Clarissa

  Pamela (Samuel Richardson, 1740) was a best seller and an early English novel. I have not read it. Nor have I read Shamela, Henry Fielding’s satire on same; he rushed it out in 1741. Both authors have gone out of fashion, fortunately for Hugo Vickers, as a request for Clarissa today is more likely… Continue reading Clarissa

Tobermory

This morning in The Times I read an article “Can dogs really be taught to speak”? It reminded me of Saki’s story, Tobermory.

Published
Categorised as Literature

Canary Tweets

Guess how many islands belong to Spain. Now check on Wikipedia – there are 179 – but some are tiny.

The Producers

I remember seeing the great Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder combo in The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974) but I never clocked that The Producers was made into a musical in 2001.

Farewell, Prime Minister

Foreign Office mandarins today must be highly pleased with events. Ambiguity is often their preferred avenue and this week the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been in China on a mission to encourage closer economic ties. Tomorrow Tom Tugendhat, no friend of China, arrives in Taiwan to demonstrate the UK’s commitment there.

Overlap

I have almost finished the biography of Churchill by Roy Jenkins. In a way I wish it were shorter, in a way I find it engrossing and in another way I find it induces post-prandial somnolence.

La Dame aux Camélias

I saw a camellia in bud at Chiswick House today and thought of Violetta, Verdi and La traviata.

Published
Categorised as Local, Nature

Project Gutenberg

The oldest library in the world is thought to be the Library of Ashurbanipal in modern day Iraq. When it was founded in the 7th century BC it was in Assyria, a city-state in Mesopotamia. The oldest continuously working library may be the Al-Qarawiyyin library in Fez, Morocco, dating from 859 AD (a suspiciously precise… Continue reading Project Gutenberg

Marmalade Overdrive

If you want a nip of whisky for breakfast on a chilly morning this is the obvious choice.