More Opera

Yesterday was Fulham Opera’s spot. Tomorrow, Saturday,  Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La Bohème is on at the Met. I will not be there but I will be in the Curzon Chelsea to watch it being streamed live from New York.

Fulham Opera Night

If you find that operas can be excessively long and expensive come to Fulham Opera on Friday 9th March. Tickets are an affordable £10 bookable on line here. 

Published
Categorised as Music

If you go down in the woods today …

If you go down in the woods today You’re sure of a big surprise If you go down in the woods today You’d better go in disguise! For every bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain Because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

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Categorised as Business

Chelsea Morning

Have you noticed this structure just off the King’s Road at the end of Dovehouse Street? It is a flight of stairs leading nowhere used to train firemen to deal with fires in blocks of flats. There are more beautiful buildings in Chelsea, two of which have a military heritage.

Princess Margaret

I am sure I am not alone in deploring Craig Brown’s vulgar “biography” of Princess Margaret. It is a scurrilous hotch-potch of unreliable, disloyal and deeply offensive gossip garnered from a muck heap of diaries and newspaper articles.

Strangers

Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 novel Strangers on a Train is pretty dark. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film is a lot better. I’m hoping to introduce two strangers.

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Categorised as Business

Carmen

I was watching the second episode of Yes, Prime Minister in which Bernard explains to Prime Minister, Jim Hacker, that he has not much to do; no department to run, just chairing Cabinet meetings, Prime Ministers questions, and a chat with the Queen on Tuesday evenings.

What a Difference

What a difference a day makes. On Wednesday it was wet and cold, yesterday it was sunny and there was more than a hint of spring in the air.

Spam

I’m finding Anthony Powell slow going. He does not spoon-feed his readers. Towards the end of A Question of Upbringing Jenkins witnesses a meeting between Sillery and Buster. “Whatever they had found in common was satisfactory to Buster, too, since he laughed and talked with Sillery as if he had known him for years.”

Published
Categorised as Literature

Reconstruction

90% of the medieval centre of Nuremberg was destroyed by Allied bombing in just an hour. How was it rebuilt? Here are some pictures.