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Noises Off/Theatre Royal Brighton

The amazing thing about Michael Frayn’s pastiche of the British bedroom farce – Noises Off – is that it was first staged 40 years ago. Even though the genre of such Whitehall farces hardly exists (remember the long running No Sex Please We’re British) this one is still regularly [...]

October 20, 2022 // 0 Comments

Boxing in the dock (again)

The debacle of the recent non-fight between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn – actually a bout cancelled by the British Board of Boxing Control as “against the interests of the sport”, apparently  despite the protests (up to and including threatened legal action) of promoters [...]

October 15, 2022 // 0 Comments

Champions League qualifiers

As often as not, a match on which much hangs can result in a cagey game. Not so Barcelona v Inter Milan last night. Barcelona’s debts are said to have reached 1 billion euros and their  future revenue streams have been compromised. Although on top of La Liga they must qualify for the business [...]

October 13, 2022 // 0 Comments

Rise of the Nazis/The Downfall

I watched my recording of the first part of this series yesterday. It’s a documentary in the modern mould: actors silently depicting the major personages; a young female historian from a diverse background. Heavyweight historian Sir Richard Evans presents it. It begins in 1944 with Adolf Hitler [...]

October 12, 2022 // 0 Comments

Boxing’s muddy waters never settle

Since  the dawn of human time the “sport” of boxing – gladiatorial combat using only fists – has been inextricably linked with corrupt practices. Where should I begin? Shoe-horns or knuckle-dusters in gloves? “Fixed” contests, with or without boxers (from [...]

October 12, 2022 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/River Cafe & Ivy Asia

One restaurant that has stood the test of time is the River Cafe, Rainville Road Fulham. It’s not in a particularly convenient nor accessible part of London and not at all cheap but it’s still there, you need to book and it’s always full. It was launched by architect Richard Rogers and his [...]

October 11, 2022 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina file: Hearts 0 Fiorentina 3

Last night I watched on TV with my father Fiorentina beat Hearts 3-0 at Tynecastle in the Europa Conference Tournament. The guys on the Rust sport desk told me there are already too many tournaments across sport and this one, a junior branch of the junior Europa League, seems another. Hearts [...]

October 7, 2022 // 0 Comments

Grand Prix/1966

Sport and cinema do not mix. Quite simply a sport star is not an actor – nor an actor a sportsman or woman. There are exceptions – like Robert de Niro in Raging Bull and Richard Harris in This Sporting Life – but John Huston’s regrettable Escape to Victory with a pot-bellied [...]

October 6, 2022 // 0 Comments

The funeral of Ken Howard

Yesterday I travelled up to London for the funeral of the painter Ken Howard. The service was at St Mary’s Church,The Boltons, and the burial in the cemetery between Brompton and Fulham Road. Organised religion occupies the key points in life: birth (the christening service), manhood confirmation [...]

October 4, 2022 // 0 Comments

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