My life as a failed stamp collector

Steerforth recalls, with pathos and bemusement, his brief attempt at being an entrepreneurial philatelist... When I was 11-years-old I became friends with a boy whose parents were divorced. I'd never met anyone whose mother and father lived apart and I remember feeling quite jealous that he had two homes. In my ... Read More...

Turnspit Dogs

Could this be the reason why the Queen keeps Corgis? A strange forgotten dog breed in today's weird Wikipedia article from the Dabbler's Wikiworm... The Turnspit Dog was a short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run on a wheel, called a turnspit or dog wheel, in order to turn meat for cooking. The breed is now extinct. It is mentioned ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – I Was Norman Smith

Last year I wrote a short biography of my childhood dog, Jason, and mentioned that, preposterously indulged, he had his own armchair in the front room. It was a pretty naff 1970s-coloured one left over from a previous suite, but this is what British people are like with their dogs. ... Read More...

Sickness and health

Douglas on Henry James, cardiac arrests and coping with one's health... I had to forgive myself last year for not finishing a Henry James novel.  I’d read maybe a dozen of his shorter fictions, all of them with relish. The Middle Years, The Pupil, The Liar, The Real Thing, and The Altar of the Dead were ... Read More...

The Book Thieves of London

Bookseller Steerforth recalls his battles with the bibliokepts - both oddball amateurs and professional book thieves... In his memoirs, Jeffrey Bernard used to talk about the distinct social groups that frequented his regular pub, the notorious Coach and Horses in Soho. Alongside the actors, stage hands, dancers and drunks, there were ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – A Multitude of Idiots

I saw Stephen Fry’s anti-God rant and felt a burst of sympathy for the man. His stance - being very angry with something that he believes nonexistent - is a nonsensical one which usually means the angry person is really angry with Christians, either for being so stupid as to worship an evil ... Read More...

Dabbler Diary – Taxi Driver

A little after one in the morning we emerged arm-in-arm from the Bristol Museum and walked unsteadily in the direction of the taxi rank outside Brown’s. Mrs Brit was in a cocktail dress and heels. I was in a dinner suit (by M&S, machine washable) and a real bow tie ... Read More...