Jonathon Green continues his slang tour of London with a trip to the 'specialist' bookshops of The Backside of St Clements... All gone now. What you’re looking at above is the Australian High Commission (though didn’t that get knocked down too a year ago or so?). Like Fred and Rose’s lair at ... Read More...
Month: November 2011
Guest reviewer Stephanie Thomson falls in love with an unusual tribute to London, and reckons it's a perfect Christmas gift... How do you describe love at first sight? It’s relatively straightforward to explain how and when it happens, but the ‘why’ is more elusive. I fell in love with London 26 years ... Read More...
Nige endures the company of a conspiracy theorist... Not long ago, for reasons that would be tedious to explain here, I found myself sharing an uncomfortable sofa with a sturdily built one-eyed man of County Galway origin. Having filled me in on the topography of that county of lakes and mountains, ... Read More...
In today's dispatch, British-born Rita Byrne Tull explains why she became an American citizen... It was politics - and the persuasive powers of President Clinton and my daughter, a formidable combination - that finally prevailed upon me to become an American citizen after 26 years of determined resistance. I was perfectly happy ... Read More...
Announcing the winners of this month's Dabbler Book Club choice... Earlier on The Dabbler, Nige thought it was "thought-provoking, serious and witty". A little later, David Waywell reckoned it "contains erudition, thought, doubt, contradiction, cynicism, and even melancholy". It's not as if we haven't set out to whet your appetite is it? It's ... Read More...
Scott Locklin looks back admiringly at an ancient Greek who dabbled more originally, profoundly and variously than pretty much anyone else ever. Εύδοξος ο Κνίδιος It’s a modern conceit that we are the most sophisticated people who ever lived. Much of what we know comes from a bunch of pederasts in ancient Magna ... Read More...
Author and Sunday Times journalist Bryan Appleyard - whose acclaimed new book The Brain is Wider Than the Sky was reviewed by Brit here - talks exclusively to The Dabbler about technology, David Hockney, blogging and the increasing polarisation of culture... Why did you decide to write The Brain is Wider ... Read More...
If you're wondering what to buy the whisky-lover in your life for Christmas this year, than look no further than The Dabbler's choice Glengoyne. Dabbler readers can claim a special 10% discount on personalised bottles here. To remind you of what Glengoyne is all about, here's Ian Buxton – author of ... Read More...
This week Mahlerman stands well back and takes in some Big Music... When the Leviathan that is Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony came up for air at the Proms recently, it had been submerged for almost 30 years, and even before that this curate's egg of a work had only been performed ... Read More...
I mentioned London’s Brixton Market a while ago in an article on upmarket markets. Brixton, a survivor of the original riots, remains relatively unharmed by the ‘how to spend it,’ designer-crazed brigade. Ignore the armed police standing guard outside the underground station, the mega-sized branches of KFC and McDonalds - ... Read More...
