20th Century
Walking in Memphis
I guess you know this is a song. The Cher version is crap but Marc Cohn’s one in the early 90s was great Anyone who has heard of, let alone been, to Memphis will associate [more…]
Arts
Going Postal
Marking Your Homework
Rules Pay attention, Puffins! Your last homework entries were excellent — well done. Now it’s time for the next challenge. Before you put pen to paper (or rather fingers to keyboard), here’s a reminder of [more…]
Arts
Fabulously Flamboyant Fridays – A Nice Firm Bottom Pt.3
Welcome back my friends, to the flamboyance that never ends, as Fabulously Flamboyant Friday delivers yet another light-loafered, groin-polished, googly from the gasworks-end pavilion of musical magnificence. Tonight, dear reader, as we respectfully mark International [more…]
Communism
Postcard From Jerry
Jerry Westerby? Yes, Jerry Westerby. The Honourable Clive Gerald Westerby to the likes of you and me, but Jerry to his chums in the secret world and to his readers at the rag, especially those [more…]
Arts
Manouche – Part One
Ernesto sang a beautiful haunting rhumba from his native Brazil, and then Chocote took the guitar to accompany Memé’s singing. Chocote’s big labourer’s fingers were transformed as they danced nimbly around the chords, his other [more…]
Cooking
A View From (Just Outside) The Greenhouse; A Slice Of Life
Not being too knowledgeable where apiary is concerned, but also knowing that some bees do build their homes underground, both the head of the B&M department and myself assumed that the black and yellow stripey [more…]
19th Century
Beamish: the Museum that said yes to everything
You may be surprised to learn that a working time machine has already been invented in County Durham. It exists because one man refused to let the region throw its own history into the skip. [more…]
20th Century
A History of Pop Music – Albums 1967
Featured Album: The Monkees This is a series of articles looking at albums from 1960 to whatever year we end up in. I will select a featured album for each year and the link for [more…]
Holiday
WG’s Summer Cruise, June 2026 – Part Five
Thursday 25th June – At sea Do you ever get the feeling you have done something wrong and you actually haven’t? Well, the information to put the clocks forward to European time went out yesterday, [more…]