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Oliver!/Chichester Festival Theatre

Oliver! is an unusual basis for a musical as the story of Oliver Twist is heart-rendingly sad and grim till the ending. So much so that one friend of mine, though a lover of musicals, cannot bear to see it. The early scene in the workhouse and funeral parlour are so depressingly sad and young [...]

August 29, 2024 // 0 Comments

Natural talent versus coached

Prior to the beginning of the First Test, on TMS that know-all Michael Vaughan was holding forth on his view that the primacy of Australia, England and India enabled them to coach their best talent and thereby it was not a level cricket field. I agree with the first contention – but not the [...]

August 25, 2024 // 0 Comments

Marriages (on film and TV)

Having been married to my Rosie – or Roz as she is known – for 45 years I do give a lot of thought to long term matrimony. The best portrayal of a long marriage is that of Horace Rumpole to Hilda. The Rumpole series are shown on Talking Pictures and, irony of ironies given that the [...]

August 23, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Reunion/Radio 4

The Reunion is back on Sunday mornings. Once presented by Sue McGregor – a superb broadcaster – it’s now in the hands of Kirsty Wark. The rationale is to look back at an event and invite some of the main actors in it to discuss and review it. Yesterday’s event was the [...]

August 19, 2024 // 0 Comments

Horace de Vere Cole

There is no better company than a real English eccentric and they do not come more eccentric than Horace de Vere Cole. From Irish aristocratic lineage, he went to Eton and Trinity College Cambridge and fought in the Boer War. He was the greatest prankster of the Edwardian age. Memorably, he [...]

August 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

Brief Encounter

In their Classic Movies series the Sky Arts film critics (Ian Nathan, Mel Norman and Steven Armstrong) reviewed Brief  Encounter, a Noel Coward and David Lean joint production. It raises the question as to whether or not a film made in 1945 is dated , a period piece or a timeless classic. Clearly [...]

August 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

Worrell/Simon Lister

This biography serves as an illuminating follow up to Who Only Cricket Knows.   Frank Worrell was the first black cricketer to captain the West Indies for a full series. A member of the three Ws triumvirate Caribbean; Clyde Walcott, who like Worrell went to Combermere school, and Everton Weekes [...]

August 10, 2024 // 0 Comments

Fascist lack of UK leadership

My late father was a keen observer of politics and life. Though I never knew him to read a newspaper he was always remarkably well informed. I had many interesting and informative conversations with him about growing up in Hackney in the 1930s. I asked him about the Fascist Marches. He replied that [...]

August 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

Great British failures

The failure to win gold by Team GB’s Matthew Hudson Smith was the 3rd such one after Adam Peaty and Josh Kerr. You would not have guessed it from the soft post-event interview – and now Peaty is blaming the food. He is pathetic. Footballers are overpaid but they have to put up with much [...]

August 8, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Olympics assessed

We are now more than a week beyond the opening ceremony ruined by rain which set the tone for an Olympiad not living up to expectation. Scarcely a day goes by without some scandalous happening – the latest being the barring of running Goddess Sha’carri Richardson to the stadium for the [...]

August 4, 2024 // 0 Comments

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