Category: Film, TV & Radio

Red Notice

In 1969 I saw a film I have never forgotten, Z. It was the first film I’d seen that had a serious political message. It is about the assassination of a left wing Greek politician in 1963 by his right wing opponents and the government cover-up that ensued. The film is based on a book… Continue reading Red Notice

Annabel

People say “what goes around comes around”, EM Foster says “only connect” and Anthony Powell wrote Dance to the Music of Time to make the same point at somewhat greater length; a saga with which I struggled a bit early on, but once WW II came along I was hooked.

The Mighty Fallen

Last month I quoted at some length the Trial and acquital of Francis Bellew. Forty years ago I was up before the beak myself on trivial charges – a case I will tell you about when the time is ripe. Today I’m musing on a quotation from the Second Book of Samuel: “how art the… Continue reading The Mighty Fallen

Richmond

Yesterday I was looking at the underside of the footbridge at Richmond Lock. It was past high water but the three barriers were raised and I was trying to see how they are concealed, they were invisible and there doesn’t seem to be room. Then it happened.

Today

The Today Programme has changed a lot in its sixty years on air. Every tweak has been met with outrage from listeners allergic to change of any sort and then been accepted as the new normal.

Phantom Threads

Phantom Threads is supposed to be Daniel Day-Lewis’s swan song, but I suppose he will be enticed back to appear in cameo roles.

Boots

“It was a lonely land then, the vast frontier held by the last scattered remnants of the once great armies that fought the Civil War. To such as these, all but forgotten, doing a dirty, thankless job, without reward or glory, the army was a way of life, the only one they knew or wanted.”

Adrian Messenger

When I was at Castle Park one of the more agreeable aspects was watching a film once a week. I sat on a table at the back with a notebook and wrote “reviews” – a pity they are not in my archive. Two films I remember in particular: North West Frontier and The List of… Continue reading Adrian Messenger

In the Dog House

I was in the dog house again on Sunday afternoon. At least that’s where I thought I was until I found that I was in the Bertha DocHouse. And who you may ask is Bertha?

Rallies

I had six Nuremberg Rostbratwurst with coleslaw, mustard and horseradish for lunch. Biographies usually end with a whimper. Hilary Spurling deserves credit for giving Anthony Powell dignity in his old age. I cannot read a biography backwards but I can see Nuremberg backwards.