A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly … Continue readingA host of golden dandelions
IF YOU’D asked me what was wrong with Britain when I were a lad, I would have struggled to come up with many answers apart from the northern weather and … Continue readingWhat have they done to my country, ma?
THERE can’t be a more recognisable symbol of the British countryside than a thatched roof. Like this: There are estimated to be 60,000 thatched roofs in the UK, mainly in … Continue readingThatchers’ Britain
IN previous columns here and here I wrote about Homage to PG Wodehouse, a 1973 tribute compiled by Thelma Cazalet-Keir, sister-in-law of Wodehouse’s beloved stepdaughter Leonora. Here are some more selections. The writer and actor Basil … Continue readingFurther homage to Wodehouse
HERE’S a quiz question: Where is the centre of Great Britain? The answer is Whitendale Hanging Stones, about 13 miles from our Lancashire village, as calculated by the Ordnance Survey. … Continue readingThe heart of our green and pleasant land
This is part 3 of a series. You can read the first two here and here. I MUST admit that the largely Scottish comedy sketch show Absolutely passed me by when shown on Channel 4 … Continue readingComedy gems continued
LAST week I went to London for the day (not because I wanted to but because I had to). I booked on the 8.01am Avanti West Coast train from Preston … Continue readingThe tracks of my tears
IN a previous column I wrote about Homage to PG Wodehouse, a 1973 tribute compiled by Thelma Cazalet-Keir, sister-in-law of Wodehouse’s beloved stepdaughter Leonora. Here are some more selections from this charming book. … Continue readingMore homage to Wodehouse
I WILL be honest and say this item is just an excuse to show you some gorgeous birds. After I wrote about common pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) a couple of weeks … Continue readingSome very pleasant pheasants
This is Part Two of a series which began here. A GERIATRIC ward in an NHS hospital is, one might think, an unpromising setting for comedy. Yet Getting On, in three series … Continue readingMore comedy gems you might have missed