David & Me.
This blog sounds arrogant but my aim is to celebrate David Attenborough through some memories and meetings. I was 10 years old when I watched Zoo Quest on a tiny black and white TV but it is etched on my
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04, 2026
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02, 2026
Chinese New Year: My fiery reflections
When I was researching for Brushstrokes in Time which is set in the USA and China, I attended a year’s course in Chinese philosophy. I was attracted by the words of Lao Tzu, the founder of Daoism. In 2026, these
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11, 2025
The tables turned & Oxford Lives interviewed ME!
...and my life in one picture thanks to the artist Diana Bell. Last week I was interviewed for Oxford Lives by Jeremy Allen and Graeme Fry produced this podcast from the interview. https://oxfordlives.libsyn.com/oxford-lives-episode-69-with-sylvia-vetta For ten years, I wrote the life
22
09, 2025
Ai Weiwei and the Stars Art Movement
https://howtoacademy.com/events/ai-weiwei-on-censorship/ Ai Weiwei began his career with the Stars artists (Beijing 1979 ) In the UK, we don’t expect an art exhibition to be closed by the police but that is what happened to the Stars unofficial exhibition in Beijing.
5
09, 2025
Meeting Giorgio!
Meeting Giorgio! https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/italian-fashion-designer-giorgio-armani-dies-91-2025-09-04/ Today the death was announced of Giorgio Armani. What’s my connection with the fashion designer? My journey to becoming a novelist began when I took up freelance writing for magazines mostly about art, antiques and books. The
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06, 2025
The Rise and Rise of Oxford Indie Book Fair. Why? Is it tapping into a need?
(See the programme at the bottom of the blog) I’m one if the organisers of the Oxford Indie Book Fair. Our fairs are in Oxford in the University Examinations Halls and, on July 13, as the last event of the
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06, 2025
I’m impressed: is this really my book?
I've drafted this to pitch for a translation into French . Even I'm impressed. Is this really my novel? I have the Stars Artists to thank . This novel is about them. Not only are they incredibly talented but they
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03, 2025
Build BRIDGES not WALLS or climb over them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NvrzUnGE50 I had sad news today. An old colleague at the Oxford Tines, Helen Peacock, has died. Helen was the food writer for the paper for 25 years. I had to cast her away! She was born in Eynsham and
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02, 2025
Don’t write Beijing October 1979 out of history.Thank you Maryse, Jenny,Ray and Shrenik.
They marched under this banner - 'In Politics we want Democracy and in Art Freedom' 1989 ? NO
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01, 2025
How to stop the marginalisation of minority groups.
In todays i Yasmin Alibhai Brown writes about British Citizens of Pakistani ancestry and how they regard the grooming gangs. The conclusion was that most people of that background despise them and are distressed by the suffering of the exploited