New Forest ponies – right to roam The bold vision of many of us who write on the subject is that travel will have to be greener after lockdown. But that is becoming more cloudy. It’s now clear it may be some time, possibly many months, before leisure passengers feel comfortable travelling by train… Continue reading
Attenborough turns 94 – my PBS articles on one of his series
In 1997 I was asked by the US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to write a series of essays on the new David Attenborough series Life of Birds, which the station was about to transmit for the first time. I had met Sir David several times through my work at Radio Times and other UK publications…. Continue reading →
When Bradman’s “Invincibles” came to Worcester – cricket as national balm in 1948
“A field cannot be set to such genius, with the ability, in the twinkling of an eye, to find the exact stroke to any chosen part he may select. Bradman in true faith can play any stroke at will.“ At the opening of the 1948 cricket season, as the nation still endured a brutal… Continue reading →
The discrete charm of England’s Sefton Coast
Post-lockdown, might the British return to the seaside like they used to, especially on big beaches with lots of social distancing? The National Trust reserve at Formby, Lancashire, part of one of the largest areas of unspoilt dunes in Europe. And it is safe haven for some of the few remaining red squirrels in England…. Continue reading →
Why can I buy a plane ticket for a winter 2020 trip but not a train ticket?
It isn’t just European destinations that you can book for next autumn and winter by plane but not by train, if you were planning a break sufficiently distant from the current lockdown to have hopes you would be able to actually take it. I looked at of the possibility of a… Continue reading →
Crowdfunding appeal to save Hourglass, Extinction Rebellion newspaper
Waterloo Bridge, April 2019. Photo- GHD. A year ago today Central London was in a different sort of lock down. Over the Easter weekend hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists peacefully occupied Oxford Street, the Marble Arch area and Waterloo Bridge. It was the most concerted direct action to date to draw attention to the gravity of… Continue reading →