20th Century
This Is My England, Part Ten
If there was one place in England I did not intend to visit it was Clovelly. I knew just what to expect: I have seen that quaint little High Street, climbing like Jacob’s ladder from [more…]
Travelogue
20th Century
This Is My England, Part Nine
From the tip of Land’s End on a fine spring morning you may look down on a sea that can be as calm and clear as a mill pond. From that height the Atlantic is [more…]
Culture
Postcard From Marrakech
Introduction For my 50th birthday, as I didn’t have my children all available, I decided to experience Marrakech. A lot of people recommended it, so decided it was a good time of year to visit [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, Part Eight
Look at Tolpuddle now, with its neat thatched cottages, its tall chestnuts in splendid flower, all in all as pretty an English village as ever found its way on to a Christmas card, and you [more…]
20th Century
The Sore Seated Safari, Part Two
We left our travellers on the evening of September 25th, 1929, as they settled down for a night’s sleep in the village of Bereku, Tanganyika, about 37 miles north of Kondoa Irangi. Today it boasts [more…]
Arts
Going It Alone
Almost fifty years ago I booked a package holiday to Austria. I was young, impressionable and thought that by having everything organised I could play the quintessential Englishman abroad. How wrong I was. The “family [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, Part Seven
There is one date in history that no Englishman can escape remembering — Battle of Hastings, 1066. So being quite close to the place we thought we would go and see how that famous battlefield [more…]
20th Century
The Sore Seated Safari
In the cupboard to the left of my desk, sits a large cardboard box filled with old family photo albums. These arrived in my parent’s house in the early 1980s, after the death of my [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From The Third World
(I) It is 5-30am and children come out of the gloom like ghosts in silent procession. They are laid heavy with satchels, wear blouses and shirts which are so white that they hurt your eyes [more…]