Arts
The Origins of Terms and Phrases
There are terms and phrases which remain in use today, despite the fact they were coined many years or many centuries ago. In some cases it is quite remarkable that they have survived and stand [more…]
Literature
16th Century
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcala de Henares on the 29th September 1547, the second son of Rodrigo de Cervantes and Leonor de Cortinas. His father led a precarious and unsettled life as an [more…]
Arts
Salman Rushdie & The Satanic Verses
In The Beginning Prior to sitting his professional exams, Anis Rushdie, one of the Kashmiri Rushdies, graduated from Lahore’s University of Punjab in the mid-1930s. After passing fourth overall, and as top Mulsim, Anis was [more…]
Arts
Derek And Clive Go Clubbing
In 1982 Clive left a small Welsh town for London to start his degree course, he had outgrown the town where he had lived all his life and was a couple of years older than [more…]
19th Century
Review: 120 Days of Sodom by The Marquis De Sade
Just as an 18th century Président may stalk provincial France looking for innocents to corrupt, so bots chew their way through blogs looking for relevant wares to advertise. We must proceed with caution. On these [more…]
20th Century
Ecclesiastes
“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.” Ecclesiastes- 7:10 When we arrived in London in the early 1960’s, I was put [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 30
September 3rd, 1811. I have been too much occupied to keep up my diary for several months. We have all been toiling on the improvement of the Bear Inn, which had fallen into some disrepair [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 29
June 9th, 1811. At sea once more, we discovered that two of our crew had deserted, preferring the fleshpots of New York to their homeland and what will certainly be a more than generous reward [more…]