Month: July 2020

Catch a Clipper

In 1961 you either had to have a vaccination certificate or quarantine for fourteen days if you arrived in the US from the UK. But you know that, because you read it here in 2017. It looks like next year that’s what will happen again; that’s if an effective vaccine is found. It’s a funny… Continue reading Catch a Clipper

A Call to Palms

The price of palm oil was strong over Chinese New Year this year. From lows of $500 in August last year it rallied above $850 – then the virus came, it went back to $500 but now is above $700. There are further developments …

Published
Categorised as Business

Sir Oswald

This portrait of Field Marshal Lord Alexander is by Sir Oswald Birley. As I am more familiar with his grandson, Robin, who I remember starting out selling posh sandwiches to me in the City before taking on his father’s business, running clubs for people with money in abundance but sometimes insufficient in other more desirable… Continue reading Sir Oswald

Uncle George Remembers XVIII

“I think it was Sir Walter Scott who wrote the lines, ‘One flooded hour of glorious life, Is worth an age without a name’*, and I think I know exactly what he meant. I once felt like that myself, if only for a fleeting moment.

Out to Lunch

Keith Waterhouse is very particular about what lunch is not: ‘It is not prawn cocktail, steak and Black Forest gateau with your bank manger.

X

It does not come as a complete surprise that the FCO is ‘re-evaluating our elections monitoring strategy to see how we can maximise our impact’. That reads to me like saving money by not sending me on anymore Election Observation Missions – rats and double-rats.

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Categorised as Politics

A Big Cake

On 17 January 1855, Sir Humphrey de Trafford married Lady Annette Mary Talbot, eldest sister and co-heiress of Bertram Talbot, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury. The ceremony took place in Rugby, Worcestershire, and was performed by William Bernard Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham. It was reportedly the first Roman Catholic nuptial mass to be performed in England… Continue reading A Big Cake

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Categorised as Family

Keep Safe

A small squidgy parcel popped through the letter box yesterday. It contained four face masks adorned with the Bellew arms: sable, fretty or.

Not Just A Name

10th August, 1941. Church in the morning. In the evening Bertie Fisher came over to discuss future CO of 17th Lancers, to replace one that had just been killed in an aeroplane accident. (War Diaries, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke)