History
Managerial merry go round
Fabian Hürzeler is the latest Head Coach to feel the pressure. He was booed on Sunday after Brighton’s disappointing loss to arch-rivals Crystal Palace. I composed with Alan Tanner a list of possible sacking and resignations namely:- Eddie Howe Scott Parker Sean Dyche Thomas Frank [...]
Beryl Cook
Many years ago I went to the National Theatre with a good friend who alas has now passed. I remember her but not the production. In the interval we wondered around the NT bookshop and were struck by the cover of a book called ‘THE WORKS” by Beryl Cook. Its cover – of two [...]
Tv drama: new and old
I watched the final episode of “THE NIGHT MANAGER” and was disappointed. Aside from the acting of Hugh Laurie as Richard Roper, the amoral arms dealer, there was little to engage and no improvement on the original. It bore all the formulaic trademarks of modern drama; incessant gizmos [...]
Sunday TV sport
Normally of a Sunday morning I take a bracing walk by the sea but, in the face of driving rain, I watched the final of the Australian tennis Open instead. Those who know more about Grand Slam tennis than me advise that the Australian Open is the best of the four. Wimbledon is too “up [...]
A Matter of Life and Death (1945)
Emetic Pressburger and Michael Powell were amongst our greatest filmmakers. “COLONEL BLIMP” is a classic and so is “A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH“, which was on BBC2 yesterday. The story is surreal. David Niven plays Squadron Leader George Carter, who bails out of his plane [...]
Biographies
I recently moved from reading fiction to biography. Why do readers like biographies? The obvious explanation is the desire to know more about the subject and the times in which he/she lived. My own interest lies slightly elsewhere – namely, would I like to have met the subject? The first [...]
Foyle’s War
They say a book improves in its second reading. I am now on my – at least third – viewing of “FOYLE’S WAR” and. if anything, am more impressed than ever by its script, acting and attention to detail. It’s written and directed by the celebrated writer Anthony Horowitz [...]
The Tanner Report: Burnley 2 Fulham 3
You would have to be a Fulham fan aged over 90 to be present the last time that Fulham won at Burnley at Turf Moor which happened in the early 1950s, 75 years ago. Fulham broke the hoodoo last night but there were many paradoxes. Fulham’s Harry Wilson is on hot form with 4 goals in our last 7 [...]