One of the few sage pieces of advice that I have been able to offer to others is, when giving a talk, to make sure you know how many words get spoken in a minute. A 20-minute talk is going to be 3,000 words (assuming that you are reading from a script). It works, trustRead More
It is sad to hear of the recent death of Don Swift, former cataloguer at the National Film Archive, as the BFI National Archive was known in his time. Don was steady, wise, understanding and deeply knowledgeable (especially about mountaineering and cricket – his detailed shotlists of archival cricket films are masterpieces of description andRead More
Scrolling through a social media channel, as one does when the mind is at its idlest, I saw a familiar film clip, posted with the intention of making us happy. Certain clips have gained seemingly eternal traction online, recurring as some new person discovers them or someone reposts them because they know the clip willRead More
I’m ending the year, as I traditionally do, with some of my favourite photographs from that year. I’m no photographer, and it just didn’t turn out to be one of those years where I felt visually inspired (most of the time), but these I like anyway. Just why I take more photographs of staircases thanRead More
Normally at this time of year I would produce a series of blog posts on my cultural adventures over the past year, typically a post on favourite music, one on books, one on films, one on art exhibitions visited, and one on photographs I have taken over the year. I like reading the ones IRead More
Steve Cropper has died, the finest of all studio guitarists. The obituaries have been fulsome, so no need here to add to the biographical details. In outline, he was a guitarist, writer and producer behind many soul classics, chiefly as member of Stax Records‘ house band the Mar-Keys and its off-shoot, Booker T and theRead More
If you have a favourite poet then among their works you will have a favourite poem. It is where the heart lies. One of the poets I most cherish is Ben Jonson (1572-1637), and the poem of his to which I always return is ‘Inviting a Friend to Supper’. The poem comes from Jonson’s 1616Read More
Pity the poor British Library, an institution which simultaneously does such great things, yet at the same time seems to have utterly lost its way. The cyberattack of 2023 has created damage not only to its digital infrastructure (the full extent of which I fear has yet to be admitted…) but to the institution’s mindset.Read More
Thomas Hardy’s 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge begins with a notorious scene in which Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser, when drunk and after an argument with his wife Susan, auctions her and his young daughter Elizabeth-Jane at a country fair. The pair are bought by a sailor for five guineas. The following day HenchardRead More
It is always interesting to read a book’s acknowledgment pages. I invariably make a point of doing so, even if the names mean nothing to me. Mindful of those who merit or may be expecting to be thanked for having assisted the author along the way, people are acknowledged according to particular categories. There areRead More