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Review: NOISES OFF (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Having never been a frequent cinema or theatre goer myself – though no stranger to these art forms I would never describe myself as a devoted fan of either – it would be presumptuous of me to assume the role of critic, which is why in this piece I purport to do no more than record my [...]

January 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

Smith v Farrell

There was an interesting debate in The Sunday Times at the weekend between Stephen Jones and Stuart Barnes on Marcus Smith. Jones is no fan and doubts whether Smith should ever be selected for England, whilst Barnes is. It’s no longer such an live issue as, with Farrell reportedly in negotiations [...]

January 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

Great Collectors of Our Time/James Stourton

Published in 2007 and covering the post-War period this is a thorough account of the Great Collectors. Many – like Paul Getty, Paul Mellon,  the Rothschilds and Giovanni Agnelli have huge wealth – others like Peggy Guggenheim a brilliant eye but less funds to acquire, although she was [...]

January 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

Two unwatchable films/Maestro & Saltburn

If Maestro and Saltburn are acclaimed as two of the best films of 2023 I would not like to see the two worst. I thought Maestro was the biopic of Leonard Bernstein but it is not; it is the story of his marriage his wife played by Carey Mulligan. She occupies the film stage front, left and centre [...]

January 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

West Ham 0 Brighton 0

The only person that could have been pleased by this dull goalless draw was our own Pargie who backed it. Brighton – down to the walking wounded because of an ever-lengthening injury list, not helped by Asian Cup and African Cup of Nation calls -arguably had the better against a luck-lustre [...]

January 3, 2024 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: Novellinos and The Regency

Novellinos is a kosher restaurant owned by Tony Bloom and situated in the synagogue at Hove. I had hoped it was a New York style delicatessen but it’s more bistro food. I ordered a salt beef sandwich (£14) and the meat was rather dry. As you might expect, the clientele is almost exclusively [...]

December 26, 2023 // 0 Comments

Rugby Union in England – heading for a crisis?

Based upon history and indeed ongoing current evidence, it might be thought by some sports lovers that somehow “it comes with the territory” that – to one degree or another – every field of endeavour, activity or game with serious pretensions to being a truly global sport [...]

December 22, 2023 // 0 Comments

Ipswich 2 Norwich 2

I have a few good friends who support Ipswich so I watched on Sky yesterday what is wittily known as “the Old Farm Derby”. There must be some clever copywriters out there composing names for derbies as Brighton v Southampton is called the El Coastico. Mind you, these derbies are serious [...]

December 17, 2023 // 0 Comments

Al la Colthard/both ends of the spectrum.

Last week I was in London which was hellish because of the crowds but had two meals that were memorable for different reasons. The first was in Chinatown at Haozhan with a girl friend of many years. I knew she would offer to pay her share but likes value and Haozhan ticked all the boxes. We had [...]

December 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

A horrendous journey

Yesterday, because of the rail strike, I was forced to take the National Express coach from my native Brighton to London. Being a seasoned traveller and stickler for punctuality – on this occasion a lunch at 1-00pm – I did some preliminary planning. The 9-05am bus service was – on [...]

December 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

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