I was twelve when we moved from the city to the country, and soon after that deracinating adventure my father drove us to the National Canine Defence League kennels at West Down, where we acquired a dog. My parents had already secretly sussed out the prime candidate, a mongrel pup ... Read More...

Barendina Smedley stumbles across a less reported view of a momentous year... A few days ago, a battered copy of the Studio Year Book turned up here. The date on the much-sellotaped cover was 1939. To move beyond that cover is to embark upon what feels like an act of low-cost, high-speed, ... Read More...

I’m afraid I’ve never been able to take Wales seriously. My troubles begin, shallowly, with the bilingual road signs, which are funny if the Welsh is very different from the English (Please drive carefully - Gryywch yn ofalus) and even funnier if it is similar (Millennium Stadium - Stadiwm y ... Read More...

Continuing our 1970s theme, Steerforth recalls that decade's obsession with bizarre dance shows and other strange telly... The above picture shows the Easter story, expressed through the medium of dance. How anyone thought it was a good idea to tell the story of the crucifixion of Jesus through dance and mime, performed ... Read More...

They don't make 'em like Robert Baden-Powell any more. In this week's cupboard is the scout founder, hero of Mafeking and embodiment of British Pluck... Rummaging on my bookshelves the other day I was delighted to find my somewhat battered copy of The Penguin Ronald Searle. It's a first edition from ... Read More...

Revealed: the shocking truth about the less well-known Cub Scout badges... When I was eight, a great-uncle offered me the princely sum of 50p to join the local Cub Scouts. I'd never had that much money before and was sorely tempted, but I couldn't bear the idea of having to wear ... 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...

Are there any Dabblers who have personal acquaintance with the reality checkpoint unearthed in today's unusual wikipedia article? Reality Checkpoint is the name given to a large lamp-post in the middle of Parker's Piece, Cambridge, England, located at the intersection of the park's diagonal paths. The name comes from an unofficial ... Read More...

Rita is struck by a Proustian recollection of her time in an eccentric 1950s orphanage... Last night I dreamt I went to Webbery again. The winding drive with massed rhododendrons on either side, the grey stone manor house shining in the moonlight… I’ve always wanted to write that. And it’s true. I ... Read More...

Time for the second installment on the curiosities of our capital city from Peter Watts - journalist,self-confessed London geek, and author of Know London. Streets beneath streets, layer upon layer, we descend into history... Paul, the librarian at Time Out, first told me about the street beneath Charing Cross Road in ... Read More...