Month: September 2016

In Vogue

You wait ages for a fashion documentary and then two come along. Valentino: The Last Emperor came out in 2008 and the following year The September Issue; both cracking good films.

Published
Categorised as Fashion

Moor about LAMDA

The new theatre and rehearsal rooms at LAMDA are still a work in progress. For big productions they hire theatres around London and for smaller shows use their existing studio theatre that seats about seventy-five.

Published
Categorised as Theatre

Design Deficit

Last time Quinlan Terry cropped up here (Palladio in the Park) I called him Terry Quinlan until a better informed reader in Dublin put me right. (Thank you, Margaret.) As far as I can remember he got quite a good write-up from me for his Palladian villas in Regent’s Park. Today he is going to… Continue reading Design Deficit

Our Dumb Chums

I have been reflecting on the largish number of PG Wodehouse stories that feature animals and birds. Cats, dogs, pigs, parrots, canaries fairly throng the pages and I wondered if this might be an angle worth exploring.

Schweppes Switch

There is so much to get irritated about that it’s a wonder I have time for anything else. The latest annoyance is the repackaging of tonic water and soda water into similar looking black cans. Inadvertently pouring a gin and soda is jolly cross-making, although disaster can be averted by lacing it with lime cordial.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Law of Unintended Consequences is a pervasive tyranny that we live under. Governments raise tax rates and raise less revenue. In the UK there is a 5p charge for plastic bags so people buy big, strong plastic “bags for life” that get thrown away – you get the idea?

Published
Categorised as Politics

The Man Who …

If it’s in back and white and a foreign language it’s usually my kind of film – pretentious dilettante that I am.

Lest We Forget

Walking across Hyde Park one evening I noticed this fine memorial. The inscription set me thinking.