Arts
The Swaling, Part Thirty
The Diplomatic Corp are jammed into the reception rooms at the British High Commissioner’s residence at Eden Hall. The weather is against us. Not only is there a swaling wind (from the crop burnings in [more…]
Biography
20th Century
Men in Crates
The ripping yarns of derring-do served up by AWS are green in our memory, but here’s a caper that is more a case of derring-didn’t. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Umaru Abdulrahman Dikko [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Twenty Nine
“Do you believe any of this nonsense?” “Of course not.” “They’re not going to sign it are they?” “You’ll see.” Myself and Miss Noor of the Pakistan High Commission, are ‘enjoying’ a presentation as part [more…]
Arts
Further Childhood Holiday Memories
Dad changed jobs in early 1963 and went to work for, what was at the time, the worlds 3rd largest auction house. They were family business based in a turning off Bond Street. Dad’s new [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 2
It may interest some readers who commented on my first article to know that I was very conscious of Coleridge’s poem when choosing my pen-name because a few years after the events described here, whilst [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Twenty Eight
‘Harry’ Lee Kuan Yew was born in 1923 into a comfortably off Straits family, resident in the Reservoir Road area of Singapore. His father was a Shell Oil company executive, his mother the author or [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Twenty Seven
The High Commissioner’s Private Office. Upstairs. The British High Commissioner’s Residence. Eden Hall. Nassim Road. Singapore. I have let myself into the High Commissioner’s office and sat myself in the naughty corner. There are footsteps [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 1
This article is the first of what may become a series if it attracts enough interest. It’s title has been inspired by a song performed by the Everly Brothers that was Number One on the [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Twenty Six
The first rule of diplomacy is to be nice to everybody all of the time, especially at Singapore’s social event of the season, the British High Commissioner’s annual bash. Even when cornered by North Korea’s [more…]