Category: Film, TV & Radio

Exterminate

It’s well known that coronavirus manifested itself in London in the 1960s. The first case was seen in Hammersmith but it quickly spread through the capital.

The Empress of Ireland

You can judge this book by its cover; the cover is orange, the endpapers green. Brian Desmond Hurst was born a Protestant in Belfast but converted to Catholicism so an apt reflection of his life.

Monsieur Klein

As a tourist you may have had brekker at the Café de Flore. The service was abominable, l’addition astronomic but on holiday it’s worth it to sit in the sun, read a newspaper and watch people. Inevitably, then you will walk down the Rue du Bac towards the Seine.

Blithe Spirit

Plum Duff, aka figgy-dowdy, is dished up on Sundays in the Royal Navy depicted by Patrick O’Brian. Next month there is lashings of Plum on Sunday afternoons on Radio 4; Uncle Fred in the Springtime and Leave it to Psmith, with excellent casts.Details on the PG Wodehouse Society website.

How To Spend It

Like Bertie with a bone, I’m reluctant to leave Patrick O’Brian. His stepson is Count Nikolai Tolstoy and his eldest daughter is Countess Alexandra Tolstoy-Miloslavsky. May I digress?

What the Dickens

Recently I saw The Personal History of David Copperfield; an enjoyable romp through a book I have not read. The cast is starry but it’s a story that is a magnet for stars. Personally I like the 1935 version but you may prefer the 1969 film with Ralph Richardson, Richard Attenborough, Laurence Olivier, Susan Hampshire,… Continue reading What the Dickens

Peace for Our Time

Star Wars A Galactic Empire stormtrooper stands guard on the balcony of a house in Barnes overlooking the towpath. He has a festive crown this year. (George Lucas specified that there are no women in the Stormtrooper Corps.) Star Wars was released more the forty years ago – 1977 – and has shaped our lives.… Continue reading Peace for Our Time