Category Archives: My blog

Playing our part

We all know Shakespeare described the world as a stage which makes us all actors whether or not we have learned the lines. How many of us see ourselves in that way and if we do are we a spear bearer, the star or Dandini to someone else’s Prince Charming? If we merely stick toContinue reading “Playing our part”

A voyage of discovery

As the old year ended and the New Year of 1966 began I made the most of the last week or so of my holidays before getting my head down for studies in my home classroom. Naturally I was enjoying the English studies, especially the literature. I have read, seen or appeared in a numberContinue reading “A voyage of discovery”

Making my name

Studying at home while getting work experience with a recently-launched local newspaper was working well in the run-up to Christmas 1965. Naturally I took a break from studying over what would have been a school holiday and spent a little bit longer at the Gazette offices while also having time to spend at the LittleContinue reading “Making my name”

Out in the world

If I had been born a few years later I would not have had the option to leave the regimented education system of the grammar school behind me. As it was in 1965 the age was still set at 15 even though attempts had begun a year earlier to raise it to 16. Luckily forContinue reading “Out in the world”

Those who were left behind

Eighty years ago today my father was celebrating his 25th birthday – somewhere in France. It was a week before the mass evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the French port of Dunkirk. Unfortunately Sgt. David Pierce, RAMC, did not get to Dunkirk with his ambulance convoy. My father was studying at the LiverpoolContinue reading “Those who were left behind”

Back to school – staying home

Home schooling is not easy, as many parents are discovering during this crisis. That does not mean it can not be done and done well. In the 80s I spent two years working in Oman as night editor of the state-owned daily newspaper. After a few months my wife and children joined me but itContinue reading “Back to school – staying home”

The Whitsun Weddings

by Philip Larkin That Whitsun, I was late getting away: Not till aboutOne-twenty on the sunlit SaturdayDid my three-quarters-empty train pull out,All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense   Of being in a hurry gone. We ranBehind the backs of houses, crossed a streetOf blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence   The river’s level drifting breadth began,Where sky andContinue reading “The Whitsun Weddings”

Summertime and the lovin’ is …. not that easy

In 1965 in the UK Harold Wilson was Prime Minister; wartime PM Winston Churchill was given a state funeral; Liverpool won the FA Cup for the first time; Ian Smith was preparing to declare UDI in Rhodesia; the Beatles first film ‘Help” was released; capital punishment was ended; Kenneth Tynan was the first person toContinue reading “Summertime and the lovin’ is …. not that easy”