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Arts

Can we fast-forward exactly twelve months please?

Well, thank God that’s over – and I don’t even believe in Him! You can call me Scrooge, or worse, if you like but I always find the second half of December going into the New Year as an ordeal and this one’s been no different to any other. It’s one of the most challenging periods of the [...]

January 2, 2017 // 0 Comments

Spotting fakes

When Bob Tickler emailed me to say he was in negotiation to buy a lithograph by Marc Chagall, I advised him to be careful as the market is awash with fakes. With modern techniques you can produce a replica which even the most discerning of art expert would have difficulty in recognising as a [...]

December 31, 2016 // 0 Comments

One that just keeps going

These days I am no longer a habitual listener to radio but that doesn’t prevent me having fond nostalgic memories of The Goons, Radio Luxembourg, Two Way Family Favourites, Radio One’s (Alan Freeman) pop chart show, Round The Horne and I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again from my [...]

December 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

The art(ifice) of staying relevant

Overnight the news came through that Hungarian actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor had died at the age of 99 from heart-related issues. In the public consciousness she seemed to rank in what might be described as the second division of pneumatic movie blonde actresses from the 1940s to 1960s: I’m [...]

December 19, 2016 // 0 Comments

House of Cards ( US version)

I have been a bit late on Netflix, indeed if they did not inform me that after I cancelled a credit card they had difficulty in taking my sub, I would not even had known it was feature of my tv package. I have seen most of their scanty international films and enjoyed Marseilles. So recalling the UK [...]

December 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

Blue and Lonesome – review

Last week I posted briefly about the imminent launch of the Rolling Stones’ new album Blue and Lonesome, an unexpected but (for some) welcome return to their early roots in blues and rhythm and blues. This further report comes in the wake of at last receiving my Amazon pre-ordered copy which I [...]

December 5, 2016 // 0 Comments

Park your indignation and simply wallow in it

It’s that time of year again. This week has seen the publication of the shortlist (or is it nominees?) for the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year charade that takes place every December and already we’ve got a raft of holier-than-thou journalists, representatives of B-list sports and inevitably [...]

November 30, 2016 // 0 Comments

The Spanish Game/Charles Cumming

My recent reviews of the Charles Cumming espionage novels reflect an admiration for this novelist. Indeed I would have put this admiration as high as nominating him as the successor to John le Carre. So I read an earlier one of his  called The Spanish Game and having just finished it I am less [...]

November 25, 2016 // 0 Comments

Films in the sky

There are those who cannot bear flying but I love being in that parallel world that lacks time and location being pampered and above all watching films. Thus it was that I had to make a 7 hour and then 5 hour flight on Emirates and the first thing I looked for on the entertainment screen was the [...]

November 23, 2016 // 0 Comments

They’re always playing ‘START ME UP’ somewhere …

Being a fan of old-style Rhythm & Blues – rather than the modern hip-hop variety – I’ve been a fan/follower of the Rolling Stones down the ages ever since they first crossed my radar, probably at some point in 1963 a few weeks or months after the Beatles. I won’t provide here a summary [...]

November 23, 2016 // 0 Comments

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