The Australian composer and eccentric Percy Grainger died 50 years ago this coming Sunday, on 20th February 1961. Last night we attended the opening concert in the short Celebrating Grainger 2011 season at London's Kings Place, and what a joyous and oft-times moving event it was. The concert, entitled The Harmonious Songsmith, featured a selection …
sanguine citrus
Hooray! Blood oranges are back in my local greengrocer's - a sure sign that spring is on its way. The blood orange is one of my favourite fruits, with a wonderful raspberry-ish flavour (mm, I love raspberries too...), and it looks as delicious as it tastes. Its short season (my greengrocer tends to have them …
girl meets boy
I've just finished Girl meets boy by Ali Smith, published by Canongate as part of The Myths series. Smith's book is a retelling of the myth of Iphis in Ovid's Metamorphoses - and so much more besides. Set in Inverness in 2007, the novel deals with different kinds of transformations: falling in love; discovering your …
guantanamo via waterloo
Last Thursday evening, along with a few other hardy souls, we braved the bitter weather to listen to a reading of Poems from Guantanamo at the Calder Bookshop, near Waterloo. The book consists of twenty-two poems, written by detainees in Guanatanmo Bay, most of whom are still held there, uncharged yet with little prospect of …
let me tell you
about let me tell you - a novel by Paul Griffiths, published by Reality Street Editions, which I came across at last year's Small Publishers' Fair, and finished reading at two minutes past midnight this morning. The premise: Ophelia speaking for herself, breaking out of the role assigned to her in Hamlet, but with only …
riddle me ree
What do posh Scottish people eat? Oat cuisine.
luncharama!
One of the incidental pleasures of my sabbatical has been deciding what to have for lunch each day. Over the last couple of months, I've enjoyed the following lunchtime delicacies, usually accompanied by a nice cup of tea, and rounded off with an apple (Cox's Orange Pippin for preference): Tahini, cheese and lettuce sandwich Egg …
evolving english
Ventured up to the British Library yesterday, to see the latest of their wonderful (and, amazingly, free) exhibitions, Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices. The exhibition explores the development and spread of the English language, in all its rich variety, covering aspects such as slang and dialect, and how the language has absorbed influences from …
come in, january
The last day of 2010 is cool, dank and overcast, and I'll soon be closing the blinds. I've yet to notice the slow lengthening of the days since the winter solstice. But for once, I'm quite looking forward to January, which, in England, is usually an interminably long and dismal month. The difference for me, …
something old, something blue
So, farewell, old blue cardie. I have finally accepted that my midnight blue cardigan has passed over from the realm of garments to that of rags. I bought it from Benetton on King's Road sometime in early 1985, when I first came to London. How many gigs did I wear it to? The Smiths, at …
Hilaire 