It is 1972 in a sepia coloured England. Everything is black and white, or beige. In a Lancastrian mill town there is an infant school built by the Victorians; all granite and high ceilings and heavy

I was having a chat with our landlord Petunia this week. For those who don’t know, Petunia borrows his moniker from the theatrical nickname of 70s British showbusiness superstar, Peter Wyngarde AKA Jason King. I think I

On Saturday morning I listened with great interest to the announcements of the results of the Labour leadership contest. I raised an eyebrow at the announcement of Mr.

Chilcot’s ills/they’re multiplying/and he’s losing control…

So sang John Travolta to Olivia Neutron-Bomb in “Greece”, a satirical musical which celebrates the inanities of the Eurozone some 35 years ago now, just a couple of years

I came across this photograph the other day. It made me smile and it made me a bit sad. It was obviously taken at the height of the Hammer Horror craze, and summed up all the

Hello Raccoonistas. I have been away for a while. Some things have diverted me. But I could not let this weekend pass without a voice. 70 years since the end of the Second World War. I

Regular readers will recall that from time to time I conduct one of my historical mystery tours. These have often yielded results which surprise me. It seems there are times when historical narrative and scientific fact

Whilst enjoying watching the occasional Europa Champions League match on TV of late it has not escaped my attention that the competition is sponsored by Gazprom, the Russian gas production company with a majority stake held

The headline in The Times last week that made me froth a little was:

“Censored: Blair’s links with Rwanda”

Apparently, your friend and mine, Tony Blair has been granted a special constitutional

I heard an interesting interview by the BBC’s Nicky Campbell last week with Sir Iqbal Sacranie (OBE) this week. Despite working for the BBC, and particularly its light news and sport channel 5Live, Campbell is no

A couple of weeks ago I took myself off to the cinema to see “The Equalizer”. It is an old-fashioned morality tale, very loosely based on the TV series which made Edward Woodward a very rich

This was the headline in an article in The Times – rather appropriate, I thought, in the light of the present pleasantries being visited on the Middle East by the nascent Islamic State.

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100 years ago today Britain entered a war in which Europe slaughtered its young men on an industrial scale. Two of the men who fought and thankfully survived were my grandfathers. My paternal grandfather fought with

Dear S.

I gather there has been another ‘incident’. I am not too sure of the details, but I understand it has something to do with alcohol, being up all night