Hotels

Towards Zero and White Lotus

These TV dramatisations on BBC and Sky Atlantic reflect the great divide between the two broadcasters. Time was when the BBC drama department produced such cutting edge plays as Cathy Come Home and TV playwrights like Dennis Potter, but Towards Zero was sterile. Having read every Agatha Christie [...]

March 12, 2025 // 0 Comments

Chewton Glen Hotel

I had a traditional, typical Xmas – i.e. a ghastly one. Our son Tarquin, now married, stayed with his wife Hyacinth and their two young children. Our other son – Humphrey – arrived with his new girlfriend Bracken. Bracken, a moody, pouting girl, made it quite clear that she did [...]

January 3, 2025 // 0 Comments

First day in Madrid

Picking up where Nancy left off we arrived at Madrid’s Barajas airport without incident. I would note that security at Gatwick was oppressive with the staff delighting in confiscating liquid items such as Bob’s perspirants and shaving foam. I also noted that dress standards had dropped. Time [...]

November 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Tea at the Grand Brighton

In all the years I have been reviewing for The Rust I have never covered afternoon tea though it is now a popular though not inexpensive experience: Bob Tickler’s charming P/A Polly once paid £200 for tea at a high end London hotel. This may be as hotels are still recovering financially from [...]

November 1, 2024 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/The Pig on South Downs

I have visited this restaurant several times and yesterday went there with an old friend in the advertising industry who knows his food and wine. From the moment we arrived at the attractive hotel in Madehurst near Chichester he was impressed. There was a mix up with the booking dates (my fault!!!) [...]

September 26, 2024 // 0 Comments

Stamford

After a relaxing and enjoyable stay with some old friends, I decided to visit for the first time the Lincolnshire town of Stamford. Stamford was originally the refuelling place for the coach and horses trip to Scotland. It also has the palatial home of William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I’s most [...]

July 2, 2024 // 0 Comments

London/2024

Ten years ago I made the momentous decision to leave London for the south coast. A good friend at the time advised me that if it did not work out – as clearly he thought it would happen then – I would be back within 2 years and have to deal with increased property prices. In fact, [...]

June 21, 2024 // 0 Comments

Seven Days in North Africa

About a month ago – after a frenetic period of activity and incoming commitments, several of them originally unplanned and/or ‘imposed’ at very short notice by third parties both family and otherwise – She Who Must Be Obeyed and your author decided that we were desirous of “stepping [...]

July 31, 2023 // 0 Comments

The end of the journey

Yesterday I travelled back from Nice on Easyjet. It made me think how much air travel has changed in my lifetime. When I first took a plane in the 1960s there were no budget airlines and the choice was Air France or British European Airways. There was a first class and standard. Nice only had one [...]

April 29, 2023 // 0 Comments

a la Colthard/The Spread Eagle Midhurst

There was something reassuring about this traditional hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex, where my room had a proper key – not a card – the service was friendly but professional and there were floral china cups. Upon arriving last Sunday I ate smoked salmon and egg sandwiches with a glass [...]

November 2, 2022 // 0 Comments

1 2 3 … 9 »

Inventing Post Impressionism/Charleston

March 27, 2025 // 0 Comments

Yesterday I went to Charleston near Lewes for the exhibition Inventing Post Impressionism. The connection between Charleston and Post Impressionism is the art critic Roger [...]
Recent TV dramas

March 26, 2025 // 0 Comments

I was delighted that Ten Pound Poms – about the British emigration to Australia in the 1950s – is now in its second series. I can claim a connection as my [...]
Weekend TV sport

March 24, 2025 // 0 Comments

With no Premiership or Championship soccer taking place you might have thought some of the internationals between European titans (e.g. Netherlands v Spain or Italy v [...]
Judgment at Tokyo/Gary Bass

March 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

Gary Bass, a Princeton historian, has written a magisterial and definitive work on the tribunal constituted by Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur to try the main forces [...]
Greta Scacchi

March 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

One of the reasons why I enjoy the repeats of Bergerac is the casting of the young actors and actresses who appear on it. In the first series – made in 1981 – [...]