Category: Film, TV & Radio

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.

Riverside Studios

The Riverside Studios beside Hammersmith Bridge will re-open towards the end of this year. I took a look at progress yesterday afternoon.

ATM

I make no apology for contradicting myself. If you are a newish reader you won’t even know but the fact of the matter is that I wouldn’t see Sully (about the ‘plane ditching in the Hudson River), although now I wish I had. I wouldn’t see it because I knew the story. I did see… Continue reading ATM

Dancer

I have yet to hear anything good about the remake of Murder on the Orient Express but here is something interesting. Former Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Sergei Polunin, has a cameo role playing Count Rudolph Andrenyi.

Two Fine Lutyens Memorials

There are twenty Grade I listed war memorials in England (out of over 3,000 listed war memorials) including the Arch of Remembrance in Leicester designed by Lutyens, his largest war memorial in England. I have not seen it but on Friday I visited another of his memorials, also Grade I listed.

Love, Cecil

Love, Cecil is a bio-pic about Cecil Beaton. I have read his diaries from 1965 until his death in 1980 so it covers much familiar ground.