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Puffing
I am sorry to say it, people seem to go to the theatre principally for their entertainment!So complains Sneer in Sheridan’s The Critic, and if that’s what people want that’s …
Read MoreAbbotsford
More poking about the homes of the literary great and the good this week with a visit to Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford. Reminiscent of Walpole’s project, here is another attempt …
Read MoreHappy Birthday Penguin
I had a fascinating day and a half last week looking at penguins. I wasn’t at the zoo, but attending as much as I could of the University of Bristol’s …
Read MoreVotes for Women
The play is clever and witty, and it kept the audiences brimming with excitement and in roars of laughter. So said the Pall Mall Gazette in 1909 of Cicely Hamilton’s …
Read MoreSlumming in Sussex
I had a splendid day last Wednesday (16 June 2010) popping my proletarian nose into the houses and lives of the Bloomsbury Group. A fascinating programme of visits started at …
Read MoreStockingers and Croppers
The only good thing about having a fluey-throaty-coldy thing is that when you have gone past the unable-to-lift-aching-head-from-pillow-stage you can take advantage of the strangely emptied hours to read Very …
Read MoreHorace and Selima
On 6 May 2007 Professor Sir Christopher Frayling unveiled a blue plaque at the London home of illustrator Edward Ardizzone. He spoke of his “passion for illustrated books”, which he …
Read MoreStrawberry Hill for ever
Last week I went to London for a day to look at a couple of exhibitions connected with the eighteenth century. My morning was spent at the Victoria and Albert …
Read MoreHe’s here!
The last half of March was an anxious time. He was due to arrive on Saturday 3 April, but I was going to be in Italy and I’d miss him. …
Read MoreThe White Guard
Whenever I try to talk about Mikhail Bulgakov I go all spluttery and purple-faced, my eyes water, I choke and gasp, and I might after a few minutes’ gibbering manage …
Read MoreMerrily Merrily
So it’s a capital offence to use adverbs? It is, according to Elmore Leonard, who lays down the law in his book 10 Rules of Writing, to be published shortly. …
Read MoreA mote will turn the balance
When I was at school I had problems with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It wasn’t just the dull way it was taught in my school back in the day. Students …
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