Category: History

Carlingford

This is my uncle getting ready to water ski on Carlingford Lough in 1969; no wetsuits in those days. I took the picture and if there’s a bit of a wobble it’s because I was timid about following him into the icy waters.

In Rome and Brussels

Naughty Margaret did not confine her friendships to the Bonaparte clan, as her album reveals.

Bridges

On the seven mile stretch of the Thames upstream from Hammersmith to Richmond there are nine bridges. I’ve always wondered when they were built.

Charterhouse

Friday lunch was indeed at the Charterhouse, my second visit. Last year I went in the evening for a tour of the interior. On Friday we took a look at the outside; it was jolly chilly.

Side by Side

Side by Side … by Nicolson and Rose. Kenneth Rose’s journals are, I hope, a bright new star in the literary firmament. Let’s see how they match up to Harold Nicolson’s diaries.

Guy Burgess

Andrew Lownie spent thirty years researching this book and interviewed more than a hundred sources, as the list of acknowledgements attests.

High Treason

Is it too soon to digress? Don’t muddle High Toast with High Treason; the former an agreeably astringent snuff but the latter is also to be taken seriously. In ‘the good old days’, the existence of which is very doubtful, the usual punishment for dabbling in the latter was hanging, drawing and quartering.

Burke and Hare

Recently I have seen nine one act plays by Noël Coward and Miss Julie by Strindberg at the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre; all excellent. Last night Jermyn Street continued its winning streak.

Dee Time

St Mary the Virgin in Mortlake was built in 1543, replacing a 14th century church closer to the river on the site of what was a 20th century brewery and is 21st century flats.