If I’m not writing as much as I would like to, it’s because I’m working on a great many things, and when it gets to the evenings I’m just tired. But I hope it’s all going to be worth it. One of the projects is a small exhibition of infographics, to be held this AugustRead More
It was the day after the United Kingdom left the European Union (for the time being), and I went to London’s centre for Italian art, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art. The Estorick is one of the most pleasing art galleries in the city; small, to be sure, but greatly charming, and always bigRead More
If you visit the Lake District, there is one name in particular that is both omnipresent and yet almost completely invisible. There is much that promotes, celebrates or otherwise exploits the names of Wordsworth, Potter, Coleridge, Wainwright, but what of Rawnsley? What visitor to the Lakes knows of him. Yet go the central town ofRead More
Shortly after hearing the sad news that Neil Innes had died (on 29 December 2019), I sought out some of his music. The first tune that came up was the theme to The Innes Books of Records, his BBC Two television series that ran 1979-1982. A simple, ghostly figure on a jangly piano sets upRead More
Last in this series looking back on 2019 is the year in some favourite images (mostly mine). This was the year in which I visited Greece, the Lake District (twice), walked many miles through the Kent countryside, took part in the digitisation of many newspapers, visited art galleries and snapped the other visitors, and continuedRead More
I read a lot of books in 2019. I bought more than I read, but those are almost separate pleasures, two different kinds of discovery. One is a quest, the other an exploration. I guess that the linked goal is a search for an ideal: the pristine copy, or one that has aged gently, tastefullyRead More
My new year’s resolution for 2019 was to go to the cinema once a week. It’s a sad admission that someone whose career has been mostly built around film should need this sort of a spur, but though films attract me no less than ever they did, cinemas do not. There seems to be somethingRead More
Third in this short series of posts on my cultural highlights for 2019 is works of art. Here are a few favourite artworks from a year’s gallery-going, letting the images speak for themselves. For each I’ve given the artwork, artist and date, the name of the gallery where I saw it, and the name ofRead More
Next up in my reviews of the year is the year in music. Spotify, which clearly is keeping a watchful eye on me, has passed on the information that I listened to 4,535 different songs over 2019. I’m not quite sure whether this is too many, average, or less than I would listen to whenRead More
So here we are at the end of another year. Who knows where the time goes? Only the archivists. Anyway, as is now traditional, it is time for some reviews of the year, noting the things cultural that attracted me over the year. As is also traditional, we start with a review of the yearRead More