Books

El Cid/The book and the film

I was recently given a new biography of El Cid, the Spanish 11th Century knight, by Nora Berend, a Cambridge University historian. Her thesis is that Rodrigo de Viva – far rom being a patriot – was a mercenary. She concedes that many of the primary sources are unreliable. However this [...]

January 12, 2025 // 0 Comments

Foreign detective writing

We tend to assume that only English-speaking writers can write detective novels. In Britain the genre is dominated by women – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Marjoriec Allingham and recently Val McDiamid. In fact some interesting detective novels have been written by French writers and [...]

January 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

An Officer And A Spy/Robert Harris

This book came heavily recommended by the podcast The Rest is History as a novel about the Dreyfus affaire that you could read in one sitting. In fact it took me a week, largely because the detail of the various trials were so copious. The scandal is seen – not through the eyes of Alfred [...]

January 4, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Atlas of Art Crime/Laura Evans

Laura Evans subdivides her engaging review of art crime into three categories: 1) Theft 2) Vandalism 3) Forgery In regard to theft you have to have quite a lot of chutzpah to steal a painting to enter a gallery, church or museum and appropriate a picture. The motivation is normally financial but [...]

December 26, 2024 // 0 Comments

Fall/John Preston

This is the story of Robert Maxwell and what a life story it is. Born as Jan Ludvik Hoch in 1923 into an impoverished Czechoslovakian Jewish family who were largely exterminated in the Holocaust, he joined up with the British army liberating Europe, reinvented himself as Captain Robert Maxwell and [...]

December 19, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Day of the Jackal (Sky Atlantic)

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 Fred Zinnermann film with Edward Fox. Frederick Forsyth admitted that he was paid vast amounts of money to do nothing or [...]

December 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

Two art books: Rogues and Scholars/Don’t Tell Sybil

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 to 2000. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the author centres on the two main players – the auction houses Christie’s and [...]

December 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

RECENT MODERN FICTION

The Proof of My Innocence (Jonathan Coe) I am a big Jonathan Coe fan and a new book of his is a great event. This differs from previous novels as it is a detective thriller about the murder of a left wing blogger Christopher Swann at a right wing conference hosted by Lord Wetherby. Coe is a [...]

November 20, 2024 // 0 Comments

One Hell of a Life/biography of Brian Close by Stephen Chalke

Personally, whilst I respected Brian Close, not least for his often reckless courage, he was never a favourite of mine – there was too much of the curmudgeonly Yorkshireman for me. Stephen Chalke is more sympathetic of “Closey”. Close had the longest first class career of any [...]

October 19, 2024 // 0 Comments

Taste/Stanley Tucci: My Life Through Food (2021)

Stanley Tucci is a successful film actor who has made a second career of out his great interest in – and love of – food. I first became aware of this through his TV programmes travelling to different cities and reporting on their cuisine. He develops this in his book starting with [...]

October 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

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Smith or Smith

January 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

I followed the Radio London commentary of the Harlequins 24 Glasgow Warriors 7 match, being unwilling to lay out £25 monthly for broadcaster Premium Sports. So I cannot give [...]
The Tanner Report: Leicester City 0 Fulham 2

January 19, 2025 // 0 Comments

Though this was not the most exciting of games it was a vital one. Fulham had drawn 6 of their last 9 games and doubts existed why we fared so well against team above us [...]
Match of the Day new presenters

January 18, 2025 // 0 Comments

Alex Jay-Kerski’s (BBC Director of Sport) garlanding of the three new Match Of The Day presenters (Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman) reminded me of the line in the [...]
Ipswich 0 Brighton 2

January 17, 2025 // 0 Comments

Brighton ended their 8 match Premier run without a win with a hard-fought but unattractive victory at Portman Road. Brighton have been bedevilled by injuries: Igor, Danny [...]
The Tanner Report: West Ham 3 Fulham 2

January 15, 2025 // 0 Comments

You can lose a game because the opposition is superior or through bad luck (a deflection, an injury or a poor refereeing decision) or through sloppiness. This match was lost [...]