The recent Oscar winner “Bridge of Spies” (Best Supporting Actor for Mark Rylance) is set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the Cold War. Part of the movie is set in Berlin, before and after the Wall between east and west is built. In one scene two characters (one of them played by… Continue reading Attention to detail in the movies
The children’s author and former Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson is probably best known for “The Gruffalo”. We have been fans of her books for many years, with “Stick Man”, “The Snail and the Whale” and “Room on the Broom” all constant features of our children’s younger lives. When my son and daughter were 5 and… Continue reading Time Windfalls
As with yesterday’s piece about Earworms I now feel obliged to post a “Coincidence Corner” piece every month. In May’s “Coincidence Corner” I described it as my “light-hearted … monthly look at the themes, stories or references that recur if you keep your eyes and ears open, no matter what you read, watch or listen… Continue reading June’s “Coincidence Corner”
There are at least two approaches to any writing project. You can plan everything in advance so that you have a clear idea of your progress once you begin your writing, or you can just get started and see where you end up. I am taking the latter approach with this Blog, not planning too… Continue reading No Earworms for June
Differed, deferred, offered, occurred: words like this featured in my 9-year-old daughter’s Spelling List last weekend, along with swimmer, travelled and others that either repeat the last letter of a verb when used in other forms, or they don’t. It got me thinking about rules of spelling and how we generalize information as we learn.… Continue reading Differed and deferred, offered and occurred
My first encounter with the word “banter” was in this Monty Python sketch, wherein RAF pilots fail to understand each other’s reports of recent flying missions. “Bally Jerry pranged his kite right in the how’s your father. Hairy blighter, dicky-birdied, feathered back on his Sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harper’s and… Continue reading Word of the week: banter
The clock is ticking. Change is coming. Something we have enjoyed since the 1970s will no longer be part of our lives. I am referring here (the weekend after we learnt the result of the UK’s EU Referendum) to Paul Gambaccini’s BBC Radio Show, “America’s Greatest Hits”. From July 2016 Paul Gambaccini will host Radio… Continue reading End of an era
There are many books that I have started and not finished, and many books that I have read part of and do not plan to read all the way through. The book that I have tried to read, and failed, more than any other is Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”. Throughout the last 20 years I… Continue reading “Jane Eyre”
My piece earlier this month about Blue Trees was based on ideas that I came across in various training courses more than ten years ago. These ideas were taught with great confidence, and as if they apply universally, but they do not seem to apply to me. Another subject, also taught with confidence, but not… Continue reading Communication and percentages
Today is the day of the EU Referendum. The UK electorate is voting on whether to remain in the EU or to leave. Yesterday evening the group stage of the 2016 European Football Championships (Euro 2016 for short) came to an end. We now know the 16 teams who will play in the knock-out rounds… Continue reading Euro 2016, the EU, and some mnemonics
