Boodle’s

Take care of yourself if you’re a partridge; the season opened in the UK yesterday. Parliament reconvenes next week and those London clubs that take a summer holiday have re-opened. I was a guest at Boodle’s which has pretty much everything you could ask for.

Published
Categorised as History

Comfort Reading

In the autumn of 1972 I was invited to stay with Baron and Baroness von V-S on their estate in Germany. A Mercedes was at the station to meet me driven by a tweedy type who spoke no English. It dawned on me that this was not the Baron but his chauffeur. A parp on… Continue reading Comfort Reading

Sweet Afton

I bought some shares in an investment trust last week and yesterday was writing up the trade. Idly turning back the pages I took a look at my first entry.

Theorbo Time

You don’t see a theorbo for years and then two come along together. About ten years ago I went to a concert at St Paul’s School to raise money for Venice in Peril.

Dear Diary

I know that you are not interested in my diary but last week was rather testing. On Monday I was bobbing around on a trimaran on the Solent. On Tuesday I consulted my (Investec) broker over a leisurely spot of lunch outdoors in Chelsea. On Wednesday an old colleague took me to lunch in the… Continue reading Dear Diary

Published
Categorised as Art

Sailing on the Solent

Let me introduce you to Ischnura, a female dragonfly, and the name of this trimaran. She was designed and built in Denmark about ten years ago and now she scuds across coastal waters in the UK.

Published
Categorised as Sport, Travel

Leonard Rosoman

I’m the man on the Clapham omnibus – I don’t know much about art but I know what I like – and I have the cheek to share with you the, usually under-rated, artists that I admire.

Published
Categorised as Art

For Starters

There are two great American novels narrated through the eyes of children – both girls, as it happens. One is To Kill a Mockingbird and the other? Here’s how it starts.

Something not on Wiki

People (not me) rely on sat-nav to get from A to Anywhere. I rely on Wiki to get background facts and so on. Today’s subject falls through the Wiki sieve and does not have an entry.

Published
Categorised as Art