At Jacquemart-André

As you know, Charles Garnier won a competition to design the Opéra de Paris, rightly known today as the Palais Garnier. Henri Parent came second.

My Father’s House

I expected a tense thriller set in Rome in 1943 but I got something much better. You may know the story; I didn’t.

Prenez Garde

When R, like Christopher Robin, kneels by his bed to say his prayers he always includes “Dear Lord, may I never buy an investment trust at a premium”.

Published
Categorised as Business

Macready’s Club

“The men-only Garrick Club has finally voted to allow women to become members, 193 years after the London institution first opened its doors. The vote was passed with 59.98% of votes in favour at the end of a private meeting where several hundred members spent two hours debating whether to permit women to join .… Continue reading Macready’s Club

Published
Categorised as Literature

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.