Robin

Durin

by JRR Tolkien 1892-1973 The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No word was lain on streams or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in Mirrormere, And saw aContinue reading “Durin”

Life

Charlotte Brönte 1816-1855 Life, believe, is not a dream So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day. Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient all; If the shower will make the roses bloom, O why lament its fall? Rapidly, merrily, Life’s sunny hours flit by, Gratefully,Continue reading “Life”

Who needs to run away to the circus I found my place in a puppet show

My father was a good man. He didn’t lay down the law when I was growing up, instead he led by example. He was gentle and considerate, I never heard him swear and he only shouted at me once – I deserved it. There is one piece of advice he gave me in my teensContinue reading “Who needs to run away to the circus I found my place in a puppet show”

A Subaltern’s Love Song

John Betjeman 1906-1984 Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Furnish’d and burnish’d by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament – you against me! Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, IContinue reading “A Subaltern’s Love Song”

Britons retire into the west as the mercenaries fight each other

Britain was no longer British after Anglo Saxon mercenaries mutinied against their Romano British paymasters. They wanted the land to expand into as their homelands in Europe were not enough for a growing population. The Celts/Romano Britons, had withdrawn to the west (what is now Wales, Devon and Cornwall and a large portion of whatContinue reading “Britons retire into the west as the mercenaries fight each other”

Casualty

by Seamus Heaney 1939-2013 He would drink by himself And raise a weathered thumb Towards the high shelf, Calling another rum And blackcurrant, without Having to raise his voice, Or order a quick stout By a lifting of the eyes And a discreet dumb-show Of pulling off the top; At closing time would go InContinue reading “Casualty”

Fern Hill

by Dylan Thomas 1914-1953 Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green, The night above the dingle starry, Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes, And honoured among wagons I was prince of the appleContinue reading “Fern Hill”

Sonnet to Liberty

by Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Not that I love thy children, whose dull eyes See nothing save their own unlovely woe, Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to know, – But that the roar of thy Democracies, Thy reigns of Terror, thy great Anarchies, Mirror my wildest passions like the sea And give my rage aContinue reading “Sonnet to Liberty”

Fun and frolics at the theatre when uppity stars get their comeuppance

Meanwhile back in Basildon . . . After the few days of excitement at the National Union of Journalists’ ADM in Wexford things seemed very quiet back at work. My personal life was still going well at this stage. Quite a lot of it centred on the Basildon Arts Centre, some of it as anContinue reading “Fun and frolics at the theatre when uppity stars get their comeuppance”

Where was Britain when Rome blew out the candle – in the Dark Ages

We know the Romans occupied parts of Britain – what is now Wales, the West Country and as far north as the border with the lands of the Picts – for almost 500 years. We also know that in 1066 a Norman duke brought an army from across the Channel and defeated the English kingContinue reading “Where was Britain when Rome blew out the candle – in the Dark Ages”