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The Tanner Report: Everton 1 Fulham 1

There are few things more disappointing than conceding a late goal – just like scoring one is one of the spectator’s greatest joys. A late goal tends to discolour the performance as Fulham played well and deserved to win. Although we are settled mid-table in tenth place the question needs [...]

October 27, 2024 // 0 Comments

Rugby union’s medical crisis

In the context of moves in both the northern and Southern Hemispheres towards a global rugby union season – and a slew of potential (increasingly radical) changes in the laws of the game apparently being floated that might make it more spectator/viewer-friendly and thereby more profitable [...]

October 22, 2024 // 0 Comments

Premiership rugby v Premiership Football

Yesterday I watched Leicester Tigers v Gloucester Rugby (26-24) and Liverpool v Chelsea (2-1). Before the latter game Pargie called to say that the odds were favourable to back against Liverpool and a wager enlivens the game. I decided to watch from a different perspective, namely which offered the [...]

October 21, 2024 // 0 Comments

Harlequins 24 Bath Rugby 26

Quins lost this thrilling encounter in the dying embers of the game. Whilst this is not the formidable Bath side of Gary Chilcott and  Jeremy Guscott they are still an excellent team with the likes of Sam Underhill, Finn Russell and Ollie Lawrence well coached by South African Johan van Graan. [...]

October 20, 2024 // 0 Comments

One Hell of a Life/biography of Brian Close by Stephen Chalke

Personally, whilst I respected Brian Close, not least for his often reckless courage, he was never a favourite of mine – there was too much of the curmudgeonly Yorkshireman for me. Stephen Chalke is more sympathetic of “Closey”. Close had the longest first class career of any [...]

October 19, 2024 // 0 Comments

Auction houses v Art dealers

Yesterday I spent the whole of my afternoon following the Christie’s auction of Modern British and Irish Art. The famous auction house has adapted to the digital age by holding auctions online. It attracts a more global audience but I felt some of the bidding tension one experiences in the room [...]

October 18, 2024 // 0 Comments

Taste/Stanley Tucci: My Life Through Food (2021)

Stanley Tucci is a successful film actor who has made a second career of out his great interest in – and love of – food. I first became aware of this through his TV programmes travelling to different cities and reporting on their cuisine. He develops this in his book starting with [...]

October 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

3 art views

I’m sometimes asked whether I have visited any of the big art exhibitions in London right now – the Van Gogh at the National Gallery, the Francis Bacon at the National Portrait Gallery and the Claude Monet at the Courtauld. The answer is an emphatic “No” as these block buster [...]

October 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

Celebrating 10 years at the Rust

Last week was my tenth year as wine correspondent of The Rust and I enjoyed a bottle of Supertuscan Sassicaia with the editor. It was my choice of wine as it nicely illustrates the cycle of wine fashion. I drank it first in the late 1970s when a friend invited me to their family home in Tuscany [...]

October 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Art of Cinema/Sky Arts

Last week’s programme presented by Ian Nathan focussed on script supervisors, once called ‘continuity girls’. These provide an essential input by creating the illusion of reality in a film and avoiding ‘bloopers’. Clive James once presented a programme on Saturday mornings [...]

October 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

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