Did you see the 2004 film “Head in the Clouds“? I did not! But if you had you would know that the protagonists face unpalatable choices in 1930s Europe. In fact I had never heard of it until told about it by a lunch companion last week who raved about it. Whether it is any… Read More »
Son of Sweyn Forkbeard and of Swietoslava (or possibly Gunhilda also known as Sigrid the Haughty) the daughter of Mieszko 1 of Poland, grandson of Harold Bluetooth and great grandson of King Gorm (the first historically recognised King of Denmark) and more famed for the story that he once tried to command the advancing waves… Read More »
Even if you are too young to remember the exploits of Dan Dare in the boys’ comic The Eagle which brightened up my week when I was a boy at school arriving, as it did, in a special wrapper for all to see, I suspect that you will be familiar with the name Dan Dare… Read More »
A THEORY OF RELATIVITY or M=e-D 2 Magpies and squirrels are renowned for collecting stuff and humans are not bad at it either. Clearing out old papers recently I came across an article published in The Times (sadly no longer available unless you pay to view the website!) on December 31st 1999. Bear with… Read More »
Those two words and all the menace they contain must have overshadowed the lives of many of the inhabitants of these islands over the centuries. After all, being sent to The Tower meant damp and insanitary conditions, poor food and rough treatment leading often to ignominious execution. Remember Thomas More and Anne Boleyn to name… Read More »
I suppose it was always going to happen. If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is! This is not a moan of “the glass is half full” variety but a realisation that in almost every sphere, the law, and often it is law made by our lovely European masters, sorry partners,… Read More »
idea of poking someone in the eye with the end of a biro is not one which occupies my mind a lot. I have to say, however, that the prospect of damage is high. The mere thought of a sharp pointed object being forcibly thrust into a soft and delicate object like an eye not… Read More »
Has the Oxford University Press printed its last book? This may appear startling to those of you who thought that the OUP was one of the great bastions of the printed word. As someone who passes the premises of the Cambridge University Press each week on the train, and an Oxonian, I was immediately drawn… Read More »
Some of the new building continuing around London and particularly in the City is going to give London a new skyline. Take a look at the Shard going up near London Bridge and you will see what I mean. I actually rather like London’s understated skyline. Walk over any of the bridges over the Thames… Read More »
With summer coming to an end (although the recent weather over the Bank Holiday suggests this has already happened) we can look forward with keen anticipation to what the autumn and the first half of 2011 will bring. Incidentally, why do we all still have to suffer bank holidays? Given to bank workers in the… Read More »