Ten years ago, in March 2011, peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad’s government began in Syria. Before long a popular uprising turned into full-blown civil war, and unspeakable violence against civilians. In 2021 Syria is economically devastated and divided, its populations dispersed and desperate, but Assad remains firmly in control. I visited Syria in its last… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
The great (rail) way west – to Pembrokeshire
The holiday express: through trains run from Paddington to Tenby and West Wales on summer Saturdays, maintaining a link which began in the days of Queen Victoria. “If there be any one train more than another, the sight of which stirs the patriotic pride of an enthusiastic Great Westernite, it is the Tenby express leaving Paddington at… Continue reading →
City of the high thrills – take the train to Lincoln
Lincoln is one of England’s finest old cities, dominated by its glorious cathedral, sitting high on a hill. But it has many smaller-scale marvels too, as I discovered. My don’t-miss list includes one very steep street, an original tank, an all-cheese restaurant, and the room where Tom Hanks stayed when he starred in the Da Vinci code.
Continue reading →The Singular Case of the Portsmouth Doctor – or Sherlock takes the train
Feb 23rd, 2021. Another in my series of easy, post-lockdown trips to take in the UK. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set his Sherlock Holmes stories all over England, but you can follow the trail of both Doyle and Holmes, without leaving London. If you want to make one trip out of the capital, it has… Continue reading →
Young trail on the banks of an ancient river: The Thames Path at 25
“At one end of the Thames you may picnic over the river on ancient farm bridges garlanded with stonecrop, and watch aerial warfare between monstrous dragonflies; at the other end is the Thames Barrier, reposing in the departing flow like a shining line of walnut shells.” – A Walk Along the Thames Path (Michael Joseph,… Continue reading →
Poirot turns 100: how the Belgian ‘tec met his match in the desert
In October 1920 Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot in her novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”. And the great detective lives on, in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Death on the Nile, which follows the actor/director’s Murder on the Orient Express. The film is expected to open late in 2020. 1994 I interviewed David Suchet on set during the filming of… Continue reading →