SAD times for the pedants among us. To start with, the man who waged a lifelong war against misuse of the apostrophe has met his own full stop. Then, as if to add insult to injury, that weird Californian couple who once were royal have continued their verbose mangling of the English language. The first of these events occurred on 30 March 2021 with the death at the age of 97 of John Richards, founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society. The society, a wonderful example of British eccentricity, was launched by Richards in 2001 to preserve the correct use of… Continue reading
SOMETHING’S not right. I already had my suspicions but chose to ignore them. Now I fear that is no longer possible; recent events have convinced me so. Time to face the fact: incidents of going into another room and not remembering why you did so are commonplace in one’s more… 
RUNNING is an uncomplicated process of placing one foot ahead of the other; similar to walking but at a faster pace. No argument with that? Good. For most people running is a simple and easy-to-manage forward movement. One that has existed since humankind emerged from our amoebic slime and stood… 
RARELY do I find a book having such a deep and personal impact as this moving and tender story. Its effect lingered long after the final word had been read; reviving cherished memories, plucking at the heartstrings. Poignant moments from earlier days were relived, reflected upon with a mixture of… 
NAH, it can’t be that good. Surely not. Must be because its cover has a celebrity’s name taking top billing as the author. Another example of vanity publishing, selling by popularity rather than content. Probably ghost written too. Isn’t that how it goes; win the public’s heart through the telly…