“There was never any certainty about the last ball. Indeed, the vast weight of cricket history, accumulated in so many dusty volumes, now bore down on Sobers, to say: ‘It won’t happen.’ The story of so many matches, where so many thousands of batsmen have played out so many thousands, even millions, of overs. The… Continue reading
Browsing Category Everything else
It’s well into May and we are still waiting for the cuckoo
So where’s the cuckoo? For the third successive year, I haven’t heard it call in the fields around where I live in rural southern England. That is after hearing it, without fail, every spring for more than 20 years. There is still the outside chance that the bird may yet arrive, but it really is… Continue reading →
How the Proms are celebrating dazzling Welsh musical talent Morfydd Owen
Update: April 24th, 2018. The 2018 BBC Proms season will include, for only the second time, a performance of a work by long-overlooked Welsh composer Morfydd Llwyn Owen (Fri 20 Jul 2018). The last piece by her was performed there in September 1917. The composer died, tragically young, shortly afterwards. The Proms piece is the short Nocturne, lasting about 15 minutes. It… Continue reading →
The Durrells back on ITV to promote Corfu in 1930s time capsule
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 →
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 →