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What was Peter Sellers doing playing the ukulele on a track on Steeleye Span's 1975 album Commoners Crown ? Maddy Prior explains: While sitting over lunch we were discussing what we need to sparkle up the track New York Girls. Ukulele would be good someone said. Anyone got one? Anybody know someone who can play one? Peter Sellers plays it says Bob. Pause. Eyes meet, why not? We could ask. He could…
Embed from Getty Images In her Memoirs of an Uneducated Lady , this blog's heroine Marjory Allen records how H.G. Wells invited her to design the garden at his home at 13 Hanover Terrace, overlooking Regent's Park: He was seventy-three, already ill and dispirited, and visitors were not encouraged; but I spent many amusing hours with him. One foggy afternoon when we were sitting in his study, he…
"Every large fire has two causes, the spark that lights it and the conditions that let it become so severe. Naming the fire, though, can hide this, as does reporting. A fire is named in hours, blamed in days, and attributed a true cause in weeks." Doug Specht argues that we should reterg 'wildfire' in favour of 'landscape fire', stating the spark where it is known and explaining the conditions…
Piers Cross blends the psychological and the political to produce a convincing list. I wrote about Richard Beard's book Sad Little Men in my first column for the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy . I like its original subtitle 'Private schools and the ruin of England'.
Embed from Getty Images Helen Morgan has been interviewed by Healthcare Management about the Liberal Democrats' concern at government plans to reduce external scrutiny of the National Health Service. She says: "We know from polling back in 2024 there are people who feel their care has been poor, but they don't want to report that back into the NHS because they are dependent on that care, and they…
Guy Stagg understands A Canterbury Tale : A Canterbury Tale suggests that love of country does not mean some romanticised retreat into the past, but rather drawing on England;s heritage to navigate the uncertainty of the modern world. As a result, the film floats free from its origins as wartime propaganda to become one of cinema’s most beautiful explorations of history and belief. Though the pace…
Jago Hazzard charts the evolution of London's Green Park station from its 1906 opening as Dover Street to its modern role as a major interchange. You can support Jago's videos via his Patreon page.
"My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months – despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare." Maryam Tahmasebi writes from the hell of ICE detention. Femi Owolade argues that Black academics suffer when life stories eclipse scholarship: "Academics are ... expected to have stories that capture attention. University websites, media…
Yes, Leicestershire County Council is run by Reform. Why do you ask? Anyway, BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Embed from Getty Images Paul Addison reviewed Robert Skidelsky's biography of John Maynard Keynes for the London Review of Books in 1993. Keynes remains an attractive figure to British Liberals but, Addison suggests, a hard one to pin down: As Skidelsky emphasises, Keynes was at all times a political economist: "He invented theory to justify what he wanted to do. He understood that theory had to…
This is wonderfully bleak. So bleak it reminds me of Vanbrugh College snack bar on the original campus at York.
The remains of a lost Rutland village can currently be seen because of the drought, reports ITV News : Low water levels at Rutland Water reservoir in the East Midlands have uncovered the remains of the buildings which were once part of the village of Nether Hambleton. Residents in the hamlet, along with other small villages including Middle Hambleton, were relocated to other areas before the…
Here's the great Stanley Unwin on Pebble Mill at One in 1985. He had the sense to know that his unique act worked best in short doses. That way he kept his audience comftybold, two-square on their botties. The latest news from Long Buckby is that a blue plaque has been installed on the bungalow in the High Street where Unwin lived for many years. I once went to the village to photograph his and…
Embed from Getty Images I've a memory of Eddie Waring , the BBC's rugby league commentator between 1949 and 1981, referring to the "Dark Satanic Mills End" at one ground. I thought it was Leigh's and, having found the picture above, I think I was right. The photo was published in Picture Post in 1949, and the caption on Getty Images says: A group of young supporters accompany Rugby League players…
I love publishing guest posts here on Liberal England. Why not try writing one yourself? It could be on where the Liberal Democrats should go from here, on politics more generally or… anything really. Why not an article about a local campaign or quirky piece of history? Please drop me an email if you'd like to discuss your idea first. I'd hate you to spend time on a piece I really wouldn’t want to…
"Every week I read of people seeking planning permission for children’s homes whose backgrounds are in real estate, building, motor dealerships, pubs, caravan parks and light engineering. The one thing they don’t have is experience in the care of children and young people." Illegal children’s homes are thriving because profit has broken the care system. argues Martin Barrow . Russell Brandom says…
Another post that suggests I should have called this blog Twentieth Century Boy. Click on the photo of James Fox here to be taken to an interview with him on the British Film Institute site. There you will see it billed like this: Happy and relaxed dialogue with the then 28-year-old actor, covering his rise to fame and plans for the future. After his role in The Servant (1963), James Fox was in…
The judges are unanimous. Our Headline of the Day Award goes to the Guardian .
Not only does Britain have a 17-year-old chess champion , it also has an 11-year-old women's champion. Yesterday Bodhana Sivanandan won a play-off with 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala to claim this crown. The women's title goes to the highest placed woman in the British championship, which is open to all. The two had tied, so a play-off was needed to separate them. You can see Bohdana win the tense…
Embed from Getty Images The Liberals Democrats are fighting government proposals to reduce independent scrutiny of the National Health Service. Some of them were opposed by Andy Burnham as recently as last November, when he was still mayor of Manchester. A press release from the party explains our concerns about its new Health Bill: The Government’s Bill will remove the duty for the NHS to…
Embed from Getty Images Shreyas Royal today won the British chess championship aged only 17. By my calculation that makes him the youngest holder of the title - he breaks Michael Adams's record by a couple of months, just as he broke David Howell's record to become Britain's youngest ever grandmaster at 15. I first wrote about Shreyas in 2018, under the headline The government is forcing Britain's…
"Violence has prevailed against the freedom of the press. I was denied the right to report on the disgraceful acts which later unfolded after I left for my own safety – and that is wrong. Violence against anyone should be condemned, that's a fact. But violence against a person simply trying to report is an obstruction of truth." Henry Durand tries to report on the mob violence in Thetford. Carole…
Isn't this brilliant? It has everything, from a situation every Fifties American teenager would have been familiar with to an irresistible catch: "Don't talk back." Yakety Yak was written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who were responsible for many great songs, and performed by the Black doo-wop group The Coasters. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame : The union of a black…
Jim Capaldi, singer, Traffic's drummer and Steve Winwood's longtime writing partner, is now remembered by a heritage plaque on his former home in Marlow. It was unveiled on Sunday 2 August, which would have been Capaldi's 82nd birthday. Among the people who gathered to see the plaque unveiled were Capaldi's wife Aninha and their daughters Tabitha and Tallulah, and figures from the world of music…
One of the books I saved from my mother's house was This is Sylvia by Sandy Wilson. This review from the Brechin Advertiser ( 25 January 1955 ) explains all. A nonsense book that is something quite new is the autobiography of that successful musical comedy star, Sylvia. Sylvia hesitated when her friends urged her to write her memoirs. She had lived her nine lives to the full, they said, so why not…