Lucia

I went to Fulham Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor on Friday night and was bowled over by the singing and, to a lesser extent, the production.

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Categorised as Music

School Dinners

I’m not one for school reunions. At least ten years ago there was a drinks party in London for all the boys in “my” year at Eton. It was excruciating as the few I recognised I wasn’t especially keen on and otherwise it was a sea of strange faces. I ended up talking to the… Continue reading School Dinners

Swiss Role

The Honourable Artillery Company takes pride in being the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded by Henry VIII in 1537. It is irksome for the HAC that Pope Julius II founded the Pontifical Swiss Guard in 1506.

Amis’s Oxford Marmalade

In 1874 Mrs Frank Cooper made 76 lbs of marmalade to her own receipt for sale in her husband’s grocery in Oxford High Street. Its distinctive bitter flavour permeates Kingsley Amis’s Memoirs.

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Categorised as Literature

A Pinch of Pugin

Nine of the eighteen buildings in Ireland that Pugin had a hand in (I’m choosing my words carefully) are in Co Wexford and you may well wonder why I didn’t see any when there recently. St Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy would have been an obvious choice, especially as we drove through the town.

In The Psychiatrist’s Chair

I read psychology at Durham and this, in my opinion, qualifies me to put the Chairman of the Workers’ Party in Korea and supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, on the couch in my consulting room. I have just ushered out Homan Potterton who came with a swollen head after his swimgloat surrounding the publication of his… Continue reading In The Psychiatrist’s Chair

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Categorised as Politics

The Day The Dream Died

Today I am casting my bread upon the waters. TDTDD – I enjoyed writing that, it reminds me of TWTWTW – is a documentary screened, only once, on Channel 4 in 1988.

Two Lucias

Typical, you wait ages for a Lucia and two turn up together. You can see Lucia di Lammermoor this month at Covent Garden (top price seat £165) or at Fulham Opera (top price £25).

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Categorised as Music

The Homan Touch

Who Do I Think I Am? Having read Homan’s memoir I am not sure I can answer his question but I can say what a rollicking good story it makes.

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Categorised as Literature

A Hanging Offence

More than fifty years ago my brother stole this from, well you can guess where. He was in the habit of taking a room at the Intercontinental Hotel in the afternoons to catch up on some sleep after the revelry at Hunt Balls in Horse Show week.