The second season of The Durrells began on ITV on Sunday April 23rd (8pm). The programme, set in 1935, 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
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. Apart from London, I don’t think there is a city in the UK with more literary and broadcast media connections than Oxford. So many books and TV series have… Continue reading →
Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake “best British film” at Baftas – review
I, Daniel Blake won the best British film category at the Baftas (February 13, 2017). Ken Loach had returned from retirement to record one of the biggest successes of his career. In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote: “… it has something which is lacking in so many British social-realist film, or films of all kinds…. Continue reading →
Signal goes ‘All Clear!’ as lost railways become public byways
The 1.47 local, calling at Tiddington and Littlemore drowsed off years ago into the lyrics of the Flanders and Swann lament for our lost railways, The Slow Train: ‘No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street’. And that might have been that. Too many of the 4500 miles of closed… Continue reading →
Buckinghamshire to keep £1.35m Anglo-Saxon Lenborough Hoard
The Lenborough Hoard will pass into public ownership and stay in Buckinghamshire, the county where it was found in 2014. A public appeal has raised £1.35million the value put on it by the Treasure Valuation Committee, to buy the 5,251 Anglo Saxon silver coins. They will now pass to Buckinghamshire County Museum. The coins will be put… Continue reading →
Travel writers need to put more emphasis on green tourism
How are we to square our desire to travel to indulgent hotels next to distant exotic beaches, with the imperative to conserve the planet and to hold back climate change? 2017 was, as too easily predicted, the warmest year on record. The Arctic ice cap retreated alarmingly. The Great Barrier Reef suffered a serious episode… Continue reading →