A Royal Baby

A royal baby was born 199 years ago at Kensington Palace. Her father was the fourth son of George III, the Duke of Kent, her mother was Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Published
Categorised as History

Church Parade

Choral Matins yesterday at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Members of the Corps of Royal Engineers were present ensuring a full house.

Published
Categorised as Religion

Wodehouse at Westminster Abbey

The Times yesterday devoted a Leader to PG Wodehouse, headlined “Comedy and Errors, PG Wodehouse is rightly to be honoured in Westminster Abbey”.

Floreat Plum

Next Monday will be Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse’s 137th birthday. The PG Wodehouse Society celebrated with a slap-up dinner at Gray’s Inn on Thursday evening.

Planning Application

There was a rumour that the empty retail space at Barons Court station would be taken by Tesco for a mini-store. If so they have been beaten to the draw by Aussie baristas, The Roasting Party.

Food for Thought

FTSE is down 1.6% this morning and holding above 7,000 – so far. A good moment to see how defensive my portfolio is.

A Night at the Opera

I left you in Paris on a perfect autumn afternoon, conjuring up the mood with the Kinks, Autumn Almanac, sitting on the fourth floor of an hotel near the Sorbonne: open balcony, legs stretched out,  IPad on knee, drink in hand, sun streaming in, waiting for Robert to arrive from London. Sometimes this website misleads,… Continue reading A Night at the Opera

Published
Categorised as Music

Montauban to Paris

To Montauban yesterday morning to catch the 09.17 to Paris Montparnasse train that had started from Toulouse. A second class, window seat upstairs not far from the on-board café is a snip at Euros 36. It is a two-hour journey noth-west through Agen to Bordeaux and then another two hours north-east to Paris.

Rain

A wet Sunday at Castle Park (my prep school) was a dreary affair. If you think your schooldays were the best days of your life, I feel sorry for you. After two warm, sunny days at Garrhan the weather turned on Saturday night and it drizzled persistently all day yesterday.

Banjo Boy

When I was at Durham University I saw John Boorman’s 1972 Deliverance for the first time.  It is a chiller/killer/thriller that starts innocently.