Articles by Nancy Bright-Thompson

About Nancy Bright-Thompson

A widely-respected travel editor, Nancy is a past president of the Guild of Travel Writers (GTW). She and her husband Phil now run a horse sanctuary in East Sussex. More Posts

A long weekend in Madrid

This was originally scheduled for 2 months agobut my cat had a hypoglaecemic fit and we had to reschedule. Readers might wonder why Madrid? it does not rank amongst Europe’s great cities. I was persuaded to make my second visit after a captivating programme by Michael Portillo whose [...]

November 15, 2024 // 0 Comments

Grace/ITV 1

I do enjoy a TV drama of a Sunday evening and therefore appreciate Grace as it’s shot on location in my native city of Brighton. Grave is is the creation of Peter James. He has a close relationship with the Brighton Police who take him out in their patrol cars. Superintendent Roy Grace (played [...]

September 23, 2024 // 0 Comments

Pride of Price?

Last weekend was Pride weekend which attracted 300,000 visitors to Brighton but is not universally accepted as A Good Thing by us residents. It’s impossible to cross Brighton because of road closures. The celebrants leave litter and worse, then some clog up the A & E dept as the cavorting [...]

August 7, 2024 // 0 Comments

Burghley House

I joined Daffers for the trip to Burghley House. The grounds are staggering. We must have walked for half an hour through parklands before we reached the House itself. I decided to leave the more ornate gardens for my next visit. It was a long walk back to the hotel and no benches for our weary [...]

July 3, 2024 // 0 Comments

Farleys Farm House (second visit)

Last Friday I arranged to take two friends, D & His wife L, – whose main home is Petworth – to Farleys, the home of surrealist painter Roland Penrose who founded the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Lee Miller, sometime Vogue cover model, international photographer and innovative [...]

June 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

Michael Portillo’s Cornwall and Devon walk

Michael Portillo has emerged from his political career as an informative and engaging travel and railway enthusiast and presenter. As he retired from politics at the end of the last Century many will only now know him for his television programmes. On “catch-up” I chanced upon with his [...]

February 14, 2024 // 0 Comments

West Wittering outing

On Wednesday I organised a day trip of Rusters to Bob Tickler’s beach hut on West Wittering beach. The trip was organised some time ago and of course – when the day arrived – Storm Gerrit was on its way. A cricketer turned successful artist friend of Alice’s is painting a [...]

December 29, 2023 // 0 Comments

A horrendous journey

Yesterday, because of the rail strike, I was forced to take the National Express coach from my native Brighton to London. Being a seasoned traveller and stickler for punctuality – on this occasion a lunch at 1-00pm – I did some preliminary planning. The 9-05am bus service was – on [...]

December 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

Chartwell

On Friday I made my first visit to Chartwell. I was influenced by the September post of my colleague William Byford who was ‘underwhelmed ‘ after his visit in the summer. I share that view. William’s car journey was marred by traffic on the M25, mine by a driver who incessantly moaned [...]

December 3, 2023 // 0 Comments

Bernard Levin, Michael Portillo, Simon Sebag Montefiore

What do the three above have in common? You may be surprised by my answer: a Panama Hat. Sir Ttevor MacDonald recently paid an affectionate tribute to Bernard Levin. . This tribute also included his travel programmes, made late in his life following Hannibal’s march and the length of the Rhein, [...]

November 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

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The Day of the Jackal (Sky Atlantic)

December 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

This mega-production by Sky starring Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Logan and Charles Dance inevitably invites comparison with the Frederick Forsyth best-selling novel and the 1973 [...]
Conclave (2024)

December 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

Conclave is the film of the Robert Harris story of a papal election. It’s not the normal stuff of films as it has no action sequences, nor special effects, nor glamorous [...]
Two art books: Rogues and Scholars/Don’t Tell Sybil

December 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

Rogues and Scholars, penned by the ex-chairman of Sothebys – James Stourton – is a fairly comprehensive and balanced assessment of the London art market from 1945 [...]
The Tanner Report: Fulham 1 Arsenal 1

December 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

In a spirited performance Fulham held a superior Arsenal side though from the commentary and coverage on Sky you would not have thought so. After braving the elements, [...]
England win Test series 2-0.

December 8, 2024 // 0 Comments

It may have passed your notice as sporting events and achievements outside the UK are sparsely covered but New Zealand, without Kane Williamson, won their series in India [...]