Dabbler Heroes: Norman Stone

Some of my most enduring memories of the two years I spent as a graduate student at Oxford are of the times I spent with Norman Stone, then the university’s professor of modern history. He was very clever but also witty, provocative and just damn fun to get drunk with. I ... Read More...

My secret booky nookie

It must be six months now since my first post on The Dabbler. Since then I have posted quite regularly and have enjoy participating in the wise, lively and good-natured banter that is daily Dabber life. So I like to think I am part of The Dabbler community; that I am ... Read More...

Anyone for a zombie at 35,000 feet?

Dabbler Correspondent Toby Ash was left bemused whilst shopping on a flight from Boston to Atlanta. On an internal flight during a recent short break in the United States, I pulled out my notebook and pen to scribble down some thoughts on the key differences between Americans and Brits.  But as ... Read More...

Mali’s magical musicians

In a couple of years’ time I am planning to swap the damp greyness of January in Britain for the warmth and sunshine of the Sahara to attend the annual Festival in the Desert just south of Timbuktu in the landlocked west African state of Mali. Mali may be economically impoverished, ... Read More...

Museum madness among the gin and Jags

Dabbler roving correspondent Toby Ash makes an unexpected and bizarre discovery amongst the golf courses and white washed villas of Portugal’s sunny Algarve. The Algarve is not on most people’s cultural map. Lazing about in the sun, a round of golf, Cliff Richard-spotting perhaps, but it’s not a great place for ... Read More...

Lemon Hart: a real rum story

Toby Ash, The Dabbler’s Most South-Westerly Tip of England Correspondent, discovers the local origins of an iconic drinks brand whilst walking the back streets of Penzance. A few months ago, as I walked through the maze of back alleys in east Penzance, I stumbled across a locked wooden gate, behind which ... Read More...

Dabbler Review: The Promise, Channel 4

Peter Kosminsky’s four-part drama The Promise reached the half-way mark on Sunday (if you missed them, you can watch the first two episodes on Channel 4 OD). Eight years in the making and filmed entirely in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (not the easiest places to work), each episode is ... Read More...

Swimming in style – The Jubilee Pool, Penzance

Toby Ash, our Most South-Westerly Tip of England Correspondent, has fallen in love with the beautiful lines and stylish curves of his local lido... I have never found leisure centres particularly leisurely. Verruca-infected floors, the smell of chlorine and the echoing screams of feral minors often combine to raise the hackles, ... Read More...

No dear, I said let’s go to Tresco, not Tesco

Toby Ash, The Dabbler’s Most South-Westerly Tip of England Correspondent, reports from the beautiful island of Tresco, which is just off the Cornish coast in case you were wondering Last week I was fortunate enough to fly off in a helicopter to the beautiful island of Tresco, situated some 30 miles ... Read More...

What’s in a name? The perils of email

Toby Ash (neither the author nor the subject of this post but another) Dabbler Correspondent Toby Ash needs to get some Bar Mitzvah guilt off his chest, thinks we are all only a couple of keystrokes away from ruination and has a top tip for cashing in on Hanukkah. A few years ... Read More...