https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0018wyf ‘Rethink’ on Radio4 chaired by Amol Rajan is a must listen to programme. Looking at the decade ahead, he asked the panel, what do citizens of the West need to do? Prof.Rana Mitter replied, ‘Have faith and rebuild free
Margaret Atwood said that everything in the Handmaids Tale happened to women somewhere in the world at some time but, even so, Gilead was a fictional compilation. Now Roe versus Wade has been overturned and possibly half US women will
Today, Claret Press sent me the press release for my memoir Food of Love – cooking up a life across gender, class and race. It is hard to believe that the comments of the distinguished people who have endorsed it,
My first book was not Oxford Castaways or a novel or poetry book but Oxfordshire Rambles, which was published by The Oxford Times - 10 circular walks devised by the late Jack and Margaret Ibbott. Jack and Margaret introduced
On this day in history—May 6 1954—Oxford graduate Roger Bannister became the first person in the world to break the four-minute mile, at the Iffley Road Track. Watched by about 3,000 spectators, he smashed the mile in 3 minutes 59.4
Shakespeare and Donne created thousands of words between them - its a British trait that we can be proud of. Let's find new words for our time . This government’s war on woke includes opposing the ‘decolonisation’ of museums, history
Today the Oxford Mail published my feature about the Ramblers. I highlight the need for a new group under the Ramblers umbrella - a walking group for families with young children. Anyone interested? https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/20125497.join-ramblers-free-walks-across-oxfordshire/ During Covid lockdowns, The Oxford Mail
My fellow oxib organiser, James Harrison was on BBC Radio Oxford last night being interviewed with the artist John Buckley who created the famous Headington shark. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bsy6nh and forward to 6.35 to hear James and John. I was privileged to
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014xt4 This morning (March3) Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Sanskrit text the Arthashastra-one of the major works of Indian literature. According to legend, it was written by Chanakya, a political advisor to the ruler Chandragupta Maurya (reigned 321