Sister Teresa

Sister Teresa (Keswick) was deputy chief clerk for the Inner London Magistrates’ Courts until she was admitted to a Carmelite monastery in Quidenham, Norfolk thirty-seven years ago.

Be Debonair

“You must never confuse genius with a bull market.” (An Englishman’s Commonplace Book, Roger Hudson)

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Ira Gershwin was prescient when he wrote these lyrics for the 1937 film, Shall We Dance. His brother George supplied the music and Fred Astaire and Dudley Dickerson  (I thought you’d need help with Dudley) did the rest.

Pirates

The Union Theatre was a favourite when I worked in the City. Handy to walk to and they reliably staged impressive, small- scale musicals.

Good Eggers

Count Egmont was a 17th century Dutch freedom fighter seeking independence from the Spanish Empire in the Low Lands in what became known as the Eighty Years War (1568  – 1648). His story was romanticised by Goethe in his 1787 play, Egmont.

Singing in the Rain

Yesterday evening I went to Opera Holland Park for a concert performance of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music; a return to normality? Not quite.

Published
Categorised as Music

The Falcon Has Flown

Jack, the peregrine falcon chick, took the plunge at 5.00 am on Monday morning. He jumped but an ornithologist would say he fledged.

By Jove! By Jeeves

When I was at uni, as the young say, I looked forward to seeing Jeeves in London. It was launched in 1975 and with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music, Plum’s wit and a helping hand from Alan Ayckbourn was a sure bet to run longer than The Mousetrap.

Drive & Live

To understand, “get”, the title you must pronounce “live” to rhyme with “jive” not “sieve”.  It’s the silliest idea since that opera performed in four helicopters that cropped up three years ago in A Flying Soloist.