Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 – 1894) After yesterday’s blog about Death In Venice with all that solemn music, I thought I’d leave you with something a bit racier for the weekend. No one, in the musical world, was racier than Frenchman,…
Dirk Bogart in the 1971 Visconti film Death In Venice I haven’t been well over the last few weeks and, without being exactly a hypochondriac, my mind does go back at these times to that great death scene in the…
I’m not that old-fashioned, honestly, smart those these Brits look there in the rain. In spite of being English, I’ve never been tempted to wear a top hat and my umbrella is positively technicoloured in comparison. I don’t think you…
On the day when the talks begin in Montreux, Switzerland, we should all hope for some kind of negotiated peace for Syria. Not many people believe that the talks will succeed but, in the end, no matter how far away…
The Flood (1616-1618) by Antonio Carracci ( 1583 – 1618) So God’s done it again. Thousands of years after he got fed up with human sin and decided to flood the World, he’s decided that enough is enough and that’s…
Lord Rennard – never having to say he’s sorry. In that slushy old film Love Story, the catchphrase was ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry.’ That might be contentious enough for some but nothing like the new catchphrase…
Market Street, San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. It was a terrible event the San Francisco earthquake in 18th April 1906 – destroying most of the city and claiming over 3000 lives. It was doubly poignant to find this amazing…
It might be a touch sentimental to have framed family photos scattered around the house but I can understand how people could like having a memento of their loved ones. There’s nothing like family, as they say, but, in all…
I’m not getting out of the house very much at the moment due to an annoying lung problem that means that I’m labouring under the influence of some particularly strong anti-biotics. So I haven’t been in to Brighton, just six…
Poor old Francois Hollande, the President of France. It’s been tough enough trying to steer his country through these depressing times of austerity with his economic policy apparently falling down around him. He might not now be seen as the…