Wonderful Wagner

If you find Wagner so long-winded that you wriggle, fidget and long for a drink, I know the feeling. A friend has a special Wagner wrist-watch that discreetly lights up so she can check the time. Another friend told me that the thing is, Waggers takes his time, doesn’t rush things – tantric opera. The… Continue reading Wonderful Wagner

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Great Scott

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel was originally the Midland Grand Hotel designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865. Did Sir Gilbert think he’d done enough that year?

A Forgotten Author

I don’t know how I know the story of The Monkey’s Paw. Perhaps it was done as a play at Castle Park or read to us there? It is a short story published in 1902 and subsequently adapted for stage, screen and the wireless. The genre, if you don’t know it, is spooky, chiller,thriller.

A Flying Soloist

An opera that I will swerve is Mittwoch aus Licht (Wednesday from Light) composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen. It received its premiere in Birmingham in 2012. It may be a while before it gets another outing.

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Local Matters

There have been Santander Cycles in my street for a few years but now they have been joined by something new.

Right or Wrong?

Do you have a moral compass? If so, who set it? Is it an innate wish to do the right thing or was it imbued in childhood? We know the answer.

Pretentious Post about French Film

It is quite unusual to see a film through fresh eyes, not knowing the plot or having read any reviews. That’s what I did at the Ciné Lumière in South Ken on Sunday afternoon.

All-Day Brekker

You cannot buy a MacDonald’s all-day breakfast in the UK – not yet. There are lots of London cafes that will oblige but let me point you in the direction of the best all-day brekker in the solar system, probably.

I Never Met Georg Solti

I never met Georg Solti. It would be tedious to list all the other famous people I have never met, so I won’t. I will tell you how I didn’t meet Sir Georg and that he insisted his first name be pronounced George.

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Barons Court Station

It’s easy to take something you see every day for granted. I have lived in Barons Court since 1976, continuously since 1984, and have taken the station for granted, but it has many special features making it one of the most distinctive stations on the underground.