History
The Birth of the Angry Young Man
In 1956 the play Look Back in Anger was first staged in Britain. Written by John Osborne, it was the story of Jimmy Porter – who came to symbolise a new force in postwar Britain – the [more…]
History
History
Postcard from Saint Nicholas
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, Keir Starmer is stealing pennies from the old man’s hat, and we continue our journey around the Isles of Scilly. Tresco was once called St Nicholas, or [more…]
21st Century
Debt and the Gen Z protests
31 August, 2024 A generation after the 1980s debt crisis triggered the rebirth of democracy on the continent, will Kenya’s youthful idealists spark a pan-African revolt? The protests in Kenya mark a turning point [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse; Edizeone Apulia (Prima Parte)
And so to Italy, but not before making sure the Buildings and Maintenance team had been fully drilled in the routines required to ensure I didn’t return to any kind of disaster. I needn’t have [more…]
20th Century
The Battle of Arnhem
Having parachuted nine miles to the west of ARNHEM during the early afternoon of 17th September 1944 2nd Parachute Battalion, reinforced by elements from the 1st Parachute Brigade reached the road bridge at dusk. In [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Four – Berlin
When my friend Alfred Friedel comes off duty it’s usually somewhere around one o’clock in the morning. For Alfred is a newspaperman. And morning newspapermen the world over live like owls. Take a good look [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Birmingham, Part Four
Earlier this year, as my wife and I passed Birmingham’s Town Hall during our day trip from the North, we hummed Mendelssohn’s Elijah which debuted in the city’s triennial music festival of 1846. At that [more…]
20th Century
A History of Pop Music – 1963
Featured song: The Beatles – Please, Please Me This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 when they stopped making [more…]
20th Century
My Uncle David
My dad was one of eight brothers. The oldest of these, born in 1915, was called David. I can remember him from the 1950s but he was always a bit distant, a bit odd in [more…]