Dorset Tea, one of the smaller UK tea producers, has eliminated plastic and switched to bio-degradable teabags. It now uses plant-based, heat-sealable paper that can be safely popped into council food waste bins for recycling. The company has also removed the gold lettering on the box in which teabags in the Sunshine Blend range are… 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 →
Attenborough warning on the environment – 2000 style
A chilling 2020 documentary on the state of the planet’s biodiversity A call to urgent action, surely. So why didn’t we heed it 20 years ago? “The future of the earth is in the balance. It’s up to us – who else?” Sir David Attenborough, with his unique authority, addresses the camera. His analysis is chillingly… Continue reading →
Signs for outstanding places
25 years ago this month (September 1995) signs began to spring up on roads leading into some of the most attractive landscape in England and Wales. In addition to already well-known beauty spots, such as the Chilterns, the Surrey Hills and the Cotswolds, the sites included less nationally-famous places, such as the Clwydian Range, Nidderdale… Continue reading →
How to walk the stripling Thames – using only public transport to get there
Extinction Rebellion launched its Hourglass newspaper in September 2019. The newspaper folded in 2020, a victim of the pandemic. I contributed a series of simple travel articles, under the heading Whistle Stop Walks. I would take a train to a random station, and walk for between six and 12 miles to another station on the… Continue reading →
The first day in our solar future
Aug, 2020 update. Nine years on and the panels have generated 17,818 kWh of electricity. The original estimates of what we would generate have proved to be uncannily accurate. One was 1970.072 kW p.a., so 17,730 for nine years. That was based on the government’s Standard Assessment Procedure for energy rating buildings. The second estimate was based on PVSol… Continue reading →