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And here (possibly) is one he made earlier

Most Rusters will be at least aware of the infamous Salvador Mundi, the subject of one of the art world’s all time greatest controversies, which – if legend is to be believed –  currently resides upon a massive super yacht owned by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin [...]

September 10, 2021 // 0 Comments

The upsurge in chess

There has been an upsurge in chess for 2 reasons; the success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit and more playing on chess sites like chess.com on the internet during the pandemic. A few years ago I played in the RAC chess club and on our board one courteous banker launched, as a whim and [...]

September 8, 2021 // 0 Comments

Cathy Come Home

As I have been comparing unfavourably contemporary TV drama to that of the past I thought I should revisit Cathy Come Home which I have now re-seen. It started life as a Wednesday Play produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, the writer was Jeremy Sandford, husband of novelist Nell [...]

September 7, 2021 // 0 Comments

Leg over… 30 years on

Can it really be 30 years ago that Brian Johnston and Jonathan Agnew ‘lost it’ on air in a fit of giggles after the description of Ian Botham losing his wicket as ‘he could not quite get his leg over’? Well it was and one of the most famous events in broadcasting was celebrated in the [...]

September 6, 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

Vigil/BBC One

The problem with contemporary BBC drama is that it is all too predictable. There is invariably a stressed-out but assertive woman detective, normally gay, who confronts successfully the male establishment. In this case the detective Amy (Suzanne Jones) is literally dropped into a nuclear submarine [...]

August 31, 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

Going going gone

For Xmas Alice Mansfield gave me an art board game called Going Going Gone in which you have to build up an art collection. This is chiefly done by acquiring in auction art works from various periods namely renaissance, baroque, impressionism, modernism, surrealism, pop, installation, contemporary [...]

August 24, 2021 // 0 Comments

Canaletto at the Holburne

As I left the Holburne museum in Bath I heard two men say of Canaletto: “They all look the same …” It’s a crude description but has some merit to it. Caneletto was a commercial painter sponsored by a clever, very wealthy businessman Joseph Smith, the English consul of Venice in [...]

August 20, 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

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