I have known Matthew Perry since we met at college CU in 1980, and discovered a mutual passion for Tolkien. He was studying chemistry and has continued as a professional (industrial research) chemist ever since. In 2011 this led him and his family (artist wife ...
By the way, thank you everyone, for your very varied unfavourite hymns and songs. Do read all the comments, in order to find out which carol promised the young Judith Leader "fritters for ever". Very soon, the PPI Blogger is planning to watch a film called...
For once, the PPI Blogger is putting on her (Scots) lawyer’s bunnet, to reflect on the case of WM Morrison (“Morrisons”) v Various Claimants [2018] EWCA Civ 2339. This case, which recently made the news, is in fact English. However, it reminded me of one...
Welcome back to the tent, writers! Last week, the Great British Write-Off featured Romance in all its forms. Star Writer was, perhaps surprisingly, JK, and we had to say goodbye to Bernard. Today, for the first time, The Great British Write-Off is featuring an SF/Fantasy week. So...
Growing up in a house crammed with books, there were a few perhaps unexpected ones I discovered for myself, and came to love. Among these were the works of John and Elizabeth Newson, an enterprising couple who set out to discover how ordinary mothers brought...
The following telephone conversation (more or less) took place, yesterday, Thursday. Me: Hello. Caller: Good morning, can I speak to Mrs Wallace? Me: I am Mrs Wallace, who are you? Caller: I am from Telephone Preference Service, I am here to tell you that we are going to block...
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed a lack of reference to current affairs lately. This is partly because the intricacies of Brexit negotiation and government meltdown are too confusing for a simple person to follow; and partly because current affairs are currently almost...
Last weekend the weather here was absolutely beautiful, which was good news for the local celebration known as the Beeston and Chilwell Garden Trail. This is one of my favourite events of the year, though I don’t always manage to attend. In the interests of impartiality, I’m...
The BBC has an archive, some of which seems to be available online and on Facebook, and recently my cousin Calum Benison has been posting a few snippets showing 1960s news broadcasts about recent innovations in science. My interest in these has been mainly because...
We live on a corner, we use the back (kitchen) door a lot, and the kitchen is easily visible from the garden. Perhaps for this reason, we’ve been burgled several times, and the most recent occasion was last Friday. The drill goes as follows: 11 pm...