19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 20
June 13th, 1810 (June 1st O.S.). We have left Novaya Zemlya, to general relief, and are sailing down the west side of the island to resume our eastward course. No one enjoyed our sojourn in [more…]
Hobbies
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 14
“Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking we are just commencing our approach into Kai Tak international airport in Hong Kong, the weather is fine, during the approach we’ll have Kowloon City on the [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 19
March 29th, 1810 (March 17th O.S.). We have good news brought by one of the Count’s agents returning from St Petersburg. A suitable ship has been found and purchased, and is now on her long [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 13
Over chai in the subcontinent, balut in the tropics or roast swan in an Oxbridge refectory the topic of conversation might turn to ‘given the chance, would you kill baby Hitler?’ In Latin this would [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 18
December 22nd, 1809 (December 10th O.S.). Count Bagarov has taken Fred’s advice about using a bomb ship to penetrate the North-East Passage, and has sent one of his agents to St Petersburg to try to [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 12
I had an uncle who was an excellent chap from a very proud, hardworking but rather modest background. He’s the one who was on the railway (a reserved profession) during the war but managed to [more…]
Animals
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 17
November 21st, 1809 (November 9th O.S.). Count Bagarov was delighted by our reception by the Tsar. From an obscure minor courtier lurking in the corners of the state rooms of the Winter Palace, he has [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 11
You may wonder, dear reader, after ten episodes and a prologue, where all this is leading. It certainly doesn’t seem to be leading to Lille. Bear with me. You’ll recall that, for obvious reasons, the [more…]