Politics
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20th Century
What’s in a Street Name?
Do the street names in Kenya’s cities still serve the purpose of memorialising those who have made significant contributions to our country? November 22, 2024 I’m a flâneur. Every time I visit a new town, [more…]
20th Century
Every Button is a Bit of France
18 August 1944 Ten minutes ago the shock-headed young signalman came swaying across the signals deck and grinned at me. He made a noise like a dive-bomber and his hands mimed an Focke-Wulf Fw 190 [more…]
17th Century
Lloyd’s of London 50 years on
I joined a prestigious insurance broker, Matthews Wrightson, straight from school back in 1967, the tag ‘& at Lloyd’s’ was always the gilt on the gingerbread for a broker. Old man Wrightson was still in [more…]
Health
Sort Out Yer Glutes!
Sort out yer glutes! Thus spake my sports physio after I turned up in his surgery with chronic back pain, like I couldn’t get out of bed without screaming. Now he’s good, so good in [more…]
Arts
A snapshot of the Grauniad
A quick(ish) perusal of the Grauniad headlines on the 22nd November. It is eclectic. No 10 says it would arrest Netanyahu, Poland says there is a real risk of escalating war turning Global Gatwick Airport [more…]
Hobbies
Across the Pennines on the C2C, Part One
It takes a week to cycle from Penzance to Berwick. It took me 40 years. Because on the way, I wanted to include every town in England, in what amounted to some two years of [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Two Hundred And Sixty
Monday Good morning and hello from a happy Downing Street because Legohead is missing again. He has gone off to Brazil for the G20 meeting and said he is going to meet the Chinese leader [more…]
19th Century
Enemies Within, Part Four
In late February of 1894, a far-fetched tale appeared in the London penny dreadful newspapers. It concerned the untimely death of an anarchist, Martial Bourdin, blown up by his own bomb near the Royal Observatory [more…]