Monthly Archives: February 2008

Hamlet, Othello, Lear, Macbeth

Posted on February 24, 2008 by John

Just to acknow­ledge the best per­form­ances of Shakespeare’s tra­gic heros that I’ve seen: David Warner as  Ham­let in Peter Hall’s pro­duc­tion for the RSC at the Ald­wych back in the 60s — the tor­tured scholar. Olivier as Oth­ello at the Old … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Unpublished Answer

Posted on February 19, 2008 by John

Some while ago someone wrote to the Guardian’s “Notes and Quer­ies” to ask why road­ies never acknow­ledged other cyc­lists.  My (unpub­lished) reply is below: Dear Notes and Quer­ies, The pos­eurs with their fancy gear do not acknow­ledge fel­low cyc­lists for one … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Ah ! Paris !

Posted on February 16, 2008 by John

Well, actu­ally, “Brrr  Paris”,  in that there was an extraordin­ar­ily chilly little wind whist­ling up the Seine and round the Tuiler­ies and up and down the steps of the Metro (of which more anon). Eurostar did its bit very nicely and … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Pedestrian matters

Posted on February 9, 2008 by John

The Port­land Street ped­es­tri­ans have com­pleted their winter pro­gramme, apart from the final stroll, where we play away. Northaller­ton, this year.  Missed a few out­ings, but there were some high­lights and low­lights to record on the ones I man­aged. Low­lights … Con­tinue read­ing →

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Goodbye fish, and thanks

Posted on February 9, 2008 by John

We had the pond cleared out.  “Watch out for the fish,” we said.  There were no fish.  Some­time in the autumn they must have given up their fishy souls to the great aquar­ium in the sky — or pos­sibly ended … Con­tinue read­ing →

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The Don and Dave Show

Posted on February 2, 2008 by John

Excel­lent even­ing listen­ing to Don Walls read his poetry and David Ward Maclean sing his own songs.  Don’s cur­rent work is look­ing back to his child­hood in the thirties — evoc­at­ive poems about grow­ing up in York — with great … Con­tinue read­ing →

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A Ferrovial Friend

Posted on February 1, 2008 by John

A friend in Nor­way recently asked me to explain what D.H. Lawrence  might have envis­aged when he men­tioned a tram con­ductor “swinging round the pole”.  No, it was not what all the jolly boys and girls did in “Sum­mer Hol­i­day”, … Con­tinue read­ing →

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