Friday, November 28, 2014

Bright in the sun

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Matsuo Bashō, the great Japanese master of haiku poetry, died 320 years ago today. In his late 30s, having grown tired of fame, he started o...
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Went to see P.M. (in bed)

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‘Found P.M. had sent a rather silly telegram to Stalin. Cancelled it (or held it up) and rang up A. He agreed and I sent him down some modif...
Friday, October 31, 2014

If I die a violent death

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It is 30 years to the day since Indira Gandhi, a major figure in the National Congress Party and India’s third prime minister, was assassina...
Sunday, October 19, 2014

N. tinkering with diaries

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It is half a century since the death of Nettie Palmer, one of Australia’s most well known literary figures of the 20th century. She and her ...

Washed out exoticism

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‘If in a hundred years we have not established contact with some other planet (but we will), or, next best, with the earth’s interior, human...
Monday, October 6, 2014

The Kon-Tiki man

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Today marks the centenary of the birth of Thor Heyerdahl, the great Norwegian adventurer who, by sailing primitive rafts and canoes, showed ...
Monday, September 29, 2014

Go and wash and see

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Miguel de Unamuno, one of the most influential Spanish thinkers of his time, was born 150 years ago today. A scholar, writer, and rector of ...
Wednesday, September 24, 2014

An audience with Alaungpaya

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Alaungpaya, one the three greatest kings of Burma, and the founder of the Konbaung dynasty, was born three centuries ago today. He forced ou...
Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Call me Cherie

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Well, happy birthday Cherie Blair, 60 today. I wonder how you’re celebrating, and whether you’re likely to have an ‘odd do’, as you did on y...
Friday, September 19, 2014

The fifth Beatle

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Brian Epstein, legendary manager of the Beatles who died in his early 30s from a drug overdose, would have been 80 today. He lived a hectic ...