A stirring tale of adventure and calamity from the golden age of ballooning!.... An accident, the consequences of which are expected to be fatal, took place at Cannes on Sunday last. A M. Despleschin, of Nice, had announced his intention of making an ascent in a balloon, and two gentlemen, M. ... Read More...
Month: February 2014
Competition time as The Dabbler offers you the chance to win a free copy of The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth... As heard on Book of the Week, BBC Radio 4 The whole world wants to learn the secrets of Nordic exceptionalism: why are the Danes the happiest people in the ... Read More...
Never buy anything from Amazon unless Dr M von Vogelhausen has reviewed it first... 12 Kelso Table Forks Cutlery Dining Set Canteen***** forky genius First, let me start with the design. Tines, to hold food: check. Handle, to hold fork: check. Next, materials: metal, and this is wise. The short-lived experiment in hamforks ... Read More...
Justice for the dead - Daniel Kalder wonders whether it makes sense... The other day I read an interesting story: Apparently a recent investigation in Russia’s Far East has just resulted in Fyodor Dostoyevsky being cleared of instigating contempt of court. I’m sure that came as a great relief to the ... Read More...
After a winter of record-breaking wetness and flooded lowlands, Stephen selects some poetry to make us feel better about water... In view of recent events, readers from the United Kingdom may be justifiably ill-disposed towards poetic paeans to water. Thus, I beg their indulgence as we consider its beneficent qualities, as ... Read More...
What is a Dord? A person that comes from the Dordogne? Seems not - but luckily Wikipedia is on hand to explain all…. Dord is a notable error in lexicography, an accidental creation, or ghost word, of the G. and C. Merriam Company's staff included in the second (1934) edition of ... Read More...
This week, Frank introduces Louis N. Feipel, unparalleled pedant and the 'prince of proofreaders'... “Proofreading is for pussies!” So declared Bruce Willis, when he was taken to task for his misspelled and ungrammatical contributions to an online discussion forum some years ago. And those pussies have become an endangered species. Several national newspapers ... Read More...
Nige digs out a nearly-forgotten foreigner's eye view of the British... The Hungarian-born British writer George Mikes (15 February 1912 – 30 August 1987) is best known (if he is remembered at all) for his gently humorous foreigner's-eye view of the English, How to Be an Alien. First published in 1946, it ... Read More...
In this dispatch, Rita explains how the 19th Century poet was responsible for the whole course of her life... If there were one person I could hold responsible for the twist of fate that sent me to live in America, it would have to be Gerard Manley Hopkins. Yes, the Jesuit ... Read More...
The England Cricket Board recently terminated the career of its star player. The relationship was doomed from the start, says Jon Hotten... Last year a writer I liked very much died. Jonathan Rendall published three books, one of which, Twelve Grand, is among my favourites by any author. He was a ... Read More...
