At Flores, in the Azores

  At Flores, in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a flutter’d bird, came flying from far away; “Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!” 

Nature Notes

I noticed this sculpture for the first time today. It is in Duke’s Meadows, below Barnes Bridge. Meanwhile, and most noticeably, the box moth (Cydalima perspectalis) is back in west London in force.

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Good Show, ENO

Gosh, it was 2 1/2 years ago when I wrote No, No, ENO. It concluded with the hope that ENO would extricate itself from its travails. Well it hasn’t.

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Churchill’s Finest

Port need not be decanted and savoured at the end of a post-hunt dinner in winter. A chilled glass of white port makes a fine late morning aperitif, especially in hot weather, and there is none better than Churchill’s.

Bravo, Michael

Peter Gelb has become synonymous with the New York Met, yet he has only been General Manager for twelve years. Closer to home, for me, is Opera Holland Park where Michael Volpe has been General Director since OHP was founded in 1996.

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Annabel

People say “what goes around comes around”, EM Foster says “only connect” and Anthony Powell wrote Dance to the Music of Time to make the same point at somewhat greater length; a saga with which I struggled a bit early on, but once WW II came along I was hooked.

The Mighty Fallen

Last month I quoted at some length the Trial and acquital of Francis Bellew. Forty years ago I was up before the beak myself on trivial charges – a case I will tell you about when the time is ripe. Today I’m musing on a quotation from the Second Book of Samuel: “how art the… Continue reading The Mighty Fallen

Madama Butterfly

A visit to Glyndebourne is for many a chance to admire the gardens and settle into a serious picnic in the evening sunshine, regrettably interrupted by a couple of naps during the opera.

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Hammersmith News

In this recent post there are pictures of Hammersmith and Fulham College as it is today. Here is what it may become.