Rest in peace Burt Reynolds, the Hollywood star who has just died, aged 82. I have happy memories of his films; not “Deliverance” of course, terrifying on so many levels, but most of the others, including lesser-known comedies like “Nickeledeon” and “Paternity”. The latter was a much-watched treat in the 1980s, one of the first… Continue reading Burt Reynolds, “Paternity” and something from the bread group
Over the last two weekends we have watched, as a family, the most recent pair of James Bond movies, “Skyfall” (2012) and “Spectre” (2015). They were broadcast on ITV2 (lots of ad-breaks), we recorded them on our multi-channel box and watched each of them within 24 hours of recording. The children, aged 11 and 13,… Continue reading James Bond and me
There are signs on some of the busier roads here in West London which read as follows: “Dump rubbish in the street and we’ll fine you up to £400”. The text is laid out rather more dramatically than that, all in upper case, and is printed in different colours and font sizes. It’s on a… Continue reading “Dump Rubbish … and we’ll fine you up to £400”
Today, as you can read in this piece from the Independent, a “pop-up” Shakespeare theatre has opened in York. The Oxford Dictionaries website tells us that pop-up denotes “a shop or other business that opens quickly in a temporary location and is intended to operate for only a short period of time”. In recent years… Continue reading Word of the week: pop-up
Earlier this month the Guardian website featured the following headline: “Almost 100 police have received psychological help after Salisbury attack”. The “Salisbury attack” in question involved a former spy and his daughter being poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent. You can read my own take on it here, in this piece about the word “Spy”.… Continue reading Coroners and Crooners, Framers and Farmers
I noted in this earlier piece that the word “spy” had been in the news a lot recently, and that the story still had some way to run. The same is true of the word “Windrush”. The Windrush was a ship that arrived in the UK (in Tilbury Essex, specifically) in June 1948 with the… Continue reading Word of the week: Windrush
As you may have heard, there’s a new arrival in the royal family. Or maybe that should be: a New Arrival in the Royal Family. From what I heard on the radio yesterday some people are very excited (or, again, maybe that should read Very Excited) about this. A royal baby, on Saint George’s Day.… Continue reading “Prince Wayne … it must be worth a few quid”
On the BBC2 quiz show “Only Connect” at the start of the year there was a brief exchange between the host, Victoria Coren Mitchell, and one of the team captains about having a sense of purpose. The episode was broadcast on 1 January and it has played on my mind ever since, enough to make… Continue reading Trivia, quizzing and a sense of purpose
The word “commoner” was in the news at the start of this month and has been on my mind ever since. Here’s a typical headline from the Guardian: “Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invite 2,640 commoners”. The subheading explains: “People chosen from across UK to join staff and local schoolchildren in Windsor Castle… Continue reading Word of the week: commoner
The word “spy” has been in the news a lot this month. A former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia “remain critically ill in hospital after being poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent”, in the words of this Guardian piece from earlier today. The piece is headlined “Russian spy poisoning: police release picture… Continue reading Word of the week: spy
The Compartments 