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Men

What is – and is not – equality in elite sport

My effort today – which will no doubt make me few new friends or fans from the section of the community that might self-describe itself as the young, the diverse and/or the “woke” – is a simple statement of some of the factual and indeed inevitable practical issues faced by the general [...]

April 5, 2023 // 0 Comments

A Bridge Too Far

I nicknamed this Richard Attenborough film An Hour Too Long as length is one of its problems. The other is the assemblage of stars – Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Lawrence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, Liv Ullmann, Robert Redford, James Caan, Elliot Gould, Maximilian Schell, Hardy Kruger, Edward [...]

April 2, 2023 // 0 Comments

Watching the world from the top of a hill

Despite the global dominance and enormous commercial success of the Rust – and to the surprise of some, the breadth of its demographic appeal – it remains the case that a core viewpoint amongst its regular contributors tends to be that of those beyond the first flush of youth. As the festive [...]

January 2, 2023 // 0 Comments

Elite female sport 2022: a year of big advances but also some complications

Over time it has become a bit of a cliché, but “back in the day” – when comic Frankie Howard (1917-1992) was a British household name milking his “conspiratorial” relationship with his stand-up audiences and/or television viewers – he often compounded the effect by chiding them for [...]

December 23, 2022 // 0 Comments

The memorial service for Ken Howard

Last Tuesday I attended the memorial service for Ken Howard which took place at St James Church Piccadilly and afterwards at the Royal  Academy. The church memorial takes an hour into which time you have to fit in prayers and the life of the person, in the case of Ken a full and long one. An [...]

December 8, 2022 // 0 Comments

In Our Time/Wilfred Owen

One of my favourite wireless programmes is In Our Time presented by Melvyn Bragg at 9-00 on Radio 4 every Thursday. The topic varies weekly and Bragg assembles a team of academics well-qualified to discuss it. Yesterday’s programme featured the World War poet Wilfred Owen. My connection with [...]

October 30, 2022 // 0 Comments

The funeral of Ken Howard

Yesterday I travelled up to London for the funeral of the painter Ken Howard. The service was at St Mary’s Church,The Boltons, and the burial in the cemetery between Brompton and Fulham Road. Organised religion occupies the key points in life: birth (the christening service), manhood confirmation [...]

October 4, 2022 // 0 Comments

Robin Marlar

I was sad to hear of the passing of Robin Marlar whom I met just 2 weeks ago at Ted Dexter’s memorial. Most people cannot manage one successful career but Robin succeeded in three: distinguished cricketer for Sussex; Times cricket correspondent; recruitment consultant. In all three he was a [...]

October 3, 2022 // 0 Comments

Tribute to Ted Dexter

Yesterday I attended a MCC tribute in the Long Room at Lords to Ted Dexter. I felt honoured to be invited as – although I had got to know Ted well these past few years and his charming wife Sue too  in Nice-  I had not expected to be invited to such a gathering of cricketing luminaries. I [...]

September 17, 2022 // 0 Comments

Ken Howard (1932-2022)

I was more than saddened to hear my old friend Ken Howard has passed away. A brilliant painter of light with an ebullient personality, Ken was the son of a Kilburn carpenter. He got his breakthrough as an artist covering ‘The Troubles’, commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, though not [...]

September 13, 2022 // 0 Comments

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