Monthly Archives: July 2006

23) The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories, by P.G. Wodehouse Harmless, funny stories. Actually read it at the end of last month but only just remembered. Will redate this entry to 31 July.

This was occasional soundtrack while driving from Belgium to Ireland (in between various favourite music CDs). Perhaps it was not the ideal story with which to introduce my wife to the delights of the Troughton Era. It was not long … Continue reading →

…better known to me as ‘The Star of the County Down’.

22) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams Ah, much more fun. For me, the original radio series remains the one and only canonical version of the story, so it’s interesting to review how different bits … Continue reading →

21) Henderson the Rain King, by Saul Bellow Read this as part of my effort to improve my knowledge of Nobel Prize-winning literature. My penguin edition described the book as “a comic novel…a hilarious, often ribald story”. I confess I … Continue reading →

Actually finished listening to this mid-week, but due to pressure of other things have been only slowly catching up with reviews. Four out of six episodes survive, and perhaps I should give it another chance by watching them (I may … Continue reading →

It is childishly amusing to find this phrase in the Declaration of Independence.

20) The Lady of the Shroud, by Bram Stoker The only time I have ever been to Israel was for a conference on European foreign policy, in Caesarea five years ago. The only other participant with Balkan expertise was a … Continue reading →

I have never done this before, but has inspired me: 1. Are you named after anyone? If so, explain. Yes. There were a large number of Nicholases in the Whyte family tree, going back to Sir Nicholas Whyte/White, an Irish … Continue reading →

19) The Mark of Ran, by Paul Kearney Paul was good enough to send me this after a brief encounter at P-Con earlier this year. I very much enjoyed it. It’s the first in a series, so includes a certain … Continue reading →

I see Jerry Ford has been ill again, though sounds like he is getting better. Similarly best wishes to for a speedy recovery.

Fergal’s birthday went well: http://pics.livejournal.com/nhw/gallery/0001ep2r I was a bit concerned that the Tracy Island toy – with added Thunderbirds – I had got off eBay was the Thunderbirds movie version, not the Classic Gerry Anderson version, but it seems to … Continue reading →

Spent most of this afternoon driving to the Ardennes and back, so finished listening to The Evil of the Daleks, the last story of Patrick Troughton’s first season as the Doctor, and the one voted the Best Ever Doctor Who … Continue reading →

I’m sure those of you who care about such things will be aware of the travails of La Petite Anglaise, the blogger sacked by her employers (the Paris branch of British accountancy firm Dixon Wilson) for, well, blogging. Most commentators … Continue reading →

The Guardian has an article today taking the first steps in “constructing a true record of Britain’s ignored, decaying and under-resourced radical heritage … to celebrate the insurrectionary meeting places, non-conformist chapels and martyrs’ memorials of the people’s history”. The … Continue reading →

One nice souvenir I picked up while in Montenegro, which I can now share with you all thanks to the new scanner: A folder with this cover: 13 July being independence day, celebrating the recognition of the country by the … Continue reading →

Took the camera with me, but the batteries were flat, so these are tourist website photos. I determined to strike east and then south from our village, but realised that I had got confused in the woods and gone more … Continue reading →

Actually, before I get into my own listening/viewing, go and read ‘s commentary on the last Sixth Doctor story, The Ultimate Foe. Confirms me in my resolve not to bother watching any more stories from that period than I already … Continue reading →

It was a warm Mediterranean evening. We all gathered on the lawn of the President’s villa. There were perhaps 300 guests. The mood was festive, everyone shaking hands and embracing. The moment eventually came when the President and his wife … Continue reading →

We’re off to Ireland for three weeks at the end of next week, stopping off in Kidderminster on the way over and Swindon on the way back (Anne’s parents and elder sister respectively). My mother-in-law has, truly heroically, volunteered to … Continue reading →

Apart from book reviews, reviews of old Doctor Who series, and the odd meme, this lj has been a bit quiet of late. This basically reflects the fact that it has been so sweltering hot recently that apart from work … Continue reading →

Just went out and bought a scanner (along with a nice new TV). No doubt this will eventually lead to serious picspam, but for now I start with some culture by my progeny: F’s depiction of Puss In Boots F’s … Continue reading →

18) The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson Picked this up at P-Con, partly inspired by my memory of Jackson’s famous short story “The Lottery”, and was prodded into reading it by ‘s write-up. It was also on the … Continue reading →

17) Under the Devil’s Eye: Britain’s Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915-1918, by Alan Wakefield and Simon Moody Today was a public holiday in Belgium, so I took another step in my efforts to familiarise myself with the Macedonia campaign of … Continue reading →

16) The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane Had vaguely been meaning to read this for ages after I bought it last year. I think I had seen some references to it in one of Joe Haldeman’s novels, or … Continue reading →

15) Galactic Patrol by E.E. “Doc” Smith After I read Triplanetary, the first in the famous Lensman series of early sf novels, and didn’t like it, several people told me that I should have started with Galactic Patrol. So I’ve … Continue reading →

I know, I know, I said I was finished with the First Doctor a while back, and today a whole load of Second Doctor goodies arrived for me from Amazon – audio versions of The Power of the Daleks, The Evil … Continue reading →

…this time last week I was at one of the most extarordinary diplomatic occasions I shall ever attend. My Balkans trip was pretty much designed around this one event, a reception to mark Montenegro’s historical independence day, for the first … Continue reading →

Please copy and paste the following and reply to this entry with everything (or not exactly everything, it’s up to you) filled out: first name/nickname: where are you from: your age: an interesting fact about you: (some)things you can’t live … Continue reading →

From today’s Financial Times: Europe And US Are Lost On Road Map To Nowhere, By Gideon Rachman In a crisis people fall back on familiar instincts. So, as the fighting in the Middle East escalated, the Americans defended Israel, the … Continue reading →