Arts

Fry Gallery/Saffron Walden

Friday I visited the Fry Gallery to see Eric Ravilious and the other artists of the nearby colony of Great Bardfield which included Edward Bawden and John Aldridge whose work was also exhibited. It’s a small museum of basically one room which is also a shop. Eric Ravilious was a Sussex painter [...]

June 30, 2024 // 0 Comments

All That Glitters/Orlando Whitfield

This is an account of the friendship between two art dealers – Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrook – who met at Goldsmiths College. After an internship at the White Cube Gallery of mega-successful art dealer Jay Jopling, Inigo Philbrook made a fortune as a dealer in the secondary [...]

June 23, 2024 // 0 Comments

US Open

Having backed Bryson DeChambeau I must have been one of the few Britons not rooting for Rory McIlroy in the US Open. It was the stuff of great golf. Two guys fighting it out “mano v mano” like the epic struggles between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson in Turnberry in 1976 (“The Duel [...]

June 17, 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

Carmen/ Glyndebourne

In the 10 years since I have been going regularly to Glyndebourne, first as an associate member and now a full one, the place, experience and productions have all changed significantly. The most significant change is the relaxation of the dress code: one visitor for Carmen last Wednesday was [...]

June 14, 2024 // 0 Comments

Shape of Things/Pallant Gallery Chichester

Once again the Pallant has come up trumps with its latest exhibition showcasing still life. In the past they have resuscitated the reputations of an artist (e.g. John Minton and Glyn Philpott) but this time a genre – still life. For many years still life was below history, portraiture and [...]

June 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

Berlin/PBS documentary

My TV channel of choice for evening viewing is PBS America for its outstanding documentaries. This was the second part of a documentary on Berlin the city. In World War Two the Red Army was the first to Berlin and subjected what citizens were left – mainly children and women – to [...]

June 4, 2024 // 0 Comments

Film Noir

Tim Young, an old friend of mine, has written a comprehensive – though mercifully brief – study of film noir entitled A Black Pool Opened up at My Feet and I Dived In: Film Noir: The cinematic language of 1940s America. Probably the modern meaning is ‘dark’. It’s perhaps easier to [...]

May 31, 2024 // 0 Comments

Beryl Cook

Many years ago I was at the National Theatre for a play I have long forgot. In the interval I went to their bookshop and came across THE WORKS by Beryl Cook. The cover alone reduced my theatre-going companion and myself to uncontrollable hysterics. Beryl Cook occupies a unique spot on art as she is [...]

May 15, 2024 // 0 Comments

Titanic lives/Richard Davenport-Hines

The Titanic sank 112 years and 1 month ago but it’s still an iconic event and I have often wondered why. It must be the sheer tragedy of the greatest liner of its age sinking on its maiden voyage and/or the film which launched the career of Kate Winslet and/or the horror of rich and poor [...]

May 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

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Lee movie (2023)

September 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

Yesterday I finally got to see Lee. Enjoyed would be the wrong word as her pictures of the campaign after the Normandy landings – and Dachau – were searing, but [...]
Cineworld

September 14, 2024 // 0 Comments

The heading above should have been Lee as I intended to see that film on its release date at the 5-00pm performance. However, on arrival at my local Cineworld, I was [...]
Sussex win in the cold

September 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

I went to Hove yesterday and left at midday as I could not take the icy wind. The championship has been book-ended with a chilly spring and autumn. Still, Sussex easily beat [...]
Tempus Fugit, as we always knew it did …

September 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

From time to time on this organ – or indeed sometimes (in real life) quite by chance, perhaps when either undertaking some trivial domestic task or reading a newspaper [...]
Jamaica Inn/Daphne du Maurier

September 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

oAfter reading non-fiction it was a pleasure to return to a Daphne du Maurier novel I had not read. Jamaica Inn showcases Daphne du Maurer’s ability as a writer: she can [...]