Blogs

Dame Margaret Lloyd George and Nancy Astor on Election Eve 14th November 1919

Dame Margaret Lloyd George and Nancy Astor on Election Eve 14th November 1919

One hundred years ago, on 14th November 1919, on the eve of election day in Plymouth, Dame Margaret Lloyd George, wife of the Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George, came down to the West Country to support the Tory candidate Nancy Astor. At the time the country was run by a Tory/Liberal Coalition Government, and … Continue reading →

Women in War and Peace 1919

Women in War and Peace 1919

One hundred years ago, on Monday 30th June 1919, the day after Prime Minister David Lloyd George returned to London having signed the Versailles Treaty, the Liverpool Courier carried the article below from his wife Dame Margaret Lloyd George, its message being reported widely in the Press. On the Saturday she had presided over the … Continue reading →

Drop the O’, You Don’t Want Enquiries – a Story of Irish Migration

Drop the O’, You Don’t Want Enquiries – a Story of Irish Migration

In 1844, just before the Great Famine hit Ireland, my Irish forebears left for London. All I ever really knew was that, on arrival, the 5 year old Cathy, my great grandmother, asked “Is that the same moon as we have in Ireland?”… a story that was passed down over the years. Since then I … Continue reading →

Hotel May Theresa: The Answer to Two Great Unanswered Questions of My Life

Hotel May Theresa: The Answer to Two Great Unanswered Questions of My Life

Great Unanswered Question 1: how will Brexit turnout? Great Unanswered Question 2: What is the Eagles song Hotel California all about? I’ve cracked the code: Just read these lyrics, to the tune if you remember it……….. the bold words are all that I have had to change for it all to make sense!! I’ve posted someone else’s … Continue reading →

Women’s Boat Race 1927 Eye witness report

Women’s Boat Race 1927 Eye witness report

In 1927 it was Boats for Women as well as Votes for Women and the first Women's boat race took place on the Isis between Oxford and Cambridge. Listen to this unique eye witness account.

The meaning of life: banish the audition blues

The meaning of life: banish the audition blues

This blog introduces the video of Audition blues, the second song on my first album, I know a little place. Whilst it is inevitable that songs are influenced by the writer’s own life, I owe it my parents, family and teachers to confess that the first verse of my song is untrue – everyone encouraged … Continue reading →

You can’t sit out the dance

You can’t sit out the dance

For this little homily song on our journey through life, I have chosen a few pictures from my own travels. This song niggles at me whenever I’d rather hide away from the world, trying to “sit out the dance”. Perhaps subconsciously we write about the challenges we know from experience are hard to meet. Having … Continue reading →

The Art of the song

The Art of the song

"Songs conjure up images in the mind of writer and of listener .. enjoy listening in the company of the talent of artists from 5 centuries"

Mad about Models: Building Blog 5 Twin Towers to Single Arch

Mad about Models: Building Blog 5 Twin Towers to Single Arch

This fifth and final blog on selected iconic buildings of London modelled by Timothy Richards is of the now departed Wembley Twin Towers. The model in its larger size shown here was presented to various dignitaries at the ceremonial events at the time of their demolition in 2003 – a noble souvenir of what had once … Continue reading →

Mad about Models: Building Blog 4 From Hoover to Tesco

Mad about Models: Building Blog 4 From Hoover to Tesco

In this fourth of my blogs about iconic London buildings exquisitely modelled by Timothy Richards, I look at the Hoover Building on the Western Avenue, to the west of London. Like last week’s building, the Floral Hall in Covent Garden, the Hoover Building has had to adapt to survive, in this case changing from a manufacturing … Continue reading →

Richard Rhys O'Brien