Interview with members of the George Formby Society, as they attempt to break an online ukulele-playing record. – For The Critic
Filed in feature, interview, Journalism
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Also tagged Alastair Cook, America, army, Australia, banjos, Batley, BBC, Bette Davis, bingo, Blackpool, Covid-19, cricket, Cyprus, dating, Ed Balls, Facebook, Falkland Islands Radio Service, France, Frank Skinner, friends, George Formby, German, Germany, grandmothers, Guinness, Gyles Brandreth, Harry HIll, Hawaii, Humphrey Bogart, Italy, jellyfish, lyrics, mental health, music, naturism, nuclear power, proletarians, Queen Elizabeth II, records, Royal Albert Hall, Russia, Simon Rose, smut, Swahili, The Critic, The Daily Telegraph, the George Formby Society, the Queen Mother, the RAF, Tottenham, ukuleles, Warrington Museum, Welsh, windows, WWII, Yorkshire, Zoom
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. The Government of India collects about £7,000,000 from the sale of opium. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Thursday, July 19 1906 . Jacob Zuma is the only black South African president never to lift the rugby world cup. At Morrisons, your opinion gets rewarded with a £500 voucher. Vegetarianism, which is based on false hypotheses and ideas, [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged basketball, blindness, CENS, children, construction, cookies, death, democracy, drugs, Dublin Zoo, fathers, fruit, government, India, Jacob Zuma, lions, Mahler, money, Morrisons, Necessity, Nelson Evening Mail, news, philosophy, property, Rugby World Cup 2019, satire, sex, South Africa, the Soviet Union, trees, vegetarianism, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
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Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Two nights from now, by way of (ahem) a birthday present, I will be attending a live-orchestra screening of The English Patient at the Albert Hall. I had invited an old friend, a raven-haired young lady (named in Debrett’s) of impossibly romantic tendency, who first exposed me to the film in, I’d say, about 1998 [...]
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged Academy Awards, Afghanistan, Ahmed Hassanein, air travel, American University in Cairo, anatomy, Anthony Minghella, Arabic, army, Banana Republic, bedouin, Benny Goodman, Booker Prize, books, bookshops, Brighton, Bruce Chatwin, Byron, Charing Cross Road, Christopher Hitchens, clothing, Debrett's, deserts, Dorset, Egypt, Egyptology, exploration, film, French Foreign Legion, Gabriel Yared, Geoff Dyer, Geographical, Geographical Journal, Herodotus, Hungarian, Hungary, JM Coetzee, John Ball, John Hare, Joseph Conrad, Justin Marozzi, Kensington Gore, Kristen Scott Thomas, László Almásy, London, Long Range Desert Group, Lorenz Hart, love, Michael Ondaatje, mountains, music, novels, Orientalism, Oscar Wilde, Oxford, Picador, plums, Ralph Bagnold, Ralph Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes, Richard Bermann, Robert Twigger, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Saul Kelly, Sinai, SOE, song, South Africa, the Himalayas, the Nile, The Oldie, the Sahara, the Western Desert, war, WG Sebald, William Golding, wind, women, WW2, YouTube, Zerzura
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. There are more Jews in New York than there are in Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland put together. They worship in 37 synagogues. Every fifth person belongs to the family of Abraham. — The Nelson Evening Mail, December 1 1906 . Coleraine Blackjack is the cheapest porter in the world. Thomas Nelson [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged anatomy, Australia, Ben Affleck, books, Britain, Bruca Chatwin, Coleraine, Colombo, computers, crime, Cuba, death, Devon, drink, East Africa, emojis, flags, France, Germany, health, hyenas, Italy, Judaism, London, Microsoft, money, Nelson E, New York, Northern Ireland, philosophy, religion, River Dart, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, tattoos, Thomas Nelson, West Africa, West Dart, Wittgenstein
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. High top boots for dogs are now being sold in the shops of New York. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 23 1907 . The first pedestrian has been killed by a self-driving car. Starbucks employees do not capitalise their As. The sound of the bagpipe fattens the sheep and lambs of all Arabia. [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged (il)literacy, academia, Adam Smyth, age, America, Arabia, babies, bagpipes, cars, Chile, composition, criticism, death, dermatology, dogs, Donald Trump, Easter Island, education, entertainment, fauna, geography, housewares, Justin Trudeau, Mahler, Moldiv, Mount Everest, music, Nelson Evening Mail, New York, Poetry, politics, shopping, Starbucks, Truth, walking
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. A blind chameleon cannot change its colour. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 17 1908 . Nobody ever thinks they’re stupid. All homes bear ethnic odours. Some bags look the same. There’s no point putting shackles on Quinton de Kock. You don’t get many Mini Eggs for a pound no more. The UK is [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged alpacas, André Aciman, bags, blindness, Bruno Mars, Cadbury, chameleons, chocolate, cricket, death, Derbyshire, economics, eggs, ethnicity, farming, finance, French, housing, ironmongery, maple syrup, Michael Jackson, music, Nelson Evening Mail, oaths, oil, oral hygiene, Quinton de Kock, stupidity, the EU, the UK, voice, weather, Yarmouth
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Monday, September 25, 2017
. The province of Quebec has a wooden railway 20 miles in length. The rails are of maple. This railway is used for hauling timber. — The Nelson Evening Mail, November 1 1906 . The German word for ‘train’ is ‘Schienengefuhrtes Sonderzug mit feststehender Lokomotive’. Bathtime is a good time for kicking. Margaret Atwood’s real name is [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Allen Ginsberg, bathing, Canaan Banana, Catherine Parr, cricket, dogs, e-mail, finance, German, health, Helpful Books, Henry VIII, humanity, Juliet Stevenson, Marais Erasmus, Margaret Atwood, Methodism, music, Nelson Evening Mail, nomenclature, officialdom, Poetry, politics, rabbits, religion, Scandinavia, tequila, Thomas Tallis, trains, trees, Virginia Military Institute, war, Yakult
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. Though Russia is fast developing her oil lands, the United States produces more petroleum than all the rest of the world. — The Nelson Evening Mail, June 22 1912 . In English maritime law a ship is not ‘wrecked’ if the cat survives. Ezra Pound heard many performances of the Bellringers’ Guild. Kale is a [...]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged age, America, artillery, campanology, cars, cats, cell-phones, chameleons, clowns, Disney, drink, Egypt, emotions, Ezra Pound, ice hockey, John Travolta, law, LGBT, marmalade, Napoleon, oil, passports, Russia, sea-faring, statuary, tartan, text, the Welsh, turtles, vegetables, war, winter
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
I I like to have my steaks done ‘like a hockey puck’. Sometimes I actually say this to the waiters (though not in French restaurants, admittedly.) II In Ethiopia, some ‘baristas’ knock used coffee grounds out onto the bare-earth floors. Flat, round, and black. ‘Like a hockey puck,’ I tell people. III I used to play [...]
Thursday, October 4, 2012
You say ketchup; I say tomato sauce. You say tomato; In Hindi they say tamatar. I say ‘tamatar’; You say ‘eh?’