What a week for copies of my latest book Reptiles to arrive! The book opens with Toad Patrol an annual rescue of amphibians as they cross the Old Abingdon Road . Many from my village take part including me
https://madrascourier.com/insight/anglo-indians-a-story-of-hybridity-music-legacy/ This feature in today's Madras Courier rightly celebrates the legacy of Anglo- Indians in India. The White Mughals who traded with India before Empire were exploitative and greedy but they were not racist. They enjoyed the Indian way of
On October 11, Kennington will twin with Musanda in west Kenya. My village will be the second in England to twin with an African village. Musanda looks as if it’s the first village in Kenya to twin with an
On May 10, I'll talk about the importance of telling your story. Yesterday was the funeral of the former The Oxford Times food writer, chef, author and drama critic, Helen Peacocke. The Humanist celebrant, Ian Wilcox used
Today, March 19.2025, the composer of the day on BBC Radio 3 was the first celebrated female American composer, Ruth Crawford Seeger, the mother of Mike and Peggy and stepmother of Pete, who sang at Obama's inauguration. I had the
Laurie Lee grew up not far from Carterton where I’ll talk memoir on March 4. The audience will know the PLACE but not the TIME. Following my interviews of Ray Foulk and Roger Bannister for the Oxford Castaway series, both
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028401 How do ideas spread, consciously and unconsciously? Has Stephen Mangan seen a copy of Oxford Castaways? His new comedy show THE ISLAND envisages Desert Island Disc castaways on the same island having to rub along together. That is
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
Simon Schama and I https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026zyn/simon-schamas-story-of-us-series-1-2-whose-britain-is-it-anyway I may not have Simon Schama’s brains and erudition but, watching episode 2 of 'Whose Britain is it any way' made me realise that we share the same attitude to the evolution of this
The Water of Life: Bill Nighy, Victor Glynn and I Do you find that life is like water –rivers flowing alongside crossing, meeting and blending? Thursday was like that for me. The film producer Victor Glynn suggested I be