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Author Archives: A S H Smyth

Bookselling: my part in its downfall

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Some thoughts on my brief time at Waterstone’s, along with a review of Shaun Bythell’s Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism, review | Tagged The Critic | Comments (0)

His race is run

Friday, November 6, 2020

On the late Ben Cross, Harold Abrahams, and the impact Chariots of Fire had on me as a 10-year-old boy. — For The Critic

Filed in feature, Journalism | Tagged The Critic | Comments (0)

None shall sleep

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

A Toscca seminar on potential catastrophe in the Caucasus. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Tagged The Critic | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, November 2, 2020

. The Paris Louvre is in future to be guarded by watch-dogs. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, July 13 1908 . A gold coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar has been auctioned for more than $3m dollars. 50% of a man’s hair is gone before it becomes noticeable. Good socialists need not refuse […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Tagged antisemitism, army, asteroids, biscuits, cigars, crime, death, dogs, Doris Lessing, Esperanto, gold, guns, hair, Indians, Jeremy Corbyn, Julius Caesar, LL Zamenhof, marriage, men, money, mountains, Nelson Evening Mail, news, Paris, police, roads, satire, security, socialism, Sri Lanka, stupidity, suicide, Sweden, The Democratic Party, the Louvre, Yorkshire | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Yadushika Radkakrishnan

Sunday, October 25, 2020

The Sri Lankan fashion photographer and jewellery designer talks about the shot she never got… and one she did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Tagged design, fashion, jewellery, models, modest wear, Mount Lavinia, photography, sea, social media, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Yadushika Radhakrishnan, YouTube | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Sandranathan Rubatheesan

Sunday, October 18, 2020

The Sri Lankan journalist and photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Tagged Anuradhapura, cameras, Chavakachcheri, Colombo, farming, fire, Harold Peiris Gallery, health, Hinduism, hospitals, Jaffna, Journalism, parents, peacocks, photography, police, Sandranathan Rubatheesan, Sunday Times (SL), Tamils, train-travel, University of Colombo, war | Comments (0)

Year’s mind

Monday, October 12, 2020

On South Africa’s historic 1995 Rugby World Cup win, its aftermath, and the sad death of James Terence Small . On Sunday morning, the first big international rugby fixture – All Blacks vs the Wallabies – was played since Covid halted the Six Nations back in early March. This will be followed by the other […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Tagged Andre Joubert, Andrew Mehrtens, apartheid, Australia, Bledisloe Cup, Butch James, Chester Williams, Chris Hani, death, drugs, Ed Morrison, Eric Cantona, Francois Pienaar, James Small, Joel Stransky, Johannesburg, John Smit, Jonah Lomu, Jonny Wilkinson, Joost van der Westhuizen, Kent, Nelson Mandela, New Zealand, Os du Randt, parents, Paul Gascoigne, Robben Island, rugby, Rugby Championship, Rugby World Cup 1995, Sean Fitzpatrick, Six Nations, Siya Kolisi, South Africa, sport, Springboks, The Critic, Tom Hardy, TV | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Tai Hsin Shiek

Sunday, October 11, 2020

The star-gazing Sri Lankan photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Tagged Benjamin Von Wong, Buddhism, CameraLK, cameras, cosplay, Deepthi Jayasinghe, Dylan Seedin, education, Haputale, Hilton Hotels, Hinduism, Kali, Kurunegala, Lanka Comic Con, Lasith Malinga, Nikon, Opula Fonseka, parents, photography, radio, Ratmalana, social media, stars, Sunday Times (SL), Tai Hsin Shiek, tea, weddings | Comments (0)

Faux Amis? Or, the art of the nonvel

Friday, October 9, 2020

Inside Story: a novel / How to Write By Martin Amis Jonathan Cape £20 . It is traditionally ‘not done’ to review books in terms of what they’re not. And yet: this book is not a novel. It says it is on the front cover; but it isn’t. And Martin Amis makes it clear it’s […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Tagged 9/11, Amazon, autobiography, Brexit, Christopher Hitchens, Clive James, criticism, death, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Jane Howard, food, Germany, James Fenton, Jonathan Cape, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Mystic Meg, Nabokov, nonvels, Philip Larkin, pilates, publishing, Robert Conquest, rugby, Salman Rushdie, Saul Bellow, sex, Solzhenitsyn, terrorism, the Gulag, the Holocaust, The New Yorker, The Oldie | Comments (0)

The Gentleman’s Marathon

Monday, October 5, 2020

On my attempt to run 26.2 miles, in Pheidippides’ footsteps. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Tagged Afghanistan, army, artillery, Athens, Bosnia, Brett Raymond, champagne, Chariots of Fire, Charlton, Classics, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, death, gentlemen, Google, Greece, Haruki Murakami, health, hills, Homer, Honourable Artillery Company, Iraq, Joseph James Prosser, kilometers, London marathon, Lucian, Marathon, Merrell, miles, Olympics, Panathinaiko Stadium, Persians, Phaleron War Cemetery, Pheidippides, running, Silverstone, the Aegean, The Critic, war | Comments (0)