Sunday, March 29, 2015

Black, dead, inhuman

›
‘I have been ill now and in bed for over two weeks. That is why I have written nothing. And the new doctor gave me M. & B. tablets which...
Thursday, March 19, 2015

Cramming preserves into a jar

›
The intriguing Polish writer Leopold Tyrmand died 30 years ago today. His youthful adult life was marked by the turmoil of the Second World ...
Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The day came at last

›
‘The day came at last as all days must come if one waits long enough. The day that ended my old & commenced my new life - a change for t...
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

I did the right thing

›
‘Every ten minutes or so a constable enters my cell, looks curiously at my scribblings and asks me what I am writing. I say, “A children’s s...
Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Dreadful depravity

›
‘His daily conduct forced a conviction upon my alarmed and tortured mind, that his designs were the most vile.’ This is from an astonishing ...
Friday, February 6, 2015

Virtues and imperfections

›
Three hundred and thirty years ago today King Charles II died, and his brother, James, was crowned king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Jo...
Saturday, January 31, 2015

Befriending the Dalai Lama

›
Today marks the centenary of the birth of Thomas Merton, a monk, a mystic and a prolific writer on religious and spiritual issues. Indeed, h...
Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Lodge’s diary playback

›
David Lodge - happy 80th birthday! A British author of modern-day classics such as Small World and Nice Work , and their TV adaptations, Lo...
Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Giddy and joyful

›
Ermest Chausson, a little known French romantic composer, was born 160 years ago today. He died relatively young, after a bicycle accident, ...