20th Century
The Secret of the Loch
This is another article by my Uncle, John Alldridge. In addition to writing for the Manchester Evening News, he also wrote many articles for the BBC (back in the 50s and 60s when it was [more…]
Blog
Authoritarianism
The Great Road Safety Con
Fifteen years ago I wrote an aide memoire on speed cameras & their futility on road safety, I co-authored it with an old fashioned traffic cop when I was in office. Subsequently I was asked [more…]
Arts
Moonlighting as a DJ
For a large part of my twenties, I lived a double life. By day I worked on the farm or as a tree surgeon, and sometimes even in an office. I would play football and [more…]
Arts
The Royal Ballet School
Both Master and Miss Reggie took ballet lessons from an early age (Master Reggie starting at 5 and Miss Reggie at 4). They showed a talent for dance from an early age and Mrs Reggie [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 22
COMMENTS ON PART 21 AND YARNS ENSUING FROM THEM I really enjoyed the comments on part 21 and it seems invidious to single out just a few. However, I must apologise to both Wattylers wife [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – August 1941
August 1941 was extraordinarily quiet in the theatres we are concentrating on. This month it is only news from Libya and precious little of it there is. But things were happening in Italy. In Tobruk [more…]
Book Review
Book Review: Death Set to Music
Très bien pour un cadeau gratuity! Having time to sit down and read a book is a bit of a luxury for me, as well as the fact that I don’t have the patience to [more…]
Business
Switzerland: The safest of havens, Part II
Why Switzerland? There are many good reasons that could easily explain the flock of so many wealthy families and investors to Switzerland and all of them have been reinforced by the pandemic. For one thing, [more…]
20th Century
Albert Ball – The Angel-Faced Killer
Breakfast His place was laid, The messroom clock struck eight The sun shone through the window On his chair. No one commented on his fate, Save for a headshake here and there; Only old George [more…]