World Affairs

The Tanner Report: Liverpool 2 Fulham 2

Where do you start praising Fulham for coming away from Anfield with a point? Not by reading the press reports who uniformly wrote of a “10 man come back” from “never say die” Liverpool. Never mind that Liverpool are arguably the best team in the world right now. Of course, [...]

December 15, 2024 // 0 Comments

Alan Bennett looking back aged 90

He would not like the phrase – and nor do I – but Alan Bennett is a ‘national treasure’. Last night, aged 90 and in a wheelchair, he looked back on his life and body of work. It brought back many memories. Forty Years On with John Gielgud would be up there with Shadowlands as [...]

December 14, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Day of the Jackal (Sky Atlantic)

This mega-production by Sky starring Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Logan and Charles Dance inevitably invites comparison with the Frederick Forsyth best-selling novel and the 1973 Fred Zinnermann film with Edward Fox. Frederick Forsyth admitted that he was paid vast amounts of money to do nothing or [...]

December 13, 2024 // 0 Comments

Conclave (2024)

Conclave is the film of the Robert Harris story of a papal election. It’s not the normal stuff of films as it has no action sequences, nor special effects, nor glamorous young stars and the tension lies in the supervision of the election by Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes). There are 5 [...]

December 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

Two art books: Rogues and Scholars/Don’t Tell Sybil

Rogues and Scholars, penned by the ex-chairman of Sothebys – James Stourton – is a fairly comprehensive and balanced assessment of the London art market from 1945 to 2000. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the author centres on the two main players – the auction houses Christie’s and [...]

December 11, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 1 Arsenal 1

In a spirited performance Fulham held a superior Arsenal side though from the commentary and coverage on Sky you would not have thought so. After braving the elements, traffic and transport problems last Thursday it was a case of staying in the warm and watching this match on Sky. Their panel of [...]

December 9, 2024 // 0 Comments

England win Test series 2-0.

It may have passed your notice as sporting events and achievements outside the UK are sparsely covered but New Zealand, without Kane Williamson, won their series in India this year 3-0. The odds on this were 2000-1. England lost theirs in Pakistan 1-2. After winning the first Test, Pakistan [...]

December 8, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 3 Brighton 1

Stuck on the 74 bus 30 minutes before kick off – and walking down Finlay Street in driving rain – then overcoming the initial difficulties of entrance as my pass was refused, I did wonder why I did not watch the game on Amazon in the warm. I had invited a friend – and had another [...]

December 6, 2024 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Bocca di Lupo

The favourite Soho trattoria is something of an institution. Alice (Mansfield) told me that George Melly, best known as a jazz vocalist, used to meet fellow Surrealists at the Barcelona in Beak St; artists have long patronised the drinking clubs of Soho, notably the Colony Club – of which [...]

December 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Spurs 1 Fulham 1

It’s a case of “better late than never …” as normally I post my copy within 24 hours of a match. At least the extra 24 hours has permitted me to watch the highlights of Fulham’s draw and read the press comments. Fulham came into this match on the back of a 4-1 defeat by [...]

December 3, 2024 // 0 Comments

« 1 2 3 4 5 … 140 »

El Cid/The book and the film

January 12, 2025 // 0 Comments

I was recently given a new biography of El Cid, the Spanish 11th Century knight, by Nora Berend, a Cambridge University historian. Her thesis is that Rodrigo de Viva – [...]
The Tanner Report: Fulham 4 Watford 1

January 10, 2025 // 0 Comments

Reporting on this victory is secondary to commenting on the decline of the FA Cup in my lifetime. The year of my birth (1954) witnessed what many consider the greatest game [...]
Foreign detective writing

January 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

We tend to assume that only English-speaking writers can write detective novels. In Britain the genre is dominated by women – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Marjoriec [...]
Surprising actors in a 1980 TV series

January 8, 2025 // 0 Comments

On Monday I watched Bergerac, now shown at 3.00pm on the UK Drama channel. It featured – as Belle Young, an eccentric boatowner and smuggler – the 1970s actress [...]
The Tanner Report: Fulham 2 Ipswich 2

January 6, 2025 // 0 Comments

Against Wolves, Southampton – and now Ipswich – Fulham have earned just 2 points, but 5 against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. We do better against the big boys. [...]