To Hereford, on business. I’d never been before and was looking forward to it. It rained very heavily throughout my visit and the cathedral was closed. *** Oh goody, we have a pandemic of inactivity. The 10 o'clock Beeb news got into a fine logical tangle with a piece asking “what has ... Read More...
Britain
Kensington Gore: Luke Honey takes us on a trip around some London landmarks captured on film and uncovers some strange and groovy goings on down the King's Road... I first noticed him one Saturday morning; about a week or so after moving into my new house in Battersea: a man with ... Read More...
There’s one word for corporate umbrellas – naff, but if you’re caught in a downpour, I suppose it’s preferable to have one than get wet. Last week I spotted an umbrella emblazoned with the words ‘Obesity Matters,’ which seemed curiously out of place at Henley Royal Regatta. If you were commissioned ... Read More...
What Dabbler wouldn't like to get paid for being the government's official Curator of Eccentricities? Worm goes in search of the man who had the best job in Britain... When the Festival of Britain landed on the south bank of the Thames in the summer of 1951, Architect and festival director ... Read More...
Slang is no republican, finds Jonathon Green, but neither does it bend the knee... Sixty years ago it was happening miles away in Treetops which was in Kenya and if the Queen remembers hearing that the rest of her life had just been realigned on new and seemingly infinite rails then ... Read More...
“Will Britain’s watching millions be let down today by the weather?” asked the Daily Sketch on Tuesday 2nd June, 1953. The Coronation forecast was as follows: WINDS northerly fresh or strong and gusty, some SUNNY intervals. Occasional SHOWERS, heavy at times, perhaps with HAIL and THUNDER here and there. Those camping out ... Read More...
An old photograph leads Worm to go poking around an old scrapyard in search of the possible inspiration for a twentieth century masterpiece... Last week I happened upon this photograph of WW2 Blitz wreckage (click on it to enlarge - it's from this terrific set of photos), and immediately wondered if ... Read More...
At The Dabbler we are blessed with the finest commenters on the internet. Jonathan Law’s comments are so deep, rich and insightful (and frankly he’s costing us a fortune in Glengoyne whisky) that we have invited him to write his own feature. Notes in the Margin will be an irregular column ... Read More...
Following his look at our geography, David Cohen continues his series giving a US perspective of the English by tackling our sporting pastimes... The English have two great sports, not-baseball and not-football. They also play golf, but that’s an artifact of Scottish colonial rule we’ll visit later in discussing English ... Read More...
Gaw recalls a Welshman who was a self-made hero to some, a self-romanticising show-off to others. Brit's clip of Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood from Lazy Sunday Afternoon the other week sent me looking for more opportunities to hear that voice. Here's a spell-binding excerpt from an interview where he talks about mining. ... Read More...
