Books

Re-heating old stories

My apologies for returning again to the subject of supposedly ‘new’ historical revelations – specifically my objection to them being used to gain publicity for new books (or new editions of old books) etc. – again, but I am minded to do so by a letter that appears in The [...]

December 31, 2014 // 0 Comments

Could do better

There is a film coming out shortly – Testament Of Youth – a new screen version of Vera Brittain’s memorable tale of her life and loves during WW1. As part of the publicity surrounding its launch, a good deal of media attention has been given to a new biography of her – [...]

December 28, 2014 // 3 Comments

Lords: a pictorial celebration

Sports photography is a neglected art so Andrew Strauss is to be congratulated in selecting 200 photographs to celebrate Lords in this pictorial celebration. It traces the history of Lords from its founder Thomas Lord to the era of the bearded doctor WG Grace and the present day. Lords is unusual [...]

December 17, 2014 // 0 Comments

ebooks v physical books

There was an interesting interview with James Daunt in the Financial Times on Saturday. Slowly he is turning around Waterstone which was in dire straits. This is important as Daunts, which he founded, and Waterstone which has a high street presence are vital for the selling and survival of physical [...]

December 1, 2014 // 0 Comments

An intriguing possibility?

Yesterday I drove to the south coast in order to spend the weekend with my father. Despite the waterlogged lawn and the evident puddles on many surrounding roads, the South-East has been experiencing some remarkably mild weather recently as December approaches. We spent the late morning sitting out [...]

November 30, 2014 // 0 Comments

Lamentation /CJ Sansom

Hilary Mantel has won acclaim for Wolf Hall and Bring up The Bodies but I believe CJ Sansom to be the better author on the England of Henry V111. His latest Lamentation features Matthew Shardlake the chancery lawyer who appears in all of his 6 Henry v111 novels. This features two story [...]

November 18, 2014 // 0 Comments

Well fancy that!

At the end of a fairly hectic weekend, yesterday for want of anything better to do I prepared a light supper and settled down to watch BBC1’s Countryfile programme which was being transmitted at 6.30pm after the early evening news. It turned out to be a World War One special, with three of the [...]

November 10, 2014 // 0 Comments

The hare with amber eyes

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal is a book of which I have heard but never read. In November I am going Vienna to do The Third Man film tour so I decided to prep up and finally read it. I was not too sure if it was a work of fiction or fact or why it was esteemed so much prior to my [...]

October 11, 2014 // 0 Comments

Popularity in the arts

In recent posts in the Rust, popularity in the arts has been discussed in the context of Daphne du Maurier ‘s writing and Edward Seago. Popularity itself does not mean a writer or artist is second rate. Critics who often fail to make living from their art or writing are sometimes scathing [...]

September 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

Edward Seago

Edward Seago was a popular artist, led an interesting life and knew well circus performers as well as the Royal Family but sadly the biography by Jean Goodman does him little justice. It is billed as as a wider canvas drawing on the writings of his brother John a humane trapper of animals in Kenya. [...]

September 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

« 1 … 30 31 32 33 34 … 36 »

ITV COVERAGE OF CHELTENHAM

March 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

I am in the camp of watching on tv rather than attending for the 3 Cs: cost , convenience and comfort. With the cost of travelling and attending Cheltenham and last [...]
Max Schmelling/ The Good German

March 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

In the unlikely event that I would be asked to nominate a Great Life on Matthew Parris ‘ show my choice would be the Black Uhlan Max Schmelling. In the 1930s thee [...]
The Tanner Report : Fulham 2 spurs 1

March 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Prior to Fulham ‘s comfortable win over Spurs (2-1) I watched the big match Revisited featuring Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2 i guess in the early 70s It would be foolish to [...]
The Six Nations

February 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Six Nations continues to throw up surprises. England could not bounce back against Ireland , a resurgent Wales gave Scotland à close game with the Millennium Stadium [...]
Brentford 0 Brighton 2

February 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

The heat is off Fabian Hürzeler with Brighton ‘s 1st win in 13 games. Club owner Tony Bloom was not at the G Tech stadium due to a long planned family engagement but had [...]