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A splash of colour

Aubrieta in garden borders or spilling over walls and rockeries is a lovely sight. Brash and brilliant mats of colour – whether Blue Beauty,  Royal Violet or Purple Cascade, the most common ones. It’s an honest, reliable and easy-going plant, requiring no care whatsoever. I wondered where the name came from and after a bit… Read More A splash of colour

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Down Walcot Way

A few things have changed down Walcot Street in Bath since Jane Austen went shopping for decorative fruit and flowers in June 1799. She was looking for a present for her sister Cassandra – fashionable items (and expensive so it seemed) to decorate her bonnets. A plum or greengage would cost three shillings; cherries and… Read More Down Walcot Way

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Every word counts

‘Nobody in England had written such a book as The Old Wives’ Tale in such a way. It had not the exuberance of Dickens; nor the ironic sentiment of Thackeray. It was less brilliant than Meredith and less nobly tragic than Hardy. But, on the other hand, it had a warmth and kindness quite foreign… Read More Every word counts

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Font-astic!

How nice to find oneself rubbing shoulders with Alan Bennett. On a bookshelf in a bookshop, that is. Copies of my book The Road to Civitella 1944 placed next to Bennett’s Keeping On – Keeping On. I have met the good man at a book signing at Bath Literature Festival a few years’ back, his… Read More Font-astic!

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The rhythm of life

It’s not often you have the chance, outside of London, to hear a renowned percussionist play a rare concerto for vibraphone by a Brazilian composer and percussionist. So when the programme for the Spring Concert for North Wiltshire Symphony Orchestra (NWSO) came out, I leaped at the chance to hear Sacha Johnson play Concerto No… Read More The rhythm of life