A tale of ancient bones and living relics - Rita goes fossil-hunting in Maryland and finds a dinosaur of 1950s glamour... Thanksgiving was a busy time chez Tull as members of the far-flung Byrne clan flew in from London and San Francisco. We gave thanks for the end of the political ... Read More...
Year: 2012
Nige celebrates a surprisingly influential singer... Today is the 91st birthday of Deanna Durbin, singing film star of the 1930s and 40s. And she is still alive to enjoy it, somewhere in France, where she has lived quietly for decades since turning her back firmly on the biz we call show ... Read More...
Having successfully defended blended whiskies, Henry turns his attention another enemy of certain drink snobs: Aussie wines... A couple of years ago before I was an enormously well-respected wine writer with my own column in a prestigious magazine, I replied to something written by Tim Atkin on which wine region or ... Read More...
My household has this past fortnight been afflicted by a pox. The windows have been boarded up and I’ve been roaming the corridors wafting a carbolic smokeball. Eerie groans echo in fetid chambers. The plants have withered and no visitors come. It is the chicken pox, and both my daughters ... Read More...
This Lazy Sunday it's time to pull the duvet up tight and get cosy and warm, as Worm casts us adrift on the dark and stormy waters of the North Atlantic... In 1967, a couple of twitchers on a jaunt to the Hebrides to look for migratory arctic birds were met ... Read More...
Susan's globetrotting again. Here's a winter warmer from her archives... Big furry ears make me happy. It might work for you too. Can you imagine the winter high street bustling with creatures? Foxes, badgers, the odd Minotaur, not to mention all the beasts you can't name. Could hats change the world? Asks ... Read More...
Has anyone else been watching the wonderful Yotam Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast? For those who aren’t familiar with him, Yotam is one half of the excellent Ottolenghi deli/cafés that have popped up in recent years in smarter parts of London. Yotam is Israeli and his business partner, Sami Tamimi, is Palestinian ... Read More...
Frank experiences Maryland culture at a transatlantic Dabbler summit - and then teaches the Americans a thing or two about British culture... I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas. But instead of being the claws, I was staring at them, piled high ... Read More...
Jonathon introduces Henry Mayhew: contemporary of Dickens, literary phenomenon, pioneer sociologist and hero of slang... The lexicographer records the vocabulary of slang, but, unless their dictionaries also offer citations, they cannot properly record its use. The sources for 19th century slang are widespread but a relatively small proportion of these report ... Read More...
Last month's Dabbler Book Choice was Ian McEwan tricksy new spy story Sweet Tooth. Here's Brit's review. To be in with a chance of getting your hands on future giveaways, sign up to the Dabbler Book Club today! Pictured above is The Interior of the British Institution Gallery, a painting of paintings within ... Read More...
