Up next in my review of the year is music. As with most years, I listened to a great deal: exploring the new; uncovering former favourites not heard in a long time to see if they stood up well; trying out the new recordings of established favourites, sometimes up to standard, sometimes needing more listensRead More
2021 – the year online
Here we are at the end of the year we thought would not be like the last one, only for it to be almost exactly like the last one – just with more traffic and not quite so such sunshine. Nevertheless, a year is a year, and it’s time to review from various perspectives, muchRead More
Harmony constant
Michael Nesmith has died. You feel like a part of you has disappeared when a voice that has been at the back of your head for as long as you can remember just goes. Nesmith was the droll guy with the woolly hat in The Monkees’ TV show, which those of my age watched religiouslyRead More
Making an exhibition of ourselves
Here’s some breaking news for you… On 22 April, and running until 21 August 2022, the British Library will be hosting a major exhibition on the history of news in Britain. Entitled Breaking the News, it will (according to the press release) spotlight the role news plays in our society, exploring issues of choice, interpretation,Read More
Summertime
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high Oh, your daddy’s rich and your ma is good-lookin’ So hush little baby, don’ yo’ cry Every song has been borrowed. One welcomes originality and should be dismayed by formula, but a song must always have come from somewhere else. ARead More
Kane and Kong
Have you seen the pterodactyls in Citizen Kane? They are there, supposedly, in the background of the beach picnic scene towards the end of the film. As the camera tracks through the party guests, following Kane’s butler Raymond (played by Paul Stewart), just before we enter the Kanes’ tent, there in the background are silhouettesRead More
Names and labels
To south London and the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see an exhibition of woodcuts by abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler. It really is the ideal art gallery: essentially two parallel strips, one showing its admirable core collection of greats (Rembrandt, Murillo, Gainsborough, Poussin), the other for special exhibitions. Always something new to see, always something familiar,Read More
Another time
My favourite television programme of the moment is The Big Match Revisited on ITV4. This is a series of repeats of the revered ITV football highlights show, The Big Match (1968-1992), which at the time that I remember it best – the 1970s – was shown on Sunday afternoons. It was never quite as goodRead More
Time stands still
I have many favourite spots in the Lake District, but one stands out above the rest. I treasure Borrowdale, of course; the circuits to be made of Derwentwater, Loweswater and Buttermere; the gentle St John’s in the Vale; the secret lands to the north of Skiddaw (Back’o’Skiddaw); and beautiful Grisedale, which greets climbers descending fromRead More
Free newspapers
It is good to be involved in a good thing. Last week, after years of development and the coming together of assorted initiatives, the British Library made one million pages from historic newspapers freely available online. Next year it will publish one million more, and million the year after that. At the same time rawRead More