Category Archives: This sceptred isle

Waning crescent? Is that the right term? It was only last week that I discovered the meaning of “gibbous.” Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the copy of Old Moore’s Almanack bought by my grandmother every year. I … Continue reading →

It would be difficult to imagine a family more conservative than my own. Generation upon generation of small farmers in a small rural parish, they were not people given to radicalism. Farming life allowed little leisure, the sheer physical effort … Continue reading →

The pavement is cracked, uneven, uncleaned. Walking down the road, there is a feeling of the 1970s having returned. Derelict property, closed shops, waste gathered in doorways. Looking at a patch of pavement, there was a moment of wondering how … Continue reading →

It was on 3rd March 1967 that David Attenborough, the controller of BBC 2 television, announced that the station that summer would commence broadcasting some programmes in colour. The colour broadcasts would begin with the coverage of the All England … Continue reading →

Those who remember the First Gulf War will recall that news coverage of the allied campaign that began in January 1991 differed considerably from the coverage of the Falkands War that had been fought just nine years previously. Being in … Continue reading →