Exotic

by | Jun 6, 2018 | General interest, history, people, travel

Some time ago I travelled through Asia on a British Council lecture tour. It started in Jakarta where I stayed with friends. I was overwhelmed by the exotic colours, vivacity, chatter and humdrum chaos, but fascinated too. Banana bushes – or trees? – seemed to grow...

Sound and Fury

by | May 23, 2018 | General interest, history, Italy, people, travel

  ‘In a full-hearted evensong Of joy unlimited…’  Yesterday evening a thrush serenaded us as we sat under a serene blue evening sky. He started in the chestnut tree outside my window, perched behind one of its many candle-like flowers, then flew to perch on the...

The Lionheart

by | Apr 22, 2018 | history, travel

We arrived during the last week of an exhibition at Speyer on Richard the so-called Lion Heart. It was a magnificent affair. So the next day we decided to visit the Castle of Trifels where he spent a year waiting to be ransomed. Richard was on his return from a...

Authentic or Not?

by | Apr 4, 2018 | art, General interest, history, Italy, museums, people, travel

I was asked to look at a painting and pronounce whether it is an authentic work by Zoffany, an 18th-century portrait painter.  Is it really his autograph work? As I write his name, my memory conjures up visions of gentlemen and women, in formal or informal poses, in...

Coconut Milk

by | Feb 14, 2018 | art, General interest, history, people, travel

My friend and her husband invited me to stay with them in Indonesia where he was working in the Italian embassy. She and I sat in her sitting-room overlooking the garden where banana plants seemed to sprout as we talked. She introduced me to the local fruit and...