The twig that twitched
A MONTH ago our builder Darren sent me this video with the question ‘What’s this thing?’ He added: ‘Found it in the shed on the floor, thought it was a … Continue readingThe twig that twitched
Recent Posts
Thank you and toodle-pip
ALMOST three years to the day since my first weekly column of reminiscences, I have finally come to acknowledge that the cupboard is bare and it is time to draw proceedings … Continue readingThank you and toodle-pip
The age of innocence
IT was late November in 1966 and I was in my first year at grammar school. I was shooting the breeze at lunchtime with some male classmates in the quadrangle … Continue readingThe age of innocence
Beyond Jeeves and Wooster: Uncle Fred
ONE of PG Wodehouse’s most likeable characters is the raffish Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, fifth Earl of Ickenham. He appears first in the short story Uncle Fred Flits By, included in … Continue readingBeyond Jeeves and Wooster: Uncle Fred
The Friday-night chip shop crawl
BETWEEN the ages of 16 and 18 when girlfriendless – which was the usual state of affairs since we were unattractive, self-opinionated spotty herberts – my school chums and I … Continue readingThe Friday-night chip shop crawl
On the riverbank with Hammy and Roderick
ONE of the most quintessentially English children’s programmes is, one would think, Tales of the Riverbank, featuring the adventures of Hammy the hamster, Roderick the water rat and GP the guinea … Continue readingOn the riverbank with Hammy and Roderick
Drunk in charge of a newspaper office
A FEW months ago I wrote about my time as a young reporter in a district office of the Burnley Evening Star. For most of the time there were only two of us … Continue readingDrunk in charge of a newspaper office
The Molesworth Cronickles Part 3
FOR the final part of this short series, whose predecessors can be read here and here, I am revisiting books three and four in the Molesworth oeuvre, Whizz for Atomms (1956) and Back in the Jug Agane, which … Continue readingThe Molesworth Cronickles Part 3
The lizards of Dragon Island
ONE of our favourite places in the world is the island of Sa Dragonera, so called because its shape resembles a sleeping dragon, off the west coast of Mallorca. It … Continue readingThe lizards of Dragon Island
Dial 5224180010 for Murder
PAGE Seven of last Friday’s Times was dominated by a story headed: ‘Human remains left in suitcases’. What followed horrified me – for journalistic reasons. It began: ‘Police have launched a manhunt … Continue readingDial 5224180010 for Murder