Terry Wogan was only eight years older than David Bowie, but his soul was ancient... To my surprise, I felt slightly sadder about Terry Wogan’s death than about David Bowie’s. The thing about Wogan was that he was devoid of illusion about humans. He’d seen right through us, to the core, decades ... Read More...
People
Sean Penn's Rolling Stone 'interview' with drugs baron El Chapo contains some surprising details, finds Brit... Many Dabbler readers will be aware that there was a bit of a hoo-hah the other week about actor Sean Penn’s clandestine interview with fugitive Mexican drug baron and multiple murderer Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Fewer will ... Read More...
Last week, Frank posted a birthday homage to David Bowie. This week, alas, a second homage has become necessary. This one includes several references to another titanic figure of modern music. Stay well, John Lydon, stay well. There is a fictional character named, somewhat foolishly, “Ziggy Stardust”, the creation of a ... Read More...
The lead article in the current issue of Slightly Foxed literary magazine is by our own Jonathan Law, who writes about the remarkable diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner. Continuing from yesterday, here is the concluding part of an expanded version of the piece, in which Sylvia meets the love (and bane) of her life, Valentine ... Read More...
The lead article in the current issue of Slightly Foxed literary magazine is by our own Jonathan Law, who writes about his discovery of the remarkable diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner. Today and tomorrow we bring you an expanded version of the piece in two parts... It’s always strange to think how easily you ... Read More...
What is a melody, and why are good ones so hard to write?... In The Guardian Clive James writes: It could be said that Adele is Mama Cass born again, but she needs a song to match her voice. I have listened several times to her smash hit, Hello. I was hoping that the shapely beauty ... Read More...
Misti Traya pays tribute to some of America's finest wits - or alternatively, as Dorothy Parker once said, just 'a bunch of loudmouths showing off'... In 1919, a group of writers lunched at the Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street in Manhattan. The purpose of their gathering was to roast their friend, ... Read More...
The past few weeks and months I've been up and down and over and out. I've been used, abused and frequently confused. I've also been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king. It is for those reasons that in lieu of a proper diary ... Read More...
'It is fifty years since I began my collection of Petula Clark clippings'... I keep my Petula Clark files in a remote secure storage facility. The perimeter fence is electrified, and patrolled by wolves. The wolves are not electrified, but I am working on it, in partnership with the animal behaviourist ... Read More...
Having recommended the remarkable novel The Book of Ebenezer Le Page in our 1p Book Review feature, Nige enjoys the story of its mysterious author in a new biography...It’s a great story: a young art student comes across an elderly man who is living a reclusive life in a seaside town. ... Read More...