Category: Architecture

The 5th of August

I will find it hard to keep your attention on matters Norwegian in early August. Like Ping, Pang and Pong in Turandot your thoughts will be turning to getting back to your country estates and bagging a few grouse.

Into Oslo

The City Hall is a monster. It was started in 1931 but not opened until 1950 because of the war. At frst sight it resembles something built in the Soviet Union or maybe even a power station.

All About You and Heaven

Last week veteran BBC cricket commentator, Jonathan Agnew, was reprimanded for not wearing a tie when making a broadcast from the pavilion at Lord’s. This prompted Times journalist and P G Wodehouse Society member, Patrick Kidd, to recall a Wodehouse short story in which Lord Plumpton thinks he is being stung by wasps. His companion… Continue reading All About You and Heaven

Bricks, Money and ‘Phones

The reconstructed Berliner Schloss, referred to a couple of days ago in the post headed Athens 1931, is run by an organisation called the Humboldt Forum. Hence the Humboldt Box, that houses the exhibition about the project. It will have our Neil MacGregor as a Gründungsintendantenor or founding director.

Athens , 1931

What happened in Athens in 1931? The drachma was introduced? The Greek government defaulted on a debt to Barings Bank? The Greek monarchy was restored? The Greek monarchy was abolished?

Oblast

Not O blast, try saying ob-last, preferrably with a Russian accent. Oblasts are provinces or administrative districts in Russia; there are 46 of them. This is a fairly useless bit of information, even for playing Scrabble, as who would want to squander two S tiles.

Friday

When I went to work in the City, nearly 40 years ago, there was a dispensation on Fridays; staff could wear tweed suits and brown shoes to segue to the weekend. My office was only a few years old and had air conditioning; unusual those days. Unless someone actually fell to the floor with a… Continue reading Friday

Woolshit

Rob Gore-Langton, in last week’s The Spectator, writes an article about North Cornwall in a slot that I had hitherto supposed to be advertorial. He writes amusingly: “David Cameron has body-boarded at Polzeath on recent holidays, his security detail bobbing like seals around him”.