21 January 1933, Twickenham. England v Wales. It was one of the outstanding sporting crossover occasions. The Wales rugby XV that day (there were no substitutes in those times), beating England, included no fewer than four current or future Glamorgan cricket players. The man who scored all the points in the famous 7-4 victory, raising… Continue reading
Parade’s End Country – Ford Maddox Ford’s south coast setting
Coming completely fresh to Parade’s End, in the new BBC adaptation, I found concentrating on the plot and characters challenging enough, without giving any regard to the locations. Quite early on there is a scene outside a grand house in the North where the Benedict Cumberbatch character, Christopher Tietjens, grew up. I discovered later this… Continue reading →
How Dylan found poetic inspiration above a Camarthenshire estuary
“Jack Kerouac, all the beat poets, were obsessed by him. When he spoke at 92NY, he was about to finish without reciting a poem of his called Fern Hill, and the audience started to chant ‘Fern Hill! Fern Hill!’ It’s kind of staggering to think that a poet of his time would sell out this enormous… Continue reading →
Cricket as national balm – the all conquering Australians at Worcester
Our cricket season is longer than it used to be. As the hectic short form of the game has expanded, the traditional county fixtures now begin in early April, concluding at the end of September. The lucrative televised games are scheduled for warmer summer days and evenings. The less fashionable county games simply have… Continue reading →
Could Labour’s rail plans bypass controversial Stonehenge road scheme?
The Labour party’s policy document, Getting Britain Moving – Labour’s plan to fix Britain’s railways, says much about improving the experience of today’s passengers – ‘unified and simplified governance structure that places passengers at the heart of the goal, objectives and incentives for the railway’; and its easy route to renationalisation – ‘to bring train… Continue reading →
Thames play based on Dickens flows through National Theatre
In London Tide, the National Theatre comes as close to the subject matter of one of its plays as it ever has. The River Thames flows serenely, endlessly, within metres of the theatre, with a timely, imperceptible pause twice a day when the tide turns. So many writers have turned what, in terms of the numbers… Continue reading →