RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

Month: May 2017

  • A Random Rant all about a sofa bed

    I am sure that your eye has been caught by the riveting title of this post and wondering what on earth I am going to be writing about. Well, the clue is in the title, it IS a rant about a sofa bed, no more no less, so if you feel this is not for…

  • Anne with an E – the new Anne of Green Gables

    I read a few weeks ago that Netflix was going to show a new dramatisation of Anne of Green Gables. Oh great thinks I, one of my all time favourites.  Then I read another article in which the director, a woman, made it clear that things were going to be 'darker' and there would be…

  • Anne Boleyn – Alison Weir

    Alison Weir has embarked on six fictionalised histories of the wives of Henry VIII. Last year I read the first on Kathryn of Aragon and could not put it down reading straight through in an afternoon. Last week I did the same with the recently published second in the series, Anne Boleyn. When I was…

  • Anniversary of the Russian Revolution – Lots to read

    Every year when helping organise a Book Festival there is, thank goodness, nearly always an anniversary or a birth or a death of an author which gives a focus to speakers.  This year we have the anniversary of the start of the Russian Revolution and I am to have the privilege of introducing Professor Steve…

  • Crimson and Bone – Marina Fiorato

    "They called it the Bridge of Sighs because it barely passed a night without a suicide, That night was no different. In the very centre of Waterloo Bridge, nine grim arches of new cut granite arching over the freezing Thames, a figure climbed up onto the parapet……her red gold hair streamed behind her like a…

  • Random Ramble – I love staying at hotels!

    I love staying at hotels. I really do. I love opening the door and entering a pristine room with beautifully crisp white sheets and plump pillows, everything spotlessly clean, kettle at the ready with tea bags and coffee sachets and, if you are in a posher hotel, a packet of biscuits. I take an inordinate…

  • Les Parisienes – Anne Sebba

    A year or so ago I read this author's book on Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor which I enjoyed. Anne Sebba has a way of writing interesting and accessible history (I dislike using that word but can think of no alternative).   So I was happy to receive a copy of Les Parisienes for review. It…