Category: History

‘Planes and a Ship

“Tombé, tombé, tombé”, the band sing and children happily obey, hopping up and down in their wet weather gear on a drizzly Thursday morning in Brodø

Every Blog Needs a Dog

Bodø is as far north as Norwegian railway (NSB) goes. The train will cross the Arctic Circle. Will the backpackers on the train celebrate the event as if it were the Equator? Let’s see.

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.

Skål

The Norwegians have been our staunch allies, not least in the Second World War, and the Out party in the EU Referendum will suggest we join them, outside the EU and outside the eurozone. 

Published
Categorised as History

Nombre de Vingt-Quatre

Last weekend BBC Radio 4 broadcast Air-Force One a play about the events immediately after John F Kennedy’s assassination on 22nd November, 1963. If you are my age you will remember where you were when you heard the news.

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

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?

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”.