Two Churches and some other stuff

J L-M’s Roman Mornings kicks off with an ancient Roman masterpiece, the Pantheon. If you have been to Rome you will have seen it so we don’t need to revisit it this trip.

Roman Holiday

The picture is a detail of Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino by Turner. He had been painting Rome for twenty years and this was his last picture of the city, completed in 1839. It was sold by Sotheby’s in 2010 for £29.7 million – a record for a Turner – to the Getty Museum. But… Continue reading Roman Holiday

Lucia

On Wednesday I went to a Friends of Fulham Opera gig in their unprepossessing home at St John’s Church – they have the builders in.

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Categorised as Music

The Three Rs

Reading, Rithmetic and Rock ‘n Roll – that’s the three Rs you learn at a progressive school in New York City, right? Wrong, that’s what you learn at Ireland’s last boarding prep school, Headfort in Co Meath.

Chelsea Quiz

The link between investment manager McInroy & Wood and one of the greatest letter writers of the 19th century may not be immediately obvious. There is also a tenuous link to the greatest diarist of the 20th century. This sounds like a question on the venerable (started in 1947) radio programme Round Britain Quiz.

Building Barons Court

London is being transformed by new blocks of flats and offices. Supply will outstrip demand, especially if we have a Brexit led recession. I have looked at some old Ordnance Survey maps to see how it changed towards the end of the 19th century.

A Special Bond

I hadn’t been to the Public Record Office in Kew since 1999 and dug out my Reader’s Ticket to make a return visit. Luckily I checked to see if anything had changed.

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Categorised as Family

The Master of the Rolls

If there is a consistent thread that binds the complex tapestry of English history it is inconsistency. Forty years ago we were agog to join Europe … now? But I want to look back to the 13th century.

Quiz Answers

When you open this website sometimes you must think “I don’t want this. This is just what I don’t want. What I want is Wodehouse and I want Wodehouse now.”