Just in

Life

Adult Book/Malcolm Knox

If i were to describe this novel in one word it would be scabrous. Malcolm Knox is a Sydney journalist and the novel is set in its North  Shore. It features the Brand family. John is a doctor who died age 62 after becoming  a porn addict. He has 3 sons by his ambitious wife Margaret: Davis, also [...]

July 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Crab & Lobster (Sidlesham)

Yesterday I arranged lunch with an old friend – a scion of the advertising industry who is well used to fashionable London restaurants. So I was slightly apprehensive about how he would react to a gastro pub in Sidlesham to the south of Chichester particularly as it was raining. This did not [...]

July 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

Euros 2024 Final: Spain 2 England 1

So in the end England came up short to a technically superior side. They could not come back. This England team has determination and, even though they may say that a goal line clearance deprived them of a draw, Spain had many more goal opportunities in the second half. Analyst Chris Sutton [...]

July 15, 2024 // 0 Comments

A sporting Saturday on the sofa

Saturday was my normal sports-fest watching two marvellous rugby internationals and the highlights of the Tour de France. First up was the second Test match at Eden Park, Auckland where the All Blacks are undefeated for 30 years. Though England ran up a small lead their young side never looked [...]

July 14, 2024 // 0 Comments

Sporting heroes

My newspaper of choice is The Times. My routine is to buy the paper version, skim-read the sports section and – to fight off dementia – do the quiz and chess puzzle. There is a section on the Euros within Section 2 largely dedicated to the Arts. Yesterday the section padded out the [...]

July 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on the Euros, Test and Tour

England beat Netherlands courtesy of a late outstanding goal by Ollie Watkins and some favourable refereeing. Many of us watching were surely baffled by the first half decision to award a penalty after a vigorous but seemingly fair challenge by Denzyl Dumfries on Harry Kane. In the second half, [...]

July 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

Richie Benaud’s Blue Suede Shoes/David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts

This is the story of a classic Ashes series in 1961 in the context of two very different captains Peter May and Richie Benaud. Peter May (Charterhouse and Cambridge) was more patrician, a classical batsman but cold and distant from his men. Richie Benaud was an adventurous captain but also a [...]

July 8, 2024 // 0 Comments

WW2: War in Crete/PBS

Pursuing my interest in the less well-known theatres of World War Two, I followed with much interest and no little enjoyment the PBS documentary of the Crete Campaign. Crete was in 1941 the largest airborne invasion ever by the elite Wehrmacht paratroops known as the Fallschirmjager. The Allied [...]

July 7, 2024 // 0 Comments

The weekend sport (so far)

On Friday I watched the first of the Euro quarter finals. Spain v Germany matched the recent champions against the hosts in which the former came on top. It was a vibrant, full-blooded game which tipped into nasty when Tony Kroos put Pedri out for the rest of the tournament. I thought Spain [...]

July 7, 2024 // 0 Comments

Burghley House

I joined Daffers for the trip to Burghley House. The grounds are staggering. We must have walked for half an hour through parklands before we reached the House itself. I decided to leave the more ornate gardens for my next visit. It was a long walk back to the hotel and no benches for our weary [...]

July 3, 2024 // 0 Comments

1 21 22 23 24 25 342