Nineteen years ago today my wife and I were on honeymoon, taking it easy by the swimming pool in a converted farmhouse in Tuscany. The previous evening we had dinner in Florence, about an hour’s drive away, one of the most enjoyable meals we have ever shared. It was at an unpretentious family-run restaurant. When… Continue reading “No decaf. No cappuccino. No cream. Only raspberries!”
On this date in 1972 US athlete Dave Wottle won the 800m final at the Munich Olympics. I remember it well. It was the first Olympic year when I knew what was happening. I had been looking forward to the athletics events all summer but we missed some of them. We were on holiday in… Continue reading Olympic memories: Munich 1972, Wottle with the throttle
Last Saturday evening I watched the 1977 film “The Spy Who Loved Me”, Roger Moore’s third outing as James Bond. ITV have been showing Bond movies at weekends throughout this summer. I have caught an hour or more of several of these screenings but had not watched any of them all the way through. I… Continue reading Drinking with Bryan Marshall
If things had gone to plan (and that phrase must have been uttered billions of times in the last five months) we would now be enjoying the Summer Olympics from Tokyo. Like most sporting events in this year of COVID-19 it has been postponed, in this case to July and August 2021. In place of… Continue reading Olympic memories: London 2012 and London 1948, the closest any of my family has come to taking part
July 1972 was a good time to walk into a record shop and buy your first 7” single. (12” singles did not exist yet.) You might have asked for one of the releases that had been #1 in May or June and was now making its way down the charts, “Vincent” by Don McLean perhaps,… Continue reading The first record I ever bought
You might remember a story about the devil going down to Georgia, looking for a soul to steal. He was in a bind, he was way behind, and he was looking to make a deal. He came across a young boy (name of Johnny) playing the violin (“sawing on a fiddle and playing it hot”).… Continue reading Charlie Daniels RIP
Earlier this month I wrote this piece about The Elephant Parade, an event that took place exactly 10 years ago here in London. Streets, parks, squares and indoor spaces were populated by life-size models of baby elephants, painted by a variety of artists. It captured our imagination, and I took photographs of all 250+ elephants.… Continue reading More Elephant Pictures, and reflections on photo albums
If you grew up watching Hollywood films from the 1950s and 60s, as I did, you will be familiar with the actor Gregory Peck. You might have seen him in any or all of the following: “The Guns of Navarone”, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (for which he won an Oscar, as the lawyer Atticus Finch),… Continue reading Gregory Peck and my father
10 years ago, in the late spring and early summer of 2010, London’s public spaces were home to hundreds of colourfully painted statues of baby elephants. The Elephant Parade, as it was called, featured over 250 of them in streets, parks, squares and a few indoor locations such as Westfield Shepherds Bush and the Museum… Continue reading The Elephant Parade, 10 years on
Coronavirus will probably turn out to be the “Word of the Year” for 2020, not just here in the UK but worldwide. It may well become the Word of the Decade. The word Corona on its own has two meanings for me, both recalling the 1970s. First of all, Corona was a soft drinks brand.… Continue reading Word of the week: Corona
