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New Zealand 17 South Africa 14 ( Rugby Championship)

If I had to describe this match between the two titans of Southern Hemisphere rugby in a single word it would be “intense“. Yes, the Boks were uncharacteristically sloppy, with poor handling by scrum half Grant Williams and skipper Siya Kolesi unimpressive but their renowned scrum has [...]

September 7, 2025 // 0 Comments

Assessing The British Lions Tour …

After rain of biblical proportions and lightning had so marred the game on Saturday, causing a lengthy suspension, the Lions lost 12-22 to Australia and the series ended 2-1 in the Lions’ favour. The British Lions are something of an anachronism – one of those quirky British [...]

August 3, 2025 // 0 Comments

Classic British Cinema

Over the weekend I watched the the Sky team review in their Classic Films series and acclaim Kind Hearts and Coronets and then on Film 4 The Long Good Friday: both are – in their different ways – classics of British cinema. Kind Hearts and Coronets is an Ealing Comedy though Ian Jarvis, [...]

July 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Barber of Seville (Glyndebourne)

This was an excellent production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia Rossini’s great opera buffa (comic opera), based upon the play by Pierre Beaumarchais. The story is of the triumph of true love: that of Count Almaviva (Jonah Hoskins) and Rosina (Cecilia Molinari), the ward of Dr. Bartolo who also [...]

May 28, 2025 // 0 Comments

Two American songbook concerts (BBC 4)

Last night I watched a recording of an Ethel Merman concert that she gave years ago and another on BBC 4 of  Kiri Te Kanawa, Jeremy Irons and Warren Mitchell singing songs from My Fair Lady. I guess this original Albert Hall concert would have taken place some thirty years ago. The problem is [...]

May 26, 2025 // 0 Comments

Sporting Saturday

The best part of the Test Match between England and Zimbabwe was for me the former Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olongo singing the (Les Miserables) song Take Me Home. Frankly, whilst Zimbabwe played with spirit they were outclassed. Henry and Andy Flower voiced publicly their criticism of the Mugabe [...]

May 25, 2025 // 0 Comments

Sporting Saturday

With the Cup Final and US PGA on ‘moving day’, I was embarrassed by riches and swerved a tight and exciting victory of Northampton Saints over Saracens. That the Cup Final has declined as “THE National Sporting Event”  is evidenced by it not even being the front page story in The [...]

May 18, 2025 // 0 Comments

US PGA

The US PGA takes place today at Quail Hollow, a course that demands length. Predictably Rory McIlroy is still the big story and favourite, particularly as he won his first Major at Quail Hollow in 2012. Accordingly my staking plan is for the better value Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Tommy [...]

May 15, 2025 // 0 Comments

Chaim Rumkowski

I suspect that the name Chaim Rumkowski will mean little to readers of The Rust but, in his own controversial way, he epitomised many of the historical difficulties of World War Two. A Jew, he made his name in Poland as an orphanage administrator before World War Two. After the invasion of Poland [...]

May 14, 2025 // 0 Comments

British & Irish Lions selection

Choosing 40 players meant there were unlikely to be any surprises but Sam Prendergast, Ben White, Jack Willis and Owen Farrell – -all at French clubs – never made it, nor did Robbie Henshaw. Prendergast paid for a poor performance for Leinster against Northampton Saints but his day will [...]

May 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

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