World Affairs

adieu Lyndhurst House

I was saddened to hear of the closure of my prep school Lyndhurst House which I attended between 1960 and 67. It was one of those huge, rambling houses in Hampstead with teachers that reminded me in their eccentricity of Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. Overseeing it all was a northern [...]

August 29, 2022 // 0 Comments

Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul/Prom Concert

A tribute was paid at a Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall to Aretha Franklin by vocalist Shelea backed by the Jules Backley Orchestra. It was broadcast live on Radio 3 and BBC 4 last night. The obvious difficulty to overcome is that however good the singer paying the tribute – she is [...]

August 27, 2022 // 0 Comments

Fake or Fortune

The 10th edition of Fake or Fortune is back. Ostensibly a programme about whether an acquired painting might either be worth a fortune or, alternatively, a fake would not be the stuff of popularity but obviously it is. Fiona Bruce, who presents The Antique Road Show, adopts the same technique of [...]

August 26, 2022 // 0 Comments

Crazy for You/Chichester Festival Theatre

This exuberant production maintains the high levels of Chichester Festival Theatre which makes an annual trip to their musical an enjoyable event. Crazy for You has an unusual genesis as the musical – whilst reliant on George and Ira Gershwin’s songbook – was not written by them but [...]

August 25, 2022 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: London hotels post Covid

I was shocked – when seeking to book a hotel in Mayfair for the first weekend in September – to be quoted over £1,000 a night for Browns in Albemarle Street. I imagine hotels are making up their Covid losses in the summer when occupancy is much higher and Browns is uber posh but [...]

August 22, 2022 // 0 Comments

A pair of sporting realities?

As football’s Premier League competition gets fully under way – already dominating the sporting media headlines day by day, never mind week by week – over the weekend I was left reflecting upon the current state of a couple of other sports whose fortunes are not quite so blessed … [...]

August 22, 2022 // 0 Comments

Pride and Fall

Stuff happens in life and sometimes it surprises you. I occasionally post a blog to this organ on the ongoing subject of my attempt to hold back the years by conducting a fitness campaign in my senior years. It’s no secret that I’ve have been doing it for a while now, as a result of which my [...]

August 20, 2022 // 0 Comments

Memories of South African teams

Travelling up by train, with incessant interruptions on the tannoy by the ‘onboard supervisor’ and noisy Spanish adolescents boarding at Gatwick, I blanked them all out by recalling my memories of watching South Africa in Test matches. My first would have been in 1965 at Lords against Peter [...]

August 18, 2022 // 0 Comments

Mercury Pictures Presents/Anthony Marra

I was disappointed by this book, which promised to be about a B-movie Hollywood studio in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a subject of great interest to me. In fact, but it was more about a film executive Maria Lagana, whose father – a Roman human rights lawyer – was exiled by [...]

August 17, 2022 // 0 Comments

Tales of the Unexpected/Genesis and the Catastrophe

Readers will recall my enjoyment of this series re-run on Sky Arts. They last 30 minutes, normally feature a well-known actor (Rod Taylor featured in the one immediately prior to this) and directors like the playwright Ronald Harwood. I enjoy trying to guess the twist. This episode had me totally [...]

August 16, 2022 // 0 Comments

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ITV COVERAGE OF CHELTENHAM

March 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

I am in the camp of watching on tv rather than attending for the 3 Cs: cost , convenience and comfort. With the cost of travelling and attending Cheltenham and last [...]
Max Schmelling/ The Good German

March 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

In the unlikely event that I would be asked to nominate a Great Life on Matthew Parris ‘ show my choice would be the Black Uhlan Max Schmelling. In the 1930s thee [...]
The Tanner Report : Fulham 2 spurs 1

March 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Prior to Fulham ‘s comfortable win over Spurs (2-1) I watched the big match Revisited featuring Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2 i guess in the early 70s It would be foolish to [...]
The Six Nations

February 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Six Nations continues to throw up surprises. England could not bounce back against Ireland , a resurgent Wales gave Scotland à close game with the Millennium Stadium [...]
Brentford 0 Brighton 2

February 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

The heat is off Fabian Hürzeler with Brighton ‘s 1st win in 13 games. Club owner Tony Bloom was not at the G Tech stadium due to a long planned family engagement but had [...]