History Isn’t Always Bunk

History often has something to teach us; it’s a matter of opening it at the right page. The up-coming UK referendum about membership of the EU is dividing the country; husband against wife, father against son, step-father against step-daughter.

A Monsignor

I’ve  been asked by a regular reader to mention a famous 20th century scion of the Gilbey family, Monsignor Alfred Gilbey.  To get him in context, Monsignor Gilbey is the grandson of the Alfred Gilbey who founded the firm with his brother, Walter, in 1856. I met him only once that I can remember, when… Continue reading A Monsignor

The Compleat Imbiber, Part One

Cyril Ray, who died in 1991, was best known in his latter years as a writer on wine. He wrote books about Bollinger, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, among others. However, his back-story is interesting.

Pevsner

I was foolish last week when I was walking in Derbyshire. Because, initially, the plan had been to carry our kit I travelled light and left something indispensable at home, namely Pevsner’s The Buildings of England DERBYSHIRE.

Midnight Special

  Science fiction is not a genre that I dip into often but I did as a teenager. I enjoyed stories by Isaac Asimov and especially John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos (above) and The Day of the Triffids.

A Delicious Paradox

There have been forty-six in Switzerland in the last five years. Since 1971, forty-five years ago, there have been three hundred and seventy-six. You know what I’m on about; the Swiss penchant for putting everything to a referendum.

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Limestone Way, Day Three

Staying in pubs, the customer expects a comfy bed, wi-fi, an en suite bathroom with a shower and “products” – that’s little plastic capsules all full of the same grunge labelled shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel; most places, more or less, deliver.

Limestone Way, Day Two

The Limestone Way is not an ancient footpath like, say, the Ridgeway or Peddars Way. It was created by the Derbyshire county council, I suppose to promote tourism. Originally it ran from Castleton to Matlock and this is the route, about twenty-eight miles, we are taking. Nobody can accuse us of being over ambitious. (Subsequently… Continue reading Limestone Way, Day Two