Category: That Reminds Me . . .

TOWARDS the end of 1913, a young Cambridge graduate named Arthur Grimble was nominated to a cadetship in the Colonial Office. This meant he would serve a three-year probation period … Continue readingOur Man in the South Seas

A WHILE ago I waxed lyrical about the magnificent market hall in Budapest. A smaller rival to its charms is the Mercado dos Lavradores, a fruit, vegetable, flower and fish market in Funchal, the … Continue readingPassion at a price

WHEN I started out in national newspapers 45 years ago it was still the custom not to publish on Good Friday. That left Maundy Thursday free for journalists and print … Continue readingA naked woman on my knee

A FEW years ago during a chat with a film-loving colleague, I asked him to nominate his favourite actor. He came up with Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for Tender … Continue readingWho’s your least favourite actor?

ONE of the most galling incidents in Bertie Wooster’s life is recounted several times in the Wodehouse oeuvre. It happened in the Drones Club, was perpetrated by Hildebrand ‘Tuppy’ Glossop, … Continue readingDastardly deeds at the Drones Club

AMONG my regular weekend destinations as a young Lancastrian was Nelson market. This was in three sections – the Market Hall, an imposing building with two cafes, open from Monday … Continue readingI’ll not charge you five bob, four, not even three . . . ’alf a crown!

THANKS to our wonderful NHS, we are all aware of abbreviations such as DNR, ICU and A&E. But what about the unofficial codes used to delineate those pesky patients? I … Continue readingYGTDA: Your Guide To Doctors’ Abbreviations

This continues an appreciation of Answered Prayers, a new book by Duncan Hamilton about England’s only World Cup football triumph, in 1966. You can read Part 1 here.  ON January 2, 1963, … Continue reading1966 and all that Part 2

I HAD got to only the fourth paragraph of Chapter One in the new book Answered Prayers when I threw it down in disgust at the phrase ‘the peel of Bow Bells’. … Continue reading1966 and all that

IF there is one place on earth where I would like to live other than my current home, it would be Trumpton, in the county of Trumptonshire. For an all-too-brief … Continue readingOh, to be in Trumpton