Arts

Metropolis/Philip Kerr

Metropolis is the final novel of Philip Kerr, published posthumously as he died of cancer on 23rd March 2018 aged 62. It’s also the final one in the Bernie Gunther series. The best are probably the first three published – The March Violets set in the rise of Nazism, the title is the name [...]

April 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Those “I was there” moments (sort of)

One of the oddities of life are those occasions when one has a brush, however slight or inconsequential, with an event of great historical importance e.g. whilst watching television. Delving back into the mists of time as I begin typing I can think of two representative examples my personal past [...]

April 18, 2019 // 0 Comments

A literary discovery from the 1920s

It was both a little surprising but also perhaps a sign of the times to learn by chance recently that the BBC One’s Antiques Roadshow programme – now occupying the 8.00pm transmission slot on Sunday evenings – is celebrating its fortieth anniversary in this year. I open with that [...]

April 16, 2019 // 0 Comments

Fateful Choices:The Decisions that changed the World 1940-1/Ian Kershaw

Historian Ian Kershaw has analysed the critical decisions that shaped World War Two but whether they changed the world is perhaps another matter. Several are quite obvious: Hitler ‘s decision to launch Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union when Western Europe was under the Nazi jack boot [...]

April 12, 2019 // 0 Comments

That was then but this is now (revisited)

Without doubt a prime candidate as the greatest agent of impetus in human civilisation is the invention of means of ‘recording’ first language (in the form of writing) and then – as regards performing arts – the use of devices capable of recording sound and movement ‘in the moment’. [...]

April 6, 2019 // 0 Comments

Matisse, Chagall , Leger and Picasso museums

Yesterday I visited the above local museums as part of the prep for a bigger visit of Bob’s friends in 10 days time. We started at the Matisse museum in the north of Nice in the Cimiez area. This was once popular with Brits. Queen Victoria would stay at the imposing Hotel Regina – as did [...]

April 4, 2019 // 0 Comments

A ‘good in parts’ dose of Sunday night TV

Yesterday I had returned home from a demanding weekend in the country, made myself a late lunch and then retired to my pit. As a result I slept for two and a half hours straight, partly because I felt exhausted and partly because it was going to be my only route to staying up long enough to see the [...]

April 1, 2019 // 0 Comments

From there to where?

As I contemplated this post earlier this morning I considered beginning it with “Some Rusters may remember Saint and Greavsie …” because I wanted to reference the catch-phrase of Jimmy Greaves (“It’s a funny old game …”) in the context of my intended theme-for-the-day of Life being [...]

March 31, 2019 // 0 Comments

The art of getting the genie back in the bottle

It is in the nature of things that the ingenuity of Man will always outstrip his ability to control the product(s) of his inventions and therefore – should he attempt to do so – his attempts will lag way behind the actualité. In warfare, whether it be developing a fast-repeating machine [...]

March 27, 2019 // 0 Comments

Harold Gilman/Pallant gallery

I cannot disagree with the negative review posted by Francesca on the above exhibition – Gilman review – even though warm interiors in the style of Eduard Vuillard and Gilman’s mentor Walter Sickert are definitely my bag. The problem is that there are several Sickerts in the permanent [...]

March 25, 2019 // 0 Comments

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Metropolis/Philip Kerr

April 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Metropolis is the final novel of Philip Kerr, published posthumously as he died of cancer on 23rd March 2018 aged 62. It’s also the final one in the Bernie Gunther series. [...]
Getting to the nub of it

April 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

It will not have escaped sport-loving Rusters that the Easter weekend was loaded to the gills with action across the board – I shall just cite in evidence the fact that the [...]
Fabio Fognini wins in Monte Carlo

April 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Last Monday week, when Fabio Fognini was one set down and losing 5-1 to Russian Andrey Reble, I never thought that I was watching the future champion who triumphed over [...]
Waitrose v locals

April 22, 2019 // 0 Comments

Waitrose has come to represent more than just a premium food store but symbolic of the liberal metro intelligentsia. In the Rust and beyond a Waitrose shopper means you are a [...]
Scott Parker: the case for and against

April 21, 2019 // 0 Comments

Fulham ‘s first away win at Bournemouth in a year solidifies the case for Scott Parker’s permanent appointment. Here I draw up the pros and cons: Pros 1) Fulham have had [...]