Category: Literature

Beasts and Super-Beasts

In 1914, HH Munro, better known by his pen name Saki, published a collection of short stories, Beasts and Super-Beasts. The title parodies Man and Superman by GBS. Some of the stories are well known but you may not have read, or have forgotten, The Unkindest Blow.

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Categorised as Literature

Erratum

Five years ago I wrote a post about an early novel by John le Carré: A Murder Of Quality.

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Wayland’s Smithy

Over nearly nine years (life of blog) there have been visits to Neolithic sites in Wiltshire, Malta and Moldova, reminiscences of visits to Newgrange and other sites in the Boyne valley and a Guest Blog about stone circles in Eskdale.

Bohemian Birthday

On this day in 1824 Bedřich Smetana was born. To mark the bicentenary of his birth he was the subject of Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3.

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In a Lonely Place

Well done if you know who Margaret Millar, Vera Caspary, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Olive Higgins Prouty and Dorothy B Hughes are; some of the names are deliciously improbable.

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Categorised as Literature

Berlin Embassy

Say “William Russell” and I would think of the initially slightly disreputable Irishman who made his name reporting for The Times in Crimea. He was described as “a vulgar low Irishman, sings a good song, drinks anyone’s brandy and water and smokes as many cigars as a Jolly Good Fellow. He is just the sort… Continue reading Berlin Embassy

On This Day

I have, again, delved into The Assassin’s Cloak: an anthology of the world’s greatest diarists, edited by Irene and Alan Taylor.