Despite having fuddy-duddy connotations, I was surprised to discover that the pastime we call bird watching isn’t actually that old – or at least the term isn’t. Bird watching is popularly thought of as the sort of thing dweeby old guys do to get away from the Missus. The twitcher’s ... Read More...
Year: 2012
To Kent for a couple of half-term days. Is this the most under-rated English county? It's got everything that southern England can offer, but no-one makes much of a fuss over it. I suppose it suffers from being a place one travels through to get to warmer climes - with ... Read More...
Several years ago, in one of those broadsheet “Books Of The Year” round-ups, Jeanette Winterson chose one of her own titles for the supreme accolade. In that spirit, we asked Frank Key to review his own new paperback. The title of this fat collection is taken from “The Windhover” by Gerard ... Read More...
Want to get into publishing? Here's a unique opportunity for an enthusiastic book-lover... The Dabbler Book Club currently has approximately 1000 members, who receive a monthly email newsletter and are entered into regular free draws to win new books, along with various other goodies and freebies. Now we’re looking for someone to ... Read More...
The leading lexicographer of slang salutes his predecessor... How embarrassing. There he is. Always has been. Right under my nose. Or at least right behind me. And I never noticed. My very own predecessor: without whom and all that stuff. Really. I had better make amends. Eric Honeywood Partridge was born in ... Read More...
Laugh-out-loud funny but undeniably rum, Nige discovers a true original... Does anyone read Rose Macaulay these days? She seems to be one of those writers who figure large in their own time - their books sell well, they know everybody, are in everybody's memoirs and letters - and then, after death, ... Read More...
In his recent excellent series on Tarka the Otter author Henry Williamson, Jonathan Law wrote about difficulties for the reader in reconciling Williamson's real literary talent with his odious political views, including enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler. Jonathan's posts drew the ire of Anne Williamson - Henry's daughter-in-law - so we've offered ... Read More...
We welcome back Owen Polley of the award-winning Three Thousand Versts: he's wondering what the Turner Prize is really for... The British public loves to hate the Turner Prize. For evidence, you can visit the current exhibition, at the Tate Britain in London, and read the comment wall at the end. “They ... Read More...
I am sitting beside one of the darkened windows of the Sloe Bar-Café at Paddington, one of the best people-watching spots in London. My, what a relentless churn of humanity this is; what a swarm of busy worker ants, what an exhilaratingly multinational melting pot…and what a lot of tall, ... Read More...
Today we enjoy some samples from around about 4000 years of Russian rock. What it lacks in groove it makes up for in lyrical folkiness... Among the titans of Russian rock, few are more legendary than Boris Grebenshikov, founder and sole constant member of the group Akvarium. This year he has ... Read More...
