Recently I visited the Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel exhibition at the Versa Studios in Leeds, one of its final venues on a world tour that was being staged by Special Entertainment Event, Inc. From the outside, the studios looked like a nondescript modern office block, but when I stepped inside, from the dull gloom of modern …
At this time of the accession of King Charles III, I feel it is appropriate to reflect on the monarch’s role in the British Constitution. I make no claims to the validity of my views; this is simply my interpretation of the monarch’s role in our system. Much of what I say will I’m sure …
Update: first readers’ draft (manuscript 4.3) completed April 24, 2021 At 2.15 pm. on Saturday April 24, 2021, the book was completed. Just over a decade’s work (started research in February 2011). Here’s a picture of the various manuscripts, including the final (‘first readers’ MS): In pride of place on the stool at the back …
An outline of George’s life story Many of the stranger features of George’s life (seen here sitting at his mother’s feet, front left) can be traced back to his being brought up in a very strict evangelical Christian family, and this eventually led to his becoming distanced, if not estranged, from his parents. Like his …
On Monday 1 April I had the interesting and enjoyable experience of being interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Film Programme (to be broadcast on Thurs 11) about my work as music editor on Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in the spring of 1980. Despite my suffering from a hip problem (shortly to be replaced), all …
A nice mini-documentary put together by Warner Bros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Kubrick’s The Shining. It’s slightly odd that none of the music used in the actual film is used here, but I guess that the cost of getting the music rights was unjustifiably expensive. It’s great that almost all …
The latest graph, showing the number of deaths relating to coronavirus in different countries in Europe, depicts in an even more chilling way the level of Johnson’s much trumpeted ‘world beating’ ‘achievement’, the ‘success’ that he’s apparently so proud of. As @EnglishmanAdam puts it, ‘Johnson telling Starmer to be more positive is like running over …
A similar madness to that which swept America and enabled Trump to get into power swept the UK when we voted first for the far-right Brexit project, and then for Bojo the Clown as ‘Prime Minister’. Many who voted for him must surely now be having extreme doubts, not only about the stifling form of …
The annual remembrance service for the 1st Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers was held at Donington, Lincs, on Sunday 23 September. The service was well attended by veterans who saw active service, not only at the Battle of Arnhem in September 1942, but in various other theatres of war since World War Two, including Suez, Aden …
1st Para Remembrance Service at Donington, Lincs, 23 Sept 2018 Read More »
The following is written as a counter-argument to ideas expressed in a video about a life that’s committed to climbing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KT8VgfApLE I present it simply as a counter-argument. I’m not saying I’m right; I just want to express a worry or unease that I have with Nate’s argument. Because I think its underlying premisses need …
In the course of researching the biography I’m writing about air ace George Stainforth, I’ve unearthed a recording of my father, Peter Stainforth, talking about his war years to the author Ian Mackersey in April 2000. My plane was shot down shortly after I jumped. Just before before we jumped the plane was hit. A …
I recently came across a spectacular aerial picture (taken by Fi Bunn of FiPhotos) of the final 700 feet of the Matterhorn taken from an unusual angle from the west, and suddenly realised that it showed, better than any picture I’ve ever seen before, the extraordinary, daring route by which the Italians made the second …
