Books

The Radical Potter/Sir Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain/ Tristram Hunt

Sir Josiah Wedgwood was arguably the finest businessman this country has ever produced. He mastered every aspect of the pottery business from manufacture to design, from marketing to logistics. As an example, bad road surfaces created breakages in transportation from Burslem, the first factory in [...]

October 18, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is more than a page-turning who done it. The author who wrote The Undoing, which was dramatised on television with Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in the leading roles, lampoons the writers world of creative writing, publishing and best sellers. The central character [...]

September 2, 2021 // 0 Comments

Lord Dismiss Us

It’s an interesting discussion which actually took place on Radio 4’s A Good Read on reaction to re-reading an old favourite. With this in mind, I recently read for the third time Lord Dismiss Us by Michael Campbell. The novel, which I suspect is strongly biographical, is set in [...]

August 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

WRITE AROUND THE WORLD (BBC 4)

The last episode in this excellent series featured Andalusia and writings thereon. Throughout Richard E Grant has been a superb presenter: enthusiastic, well-informed and – above all – he does not get in between the viewer and the subject. Blessed with a beautiful voice his readings [...]

August 18, 2021 // 0 Comments

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

Inspired by the excellent Ken Burns documentary of Ernest Hemingway I decided to read one of his works. For Whom the Bell tolls I read at school and found it heavy going. Farewell to Arms I knew the story from the film. I’m not a reader of short stories so I plumped for the audio version of The [...]

July 30, 2021 // 0 Comments

Cricketing Lives/Richard H. Thomas

This is less a compendium of the lives of colourful cricketers than a broad sweep of cricketing history to the present day. Charlie Blythe It’s well informed, witty and entertaining but did not tell me much I did not already know. It’s particularly interesting on Victorian cricket, an era [...]

July 20, 2021 // 0 Comments

Recent fiction: Barcelona Dreaming & Widowland

Both the above two books – written by Rupert Thomson and C.L. Carey – were favourably reviewed but I had not heard of either author. Barcelona Dreaming is three interlocking short stories set in modern Barcelona. In the first Amy, who has a curio shop, meets a young Moroccan outside [...]

July 14, 2021 // 0 Comments

A Good Read

An interesting issue was raised in this week’s Good Read on Radio 4 presented by Harriet Gilbert – namely, you can enjoy a book at one period of your life but not in another. She gave as her example The Franchise Affaire by Josephine Tey. I read a lot of Christopher Isherwood as a kid [...]

July 8, 2021 // 0 Comments

Napoleon’s Plunder and the Theft of Veronese’s Feast/Cynthia Salzman

This is an account by Cynthia Salzman of the appropriation of Paolo Veronese’s Wedding Feat of Cana in 1796 by Napoleon. The painting hung on the refectory wall of the Santa Maggiore church in Venice commissioned by the Benedictine Order. Napoleon , just 26, had conquered most of the Italian [...]

July 2, 2021 // 0 Comments

Hemingway/BBC 4

A new Ken Burns documentary is worth waiting for though not worth missing England v Germany as it clashed. You know that the production values will be high and he will lay out the facts in a non-judgemental way. By contrast the Channel 4 type of documentary, normally on the royals, will be more of [...]

July 1, 2021 // 0 Comments

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Brighton 1 Manchester City 4

October 24, 2021 // 0 Comments

Before this match I jotted down the City midfield : Phil Foden Kevin De Bruyne Mahrez Gundoyan Fernandinho Silva Jack Grealish I must have left someone out. It was Rodri. So [...]
My art week

October 23, 2021 // 0 Comments

No exhibitions nor art on telly this week but two fascinating lessons in our art course. In the first – on British art and visual culture 1950 to the present – we [...]
A la Colthard/Rockwater

October 22, 2021 // 0 Comments

Readers will recall my wariness of restaurants with great views. The Rockwater is one such and where I lunched yesterday. It is situated on the esplanade at Hove and from our [...]
The Tanner Report: Fulham 2 Cardiff 0

October 21, 2021 // 0 Comments

This was a necessary and satisfactory win though not an inspiring one. Necessary as Scott Parker’s Bournemouth were beginning to pull away at the top of the [...]
Greens out of their depth

October 20, 2021 // 0 Comments

It is ironic – though Brighton and Hove residents would probably use another word – that Brighton’s Green Council cannot resolve the binmens’ strike. So [...]