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Seven days from now, seventy two years ago

Yesterday I went for a pub lunch with my ancient father and George, a pal he’d known since prep school – I’m justified in using the adjective ‘ancient’ because both are nonagenarians. George, who is a D-Day veteran and had a ‘good’ WW2, told a fuller version of his hilarious tale of [...]

June 8, 2016 // 0 Comments

WORLD AT WAR ( IN COLOUR)

On Saturday I had a sudden craving to watch The World At War as produced by Jeremy Isaacs and narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier. My efforts to download were frustrated and frustrating but I was directed to another version narrated by Robert Powell which I had never seen. It differed as there were no [...]

June 6, 2016 // 0 Comments

The Greatest

It had been a long time coming but the news of Muhammad Ali’s passing will rock the world for a while. Like millions of others I shall spend this weekend listening to, reading and watching the tributes to his life and career in a state of numbed fascination and wonder. I shall feel entitled to do [...]

June 4, 2016 // 0 Comments

Recalling memories from the past

Down at the coast, spending some time with my father, yesterday I came across an example of a common experience with elderly people, i.e. that their memory of recent events can be sketchy but their recall of events long ago pretty pin-sharp. My mother, who spent the last years of her life in a [...]

April 19, 2016 // 0 Comments

Everyone’s at it (“oh no they’re not!”)

It seems close to a truism to state that every generation lives within the prevailing sexual laws, morals and social niceties of its own era. Take Britain for example – and my apologies for the imminent sweeping generalisations – King Henry VIII plainly ‘put it about a bit’. In the [...]

April 14, 2016 // 0 Comments

What makes the world go around

The thing that amazes me about the Establishment and politicians is that things never change. In recent months I’ve just been getting on with my life, watching the world go by in the background, but I guess the fact is, as someone once said – I thought it was John Lennon in his lyrics to [...]

April 5, 2016 // 0 Comments

Coping with things

Over the Easter weekend, in a social setting, I found myself in a conversation with a lady of roughly my own vintage which touched upon the problems of ageing and dealing with elderly relatives. It all sprang from her inevitable enquiry as to how my surviving elderly parent was – a query [...]

March 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

A fitting prelude to the Six Nations Grand Slam decider

On Thursday this week (17th March), as part of the Rugby Football Union’s Great War Commemorations, the FRU and the French Rugby Federation – together with the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the French Commission for the Centenary – organised a ceremony at the Tomb of The Unknown [...]

March 19, 2016 // 0 Comments

A moment in time

Yesterday morning I set off for two hours’ research in my local municipal library on my latest project. As I arrived I came upon a scene that could have been potentially disruptive to my cherished plan – on one side of the room one of the regular female members of staff was conducting a ‘show [...]

March 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

Answering Ireland’s call – but which one?

Sometimes one spots an article in the national media that is not only enlightening and informative and actually makes one sit up and think. Here’s a link to one from Robert Fisk, who normally covers things connected with politics and conflict in the Middle East, on the centenary celebrations [...]

January 19, 2016 // 0 Comments

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