Scott Locklin continues his irregular series on machinery that, in one way or another, is utterly compelling. Today a crazy machine from a crazy time. Aerospace technology became grotesque and beautiful in the 1950s. One of the most grotesque and beautiful creations of that bizarre era of technological excellence was the Convair ... Read More...
Month: June 2012
Toby Ferris is away this week, but has provided us with an extract from the Anatomy of Norbiton, in which he speculates on the experience of Charles VIII in Naples, how he reached his Furthest South, and what he discovered there. In 1494 Charles VIII of France, pursuing some tenuous antique ... Read More...
Brit the Elder's quizzes are notoriously fiendish, but this one is a bit of fun for all book-lovers. Simply identify the book (or short story) and author from the initials. A few are slightly obscure but you'll know most. There's also a clue for each one. Readers are free to post answers in ... Read More...
Gwyn has been on a speed trip folly-hunting round Scotland. The itinerary was carefully scheduled and every minute was accounted for. Here's the first of two Scottish folly posts: a visit to Banffshire... This sophisticated, rigidly classical monopteros is said to have been designed by William Playfair in 1788, although it ... Read More...
Ever thought you could have a go at stand-up comedy? Well this guy (who wishes to remain anonymous) actually went ahead and did it. Here he explains why he decided to brave the audiences of Cardiff - and describes the ecstatic highs and excruciating lows he was already experienced in his fledging ... Read More...
Three of the great British composers all died within a few months of each other. Mahlerman looks at what we lost in 1934... Last week we celebrated the ongoing second Elizabethan age, sixty years and counting. The first, ending with the death of Gloriana in 1603, was marked by an extraordinary ... Read More...
I finally got around to visiting the ArtHAUS show at Vyner Street’s Execution Room (running until 30th June). It was the second of the First Thursday private view evenings so drinks were thrown in, which eased the pain of travelling to far-flung E2 on such a filthy night. The show is ... Read More...
Stephen Clarke is the author of A Year in the Merde and numerous other books which take an irreverent look at the French and at Anglo-Gallic relations. In this exclusive post for The Dabbler, originally published in February 2011, he explains why Les Rosbifs have been irritating their continental neighbours ... Read More...
A list of things that annoyed a Victorian intellectual... In Passages From The Life Of A Philosopher (1864), Charles Babbage explained that “every moment of my waking hours has always been occupied by some train of inquiry. In far the largest number of instances the subject might be simple or even ... Read More...
Slang is no republican, finds Jonathon Green, but neither does it bend the knee... Sixty years ago it was happening miles away in Treetops which was in Kenya and if the Queen remembers hearing that the rest of her life had just been realigned on new and seemingly infinite rails then ... Read More...
