The third season of The Durrells began on ITV on Sunday 18th March at 8pm. The programme, set in 1937, follows Louisa Durrell’s attempt to make a new life for herself and her family in Corfu, after her husband died. The series stars Keeley Hawes, Josh O’Connor, Daisy Waterstone, Milo Parker, Callum Woodhouse, Leslie Caron, Yorgos Karamihos, Alexis Georgoulis and Christopher… Continue reading
Browsing Category Everything else
Oxford meets Istanbul in new book by best-selling Turkish writer Elif Şafak
Three Daughters of Eve, written by Elif Şafak, is set in Oxford and Istanbul and focusses on three Muslim women, several men, and one big question. Ron Charles wrote this in his notice in the Washington Post: Elif Shafak’s new novel reveals such a timely confluence of today’s issues that it seems almost clairvoyant…. Continue reading
Writing Aylesbury out of a children’s classic: how important are real places in literature?
When The Story of Holly and Ivy was first published, it was set in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury. In later editions the location was switched to the fictional Appleton. Has the book lost something as a result? “And where does your grandmother live?” asks a gentleman in the train compartment. “In Aylesbury”, answers Ivy. “Yes,… Continue reading
Carpe Diem – how to have a good day, every day
This is a perfect example of the day not grasped. I finished reading Carpe Diem Regained, by Roman Krznaric, about a month ago. So many half-formed thoughts I could easily have turned into sagacious comments while they were fresh in my mind. So I ought to have set aside time the next day and completed… Continue reading
How the Proms celebrated dazzling Welsh musical talent Morfydd Owen
A hundred years ago this week (September 18, 1917) the work of a Welsh composer almost forgotten today was performed at the Proms, under the baton of the illustrious Henry Wood. She was just 26. Morfydd Llwyn Owen was in distinguished company. All the other composers performed that night were Russians of considerable reputation, Glazunov, Mussorgsky,… Continue reading
Buckinghamshire’s Anglo-Saxon Lenborough Hoard goes on display
Coins from the Lenborough Hoard are now on permanent display in Buckinghamshire County Museum in Aylesbury. A room dedicated to the finds was opened at the Museum on Saturday, July 15. 2017. The coins passed into public ownership after a successful public appeal raised £1.35 million, the value put on the find by the Treasure Valuation Committee,… Continue reading