Travels with My Otter

A reader, John Tuffin, recommended Douglas Botting’s biography of Gavin Maxwell when there was an ottery post in August.

The Big Shave

Yesterday, on a rainy Saturday afternoon in London, I went to see Martin Scorsese’s latest at the very comfy cinema within the Riverside Studios.

From Jefferson to Blinken

We live in a democracy, others, poor things, live in totalitarian states governed by Fascists, Communists and the rest.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Gold Run

I remember enjoying the 1995 film version of Richard III with Ian McKellen as the Duke of Gloucester, later the eponymous king.

A Dear Old Fashioned Irish House

I have been re-arranging some books to make more room for biography and fiction and came across this niche memoir published in 1932 by J Catherall & Co (Printers) Ltd in Hexham.

Published
Categorised as Family

From A to Z

“Stop the world I want to get off’ – it’s the title of a 1961 musical – and it’s what I’d like to do sometimes.

Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem

I cannot improve on John D Grainger’s account of Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem extracted from The Battle for Palestine 1917, published in 2006.

Published
Categorised as History

Three Irish Regiments

My Bellew grandfather told me he served in both the North Irish Horse and South Irish Horse in the Great War.