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
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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 →
Under Milk Wood – 70 years on
The BBC first broadcast Under Milk Wood, “‘A Play for Voices”, on the Third Programme on 25 January 1954 (two months after Thomas’s death). The play featured a distinguished, all-Welsh cast including Richard Burton. Dylan Thomas knew Under Milk Wood was good, even in its hurried, jumbled, unfinished form in which he gave several performances in 1953, with a cast,… Continue reading →
Holly and Ivy – perennial seasonal hit returns to its hometown
Illustration from 1958 edition of The Story of Holly and Ivy – Adrienne Adams A new display about Aylesbury and a famous Christmas story – at Discover Bucks Museum in the Buckinghamshire town. The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, is set in an English market town full of seasonal atmosphere. This warmhearted Christmas fantasy… Continue reading →
Is it time to ‘prioritise mass transport over the easy mobility of driving’?
In a leader (July 7, 2023) The Guardian concluded that the future of ‘mobility’ must involve much more than private cars. It said that the climate crisis should be a chance ‘to question whether the motorcar itself has become too embedded in our everyday lives. We must prioritise mass transport over easy mobility of driving.’… Continue reading →
How Tolkien’s Hobbit went there and back again
Was the language and invention of The Hobbit inspired by JRR Tolkien’s time at the University of Leeds? ” Bilbo found it… in Gollum’s cave.” So when did it all begin, The Hobbit? Formally on 21 September 1937, when the book was first published in hardback by George, Allen and Unwin. Informally, a little… Continue reading →