Latest...13/10/2024:
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Recent News
30/09/2024:
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A review of A Rose for Winter by Laurie Lee
"In the winter of 1951-1952, Laurie Lee spent four months touring southern Spain with his wife. The trip was financed by a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship grant, and its literary fruit, A Rose for Winter, was published in 1955..." More
- Pop album catalogue updated.
12/09/2024:
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A review of As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
"In June 1934, the nineteen-year-old Laurie Lee left his childhood home in rural Gloucestershire to seek his fortune. He walked a meandering route towards London, without any goal in mind except to escape the stifling cosiness of the Cotswold Hills: Q::I was propelled, of course, by the traditional forces that had sent many generations along this road - by the small tight valley closing in around one, stifling the breath with its mossy mouth, the cottage walls narrowing like the arms of an iron maiden, the local girls whispering, "Marry, and settle down." With him he carried his violin, which he would to use to make ends meet busking when on the move..." More
- Photos.
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28/08/2024:
A review of Swing Time
by Zadie Smith
"In 2006 Madonna, that pop superstar with - to put it politely - as much talent for self-publicity as for music, founded a charity to improve the health and education of orphans in Malawi. While visiting the south-east African country, she decided to adopt a male child - and succeeded, despite not meeting the country's legal requirement of a year's prior residency..." More
15/08/2024:
A review of How It All Began
by Penelope Lively 
"As writers get older, ideas come less easily, and they can start to caricature their own work. Penelope Lively does it in this novel from 2011..." More
06/08/2024:
- Video:
Lee Valley Olympic on three pumps - Video:
Lee Valley Olympic on four pumps. Never let it be said that these videos lack variety. - Photos.
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26/07/2024:
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A review of Claudius the God by Robert Graves
"The second part of Graves' fictional autobiography of the fourth Roman Emperor covers Claudius's own reign. From being an outsider, shunned for his stammer, his limp and his perceived imbecility, Claudius suddenly finds himself the most powerful man in Europe..." More
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The fascinating study of My Kayaks is updated.
22/06/2024:
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09/06/2024:
- A review of A Division of the Spoils
by Paul Scott
"*** NOTE: This review contains spoilers *** If you have watched the television series of The Jewel in the Crown, you will know that Paul's Scott's "Raj Quartet" ends on a dramatic note. In August 1947, with India preparing for the exit of the British government and the subcontinent's division into two new states, violence erupts between Hindus and Moslems across the territory..." More
- Photos.
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05/05/2024:
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