The Men Who Built Downing Street

Many Prime Ministers have left their stamp on Downing Street, starting with Walpole who hired William Kent. The next significant intervention was by Robert Jenkinson. Who?

Vibrant Vallotton

Before I take you inside No 10, I must remind you of a post in May: Les Nabis.

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News from Downing Street

An unexpected invitation to Downing Street yesterday. A few privileged people working there could ask friends and family and show them round.

Wagner Postscript

A friend who came to the Wagner Prom earlier this week has made some comments which I’d like to share.

LRRP – pronounced lurp

In the late 1970s I was a Trooper in the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC). One summer I was sent to a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) school in the Black Forest.

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On Reconnaissance

It is May 2018. Six serving British soldiers are in the Republic of Ireland with weapons and live ammunition. This is not the beginning of a new career for me as a thriller writer. This is true.

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Wagner Night

Wagner Night was a Proms tradition that was revived on Monday. Marc Albrecht conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He seemed an appropriate choice: Albrecht/Alberich.

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Marks and Sparks

I don’t know why I bought Astra Zeneca in July 2010, maybe for the yield, but I did. The shares were about £32. The following summer they were £30 so I topped up. Since then it has been a bumpy ride but now they are circa £72 with a P/E over 25 and yielding 3%.… Continue reading Marks and Sparks

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End of an Era

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the first edition of The New Peerage published in 1769 by a bookseller and stationer, John Almon. He passed on the editorship to one of his assistants and, perhaps unfairly, it became known as Debrett’s after its second editor, John Debrett.

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