Brain Stimulation

Well here I am in Hammersmith Hospital having my brain stimulated, or perhaps not, as it’s a double-blind study.

Oliver Goldsmith

It was a good Grand National for Ireland. The winner, Tiger Roll, is trained at Summerhill in Co Meath on my sister’s doorstep. Another Irish horse came second at 66/1, Magic of Light, trained by Jessica Harrington, my brother-in-law’s sister. Ireland has always punched above its weight and not just on the turf.

We’ll Go No More A-Roving

The Jolly Beggar was first published in a collection of old Scots songs in 1776. It’s not long so let’s read it.

Conversations

On an Election Observation Mission there are opportunities to chat, not always about election methodology. A UK observer told me that he had been Master and huntsman of the Pimpernel beagles and jolly smart he must have looked in his uniform: green coat, old gold collar, green stockings and black cap.

The Dragon Book of Verse

The Dragon Book of Verse was first published in 1935. The introduction to my (1937) edition was the property of Leighton Park School in Reading; a Quaker school founded in 1890. The Introduction explains that it is divided into two Books.

Black Sheep

When Wendy Cope was on Desert Island Discs this week she chose some beautiful music. This made a welcome change from some of the stuff I’ve heard on the programme recently.

Published
Categorised as Poetry

Naughty Margaret

Earlier this month I introduced my great, great great grandmother, Margaret Bryan. She kept for a few years an album with entries by her friends and today it’s time to take a look at some of them.

The Last Rose of Summer

An old friend died yesterday. We were contemporaries in the Irish Guards and at Durham, so go back a long way.

Paul Muldoon

Hugo Williams’ weekly columns in the TLS were written between 1988 and 1994. He published a selection in 1995 under the title Freelancing, Adventures of a Poet.

Dorset Days

Last Sunday I heard Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Puycelsi in the Tarn. Later today I will be back in church in Dorset for more music.