Piano Concerto

The opening chords of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 are instantly recognisable; you can listen to the whole piece at the end of this post. The reaction it evoked when it was first played may come as a surprise to you.

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Two Principled Politicians

Have you heard of Adlai Stevenson? I’m embarrassed  that I hadn’t until I watched him being interviewed by John Freeman in a BBC TV series called Face to Face, broadcast in 1959.

Big Bang Theory

I enjoyed sounding the gong to announce meals at Barmeath in my childhood. Under my grandmother’s instruction my technique improved from loud bashing (think Top Cat summoning the gang) to a subtler, gradually increasing crescendo, beating around the edge of the gong, culminating in a final stroke, fortissimo, to the centre.

Croissants for Breakfast

Croissant in French means crescent (and as a noun can be used to describe a new moon) but not all croissants are crescent-shaped.

A Marshal of France

The Gers countryside rolls attractively, when seen from a car. On foot the hills seem steeper and it took two hours to walk to Lectoure.

La Vie Rurale

  Gers is a department in the south west of France. It is musketeer country, created from part of the provinces of Gascony and Guyenne around the time of the French Revolution in 1790. The fourth musketeer, d’Artagnan was Gersois.

The Picnic Papers

On Wednesday, for the first time this year, it was warm enough in London to sit out in the garden in the early evening with the awning out. My thoughts turned to picnics and, a glass of chilled dry sherry to hand, I reached for The Picnic Papers. (I put a half bottle of Sauternes… Continue reading The Picnic Papers

Under the Weather

I felt a tad under the weather one morning earlier this week. I put it down to a rare tropical disease I might have caught in Singapore in ’89, or possibly a merry dinner in Parsons Green the night before. (Parsons Green lost its apostrophe just before World War I.)

Earl’s Court

What memories does the Earl’s Court exhibition centre hold for you? Andrew took me to the Royal Tournament, Richard was a regular attender at the Boat Show and, once, to an opera when he was feeling distinctly ill. I think it was Turandot. Well, it is no more.