A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
AS the Daily Mail wails and gnashes its teeth over the demise of Boris Johnson (will this do, Prime Minister, can I have my peerage now?) it’s worth remembering that Johnson once … Continue readingJohnson and a most unsavoury incident
ON August 19, 1987, a gun fanatic named Michael Ryan went on the rampage in his home town of Hungerford, Berkshire. By the end of his murderous spree, 16 people … Continue readingHungerford and Dunblane, English and Dacre
THERE is something about music at funerals that reduces my wife and me to quivering wrecks. The majestic Nimrod, from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, was played at both services for Margaret’s mother and father, … Continue readingThe unbearable beauty of funeral music
IT WAS a hot Greek night in mid-July and my friend Bob decided after a surfeit of ouzo that he fancied a swim. He climbed on to a railing and … Continue readingBob’s midnight swim
A FRIDAY evening tradition when I worked in Blackburn in the 1970s was a crawl around a group of eight or nine run-down town-centre pubs known collectively as the Barbary … Continue readingDanger on the Barbary Coast
BY far the most larger-than-life character I ever worked with was Fred Shawcross – newspaper sub-editor, nightclub drummer, racing tipster and greyhound breeder. When I arrived on the subs’ desk … Continue readingThe legendary Fred Shawcross
THERE is a roadside plaque in North Yorkshire which never fails to bring tears to my eyes and a shiver to my spine. It is installed at the top of The Bank … Continue readingHeroes of the storm
DESPITE its being ridiculed in a Monty Python sketch (here’s a Lego version) which led to its adoption as a term for junk mail, I have always been inordinately fond of … Continue readingIn praise of Spam
A COUPLE of months ago I described how, in October 1990, Margaret and I tried to be married in Venice but were foiled by red tape. Returning to Essex, we resolved not … Continue readingWedding night in Brighton
A FEW years ago my better half and I found ourselves for some reason on holiday in Mogan, a Toytown-type resort in Gran Canaria, when we got chatting to a … Continue readingWhales, dolphins and timeshare sharks