. Sinister mirror-licking mastermind Julian Assange has captured elusive poet Grayson Ellis and notorious hack Rod Lidl; Nina, Boris Johnson's indomitable Latvian ... Read More...
Cream bun for Adelephant again. I was surprised how easily you lot got this one - I thought it was a real rotter. But it seems a bit of clever googling could help you find it without the lateral leap... Click continue for the answer... 9809 ... Read More...
Here's this week's devilishly fiendish Round Blogworld Quiz question (see the previous ones and their solutions here). As usual, find the link between these cryptic clues. A point for each item you get, and an imaginary cream bun of regal proportions if you get them all. If you get the ... Read More...
Barendina Smedley finds her expectations confounded on a recent visit to the Globe Theatre... A recent rainy half-term morning found us at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre — or rather, Sam Wanamaker’s hard-won rebuilding of the theatre Shakespeare knew, which burned to the ground in 1613 — on the south bank of a very ... Read More...
Hard by Notting Hill Gate tube station there is a breathtakingly expensive fish shop. I once bought a moderate-sized halibut steak there and was charged £11.50. Latterly, however, there has been a change in this sea-boutique, a small sign perhaps that the Osborne squeeze has struck even here. Boards have ... Read More...
It being St David's Day, I thought I'd read some of RS Thomas's poems on Welshness and the Welsh. Reading quite a few of them, back to back, I was left feeling slightly embarrassed. Not because of the bitterness and misanthropy (directed at the Welsh as much as the English); ... Read More...
Right, we’ve got a treat for you Dabblers. Bath Ales produce the best beer in the known universe – as Brit explained here - and we’ve been in touch with the lovely people there to wangle one of you a free case. To enter, just click on the Dabbler competition page here, fill in ... Read More...
March 1st: a day to pin a daffodil or leek to your lapel, sing a ballad or two and generally celebrate being Welsh (if you are Welsh. If you aren’t, you may look a little ridiculous, although good for you for carrying on with multiculturalism when it’s so unfashionable). The 1st ... Read More...
