(These are two “one act” plays in traditional terms. Women are the central characters in both; the stories and characters are intended to be related in complex ways quite apart from the very slight connection between the plots. The source of the first play is easily traceable to an interview I once did with a […]
Author: chris@arcimedia.co.uk
Love Songs: A (sort of) poem
(This is plagiarism, but in the modern student fashion, from multiple sources. I composed it when I was asked to say something at the wedding of my youngest son to Elizabeth Cornwell in December 2012. It has assumed a kind of mythic status given that Liz gave birth to Isabella nine months to the day […]
So how did London become so good?
In the five years I spent in Oxford in the 1960s I spent a good deal of time in London which was a 22 shilling return rail fare away. (The price must have varied, but that’s the one I remember.) This was supposed to be “swinging London” and there were some good moments: walking […]
The Irish Free Variable
In 1967, having finished my final exams, I set off for an unashamed drinking expedition to Ireland with two friends in a VW Beetle. Reaching Dingle on the far side of the country and ordering a pint in my English accent I was informed by the man on the end of the bar that […]
Heaven and Hell in Campania
Sitting at the back of the stand, watching the Coppa Davis, the view is roughly the same as that which can be seen on the paintings in all the restaurants of the city. Beyond the red “clay” and the main body of Italian fans is Vesuvius. To the right of the volcano are the […]
French Cooking: Now in the Dustbin of History?
Every year I drive several thousands of miles across France and recently we have been shocked to find ourselves occasionally in a town without a restaurant. I shouldn’t be shocked because I grew up in a town (Colne, Lancashire – population then around 20,000) which had no restaurant. On the other hand, I now […]
Castles in Spain
As Gibbon might have said: I breakfasted in the Alhambra, among the ruins of Moorish palaces and reflected . . . . But whereas Gibbon, you will recall, reflected in similar circumstances upon the decline of the Roman Empire, I was reflecting, more selfishly and immediately, on the deal. The price of our room […]
There’s a Deathless Myth on the Close Tonight: Re-assessing Rugby’s Place in the History of Sport
By Lincoln Allison and Rusty MacLean* (This article was shortlisted for the 2013 Routledge Prize.) ABSTRACT Rugby School has traditionally been credited with an important place in the development of modern organised games. The most famous names in this attribution have been William Webb Ellis, the pupil who “invented” rugby football, and Dr. Thomas Arnold, […]
When the (Fairy) Dust has Settled
My own magic moment – and everybody was, surely asked about their own best moment? – was Mo Farah’s second gold medal, in the 5000 metres. It just so happened that all twelve members of our immediate family were present and we were able to share the common illusion, remarked by no less a figure […]
In Which an Ancient Wish is Granted (and Analysed)
Thursday, September first 2011, the county cricket ground at Worcester: a splendid late summer day, the cathedral reassuringly distinguished across the river, the ground pleasantly filled by a couple of thousand people. This is the England which ex-Prime Ministers make speeches about. Many people say it is the most beautiful cricket ground in the […]