Category: Literature

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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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.

Days and Nights on Malta

Nicholas Monsarrat is an unjustly neglected author. If you have read any of his novels it will be The Cruel Sea. I hadn’t read anything of his until last weekend.

Under the Weather

Yo, ho, ho; have again plundered The Assassin’s Cloak, edited by Irene and Alan Taylor.

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The Latest

Newsreaders on the wireless have adopted a new phrase: “now for the latest … “ and there is a clip, and it isn’t necessarily live, from a sports venue, Westminster, Gaza, Kiev etc. Well, you won’t find the latest here.

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