by Valerie | Jul 25, 2017 | childhood, General interest, history, people
There was some excitement in the class of seven-year-olds. We were to welcome two new members in our class. I didn’t think more about it until I passed two strangely-dressed women at the school gates; their hems too long and their faces deeply lined, they looked much...
by Valerie | Mar 15, 2017 | 1950s, childhood, Fifties, General interest, people, travel, Uncategorized
In ‘Red, White and Blue’ I wrote about the Union Jack. It is unravelling with the June 2016 Referendum majorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as London wanting to remain in the EU while England and Wales voted to leave. Some say that Presidents Trump and...
by Valerie | Feb 22, 2017 | childhood, General interest, history, people
The TV crew is outside the Minster and I am tempted to watch it – a sort of distant bystander – rather than concentrate on the structure of my next book. Others gather on the pavement hoping to glimpse a famous actor, bewigged and booted, before he strides through the...
by Valerie | Oct 13, 2015 | childhood, General interest, history, Italy, travel
The leaves of the horse chestnut tree outside my window are edged in gold. Over the summer a bird of prey – some say a hawk – nested in one of the Minster towers and feasted on my companions for many a year, the woodpigeons. Schoolchildren scavenge for the conkers...
by Valerie | Jul 7, 2015 | childhood, General interest, history, museums, people, theatre
The only time I’ve seen Michael Wood was when he came to give a lecture in Hull University’s Middleton Hall and the projector could only project stamp sized images on to the massive screen in front of an eager audience. He was, understandably, furious, stamping his...
by Valerie | Jan 19, 2015 | childhood, General interest, history
Days before the Paris tragedy, for some reason I was thinking about the teddy bear incident in Sudan some years ago. It must have been because Daniel, aged 5, was looking for a name to give to ‘Lisa’s child’. Lisa is his favourite cuddly toy, a lamb who has rapidly...
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