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Author Archives: A S H Smyth

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, October 7, 2019

. The Paris Louvre is in future to be guarded by watch-dogs. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, July 13 1908 . The human population has almost doubled since we landed on the Moon. Genital preferences are transphobic. The third umpire will have the final say on the snatch. It is against the rules to take a […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged Adolf Hitler, anatomy, Argentina, babies, Bertha, business, cell-phones, chewing gum, coconuts, cricket, death, dogs, drink, education, Florence, German, girls, Greeks, history, humans, lambs, law, Nelson Evening Mail, newspapers, Paris, philosophy, satire, singing, Stalin, the Louvre, the moon, West Sussex, wisdom, writing | Comments (0)

Applause for thought?

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Midori Goto’s violin recital in Colombo, reviewed. (Along with half the audience.) — For the Sunday Times (SL)

Filed in Journalism, review | Tagged audiences, Brahms, cell-phones, Chamber Music Society of Colombo, children, Colombo, Debussy, education, etiquette, Fauré, Ieva Jokubaviciute, Lakshman Joseph de Saram, Lionel Wendt, Midori Goto, music, piano, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), violin | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, September 30, 2019

. Football was a crime in England during the reign of Henry VIII. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Tuesday, October 2 1906 . The moon is up for longer than the sun. Your antivirus expires in 29 days. The Dogmata Theologica of Petavius are a work of incredible labour and compass. The steep limestone walls of a […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged America, anatomy, astronomy, books, eggs, England, expectoration, football, geology, health, Henry VIII, homosexuality, humanity, law, money, Nelson Evening Mail, Oscar Wilde, pachyderms, Petavius, religion, Russians, satire, scholarship, Sri Lanka, the Chinese, university, war | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, September 23, 2019

. John Stow, author of the Survey of London, was rewarded by James I with a licence to beg. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Friday, August 17 1906 . In Germany, young ladies have no sex. ‘Silver Billy’ Beldham was blond, and is said to have fathered 39 children. Thom Yorke’s left eye is made […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged Alexander von Humboldt, anatomy, Britain, children, Chinese, cricket, Edward Said, eels, fairies, Germany, James I, John Stow, law, London, money, Nelson Evening Mail, Nevada, Poetry, satire, sex, ships, sport, stupidity, the internet, the Middle East, Thom Yorke, vegetables, William Beldham, women, words, writers, Xerxes | Comments (0)

Ducks and cover

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Galley Beggar Press, £14.99, pp1020 . Why, I asked some months back, in these pages, do the protagonists in American fiction these days seem so lost? What is it they’re all so het up about? Well… everything. At least according to the narrator of Ducks, Newburyport. Lucy Ellmann’s monster novel […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Tagged 4th of July, actors, Americans, boarlets, Booker Prize, brandnames, burial mounds, clickbait, death, ducks, engineering, facts, first world problems, FOOSH injuries, Galley Beggar Press, geography, Gilbert & Sullivan, guns, health, homework, James Joyce, Laura Ingalls Wilder, lists, Lucy Ellmann, lyrics, memory, mothers, movies, names, Newburyport, novels, Ohio, Philip Glass, pies, presidents, Revere Ware, Schubert, Shakespeare, shopping, Spectator, styptic sticks, the Amish, the Midwest, trauma, Umberto Eco, wallpaper, women, wordplays, YouTube | Comments (0)

‘Bad in life, good in the book’

Thursday, September 12, 2019

A Q&A with writer and artist Dan Richards. — For Geographical

Filed in interview, Journalism | Tagged Alice Oswald, Amazon, art, Bath, bears, Bob Dylan, climbing, Dan Richards, David Bowie, Denis Johnson, Geographical, Horatio Clare, Iceland, JA Baker, Jan Morris, Joan Didion, Max Porter, mountains, North Korea, Norway, Outward Bound, post, Rebecca Solnit, Richard Brautigan, Royal Geographical Society, Spetses, Svalbard, sæluhús, Ted Hughes, Tim Severin, TS Eliot, writing | Comments (0)

Hit and miss

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Chastise: The Dambusters Story 1943 By Max Hastings William Collins £25 . By 1943, after nearly four years of war ‘ameliorated [only] by a thin gruel of successes,’ Britain and her western allies had little to boast in terms of their offensive victories; the lion’s share of the burden was very clearly being shouldered by […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Tagged Bomber Command, Dambusters, death, engineering, film, Germany, Guy Gibson, history, Max Hastings, non-fiction, RAF, Sir Arthur Harris, Sir Charles Portal, the Commonwealth, The Oldie, war, William Collins, WW2 | Comments (0)

The future starts… in Brighton

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Review of John Higgs’ The Future Starts Here: Adventures in the Twenty-First Century. — For Geographical

Filed in Journalism, review | Tagged books, Brighton, dystopias, Elon Musk, futurology, Generation Z, Geographical, John Higgs, Mad Max, Mars, Millennials, mythos, non-fiction, Quentin Tarantino, social media, Star Trek, trees, Universal Basic Income, Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, August 5, 2019

. Though fair-haired people are not so strong as those with dark hair, they usually live longer. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Wednesday, July 15 1908 . The comedian Joe Pasquale (born Joseph Ellis Pasquale) has not died. The US government spends more per head on their dysfunctional healthcare system than the UK spends per person on […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged Adidas, Americans, Anthony McGowan, Arabic, Batman, Bobby Shafto, Boston MA, British Guiana Boers, chocolate, cricket, gifs, hair, health, intelligence, Joe Pasquale, Leeds Castle, Lincolnshire, Mandarin, marriage, mental health, money, MPs, Nelson Evening Mail, Orientalism, owls, Roud Folks Song Index, satire, sea-faring, Sri Lankans, the NHS, wresteling | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, July 29, 2019

. Leather trunks were used in Rome as early as the time of Caesar. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Friday, September 28 1906 . Tilda Swinton has been elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour began outside a kebab shop in Kent. The complete works of James Joyce are available for £0.75. ‘Twirly’ […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged air travel, books, California, cats, coffee, construction, Devon, emotions, Ethiopia, garlic, George Best, George III, horticulture, hygiene, India, Ireland, James Joyce, Julius Caesar, kebabs, Kent, Kew, leather, Nelson Evening Mail, Rome, satire, sex, Søren Kierkegaard, The Beatles, the Liberal Democrats, Tilda Swinton, World Tiger Day, YouTube | Comments (0)