It has been heartening to see the emergence of Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon. Ever since the golden era of McEnroe and Connors, men’s tennis has been rather lacking in jerks. Krygios is a proper, no-bones-about-it jerk - but even better is that I can add him to my cherished list of ... Read More...
Funny
Walk with Frank down memory lane as he recalls some of the enticing acts who appeared at the Bodger's Spinney Variety Theatre during its golden age: Nobby Puck : The Human Windsock. Bells clanged whenever Nobby Puck appeared on stage. For ten awful days in the summer of 1907 he was held ... Read More...
Nige uncovers a remarkable piece of precocious satire: a young Max Beerbohm sticking it to an Oscar Wilde at the peak of his powers... Browsing my overcrowded bookshelves with a view to some thinning out, I came across a collection of previously uncollected pieces by Max Beerbohm, A Peep into the ... Read More...
A musical treat for you today, as The Dabbler presents Dear Bonkers Maisie, music by OutaSpaceman, lyrics by Frank Key... I have long believed that what the world lacks is a lovely romantic song about lead poisoning, so in the end I had to write one myself. Dear Bonkers Maisie, thou art ... Read More...
Mr Slang raises a fourth glass of port to the famous Loamshire regiment, heroes of innumerable imaginary battles... ‘All that remains is the orderly –sergeant’s voice reading orders to the new blood in the quiet summer evening in sleepy Loamshire, with its laughing English fields and gay hedgerows spread about the ... Read More...
This week, Frank is unafraid to confront the most fundamental questions related to the human condition... Whither art? It’s a question I often ask myself, usually when tucking into a plate of smokers’ poptarts or other breakfast-based snack food. I like to get art out of the way early on in the day, ... Read More...
I have, at last, discovered the secret of happiness. You abolish Tuesday. I have written about Tuesday before, elsewhere, and noted that it and I have had many meetings and no good has ever come of them. We go way back, to school. Term always began on a Tuesday and it ... Read More...
Strange to think that an otherwise ordinary wet afternoon in March could have witnessed the most decisive event in human history... Once upon a time there were three little bunny rabbits. Their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, and Satan. Flopsy and Mopsy were completely normal bunny rabbits, but Satan, though to all ... Read More...
Let's face it, if anyone ever deserved a punch in the jaw, then it was Papa Hemingway... I had always believed that Wallace Stevens, poet and insurance company executive, led a life of exemplary dullness, all but devoid of incident. But then I came across a passing reference to the time ... Read More...
Ambrose Bierce was the most brutal book reviewer of his era. It's probably just as well he never had to give his verdict on Oscar Wilde... In his 1967 biography of Ambrose Bierce [above], Richard O'Connor noted that the “chore” of book-reviewing hackwork “unleashed [Bierce's] most savage energies”. We are given two ... Read More...