Richard Newton

Humphrey Burton and his wife Christina Hansegård shopping in Itaewon, Seoul. 1985.

Humphrey Burton and his wife Christina Hansegård shopping in Itaewon, Seoul. 1985.

I took Humphrey Burton and his wife Christina shopping for counterfeit Polo shirts in Seoul in 1985.

Bunny chow curry, created in the 1940s by the Indian community of Durban, South Africa. The curry is served in a hollowed out loaf of bread.

Bunny chow in Durban got there first.

"There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets."

Vlogger in front of the plinth from which Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide mass football will start at 2pm today and tomorrow.

Painting of Royal Shrovetide on the window of a cafe in Ashbourne.

Dig Street, Ashbourne. 9am, 17th February 2026.

Millennium Square, Ashbourne.

The vloggers are out, the flags and bunting are up, the shops are being boarded up. The biggest two days of the year in Ashbourne have arrived. Royal Shrovetide mass football starts at 2pm.

Display an album that was important to you when you were nineteen.

YouTube video by superiorso Vladimir Nabokov: Why do you live in hotels?

And then he lived in a hotel. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYvb...

I played James Wood, the critic, in a tournament at our school. I must have been 10, he'd have been 12. Other boys started crowding around, watching. I had no idea why. Turned out I was within a couple of moves of beating him. The only person who didn't realise was me. I lost.

Crypto conferences disrupted after unprecedented Dubai flood There's something nice about seeing Web3 fanatics in ankle-deep water

But when it rains in Dubai.... www.theregister.com/2024/04/17/d...

Graham Greene's cameo as an insurance agent in François Truffaut's La Nuit américaine (Day for Night).

Grim Grin makes his appearance. Truffaut apparently didn't realise who he was until after the scene had been shot.

They believe they have an obligation to all licence-fee payers, including racist, Defund the BBC, licence-fee boycotters. They don't believe they have an obligation to the licence-fee payers who - like me - no longer watch Question Time because of the endless litany of objectionable guests.

JG Ballard and his golden retriever at the gate of their home.

Surprised he didn't go for a Deutsche Grammophon cover. Replicate the disappointment for yellow-spine CDs that all too many of us have experienced in charity shops when spying a Penguin black spine, only to find it's this:

I trust these meet your criteria, introducing the first part of my novel about Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, on location in Dahomey making The Comedians. Burton's namesake explorer provided the perfect epigraph. Graham Greene, who wrote The Comedians, also provided an apposite quote.

New Species of Dwarf Deer Discovered in Peru | Sci.News Pudella carlae is the first living cervid species described in the 21st century and the first from the New World in over six decades.

File under Breaking News. The third pudu, Pudella carlae, was discovered in 2024. www.sci.news/biology/pude...

Fauntleroy Park – John Collings Posts about Fauntleroy Park written by John Collings

Looks like the same carving: johncollings.com/tag/fauntler...

2025: A Year’s Reading No extended foreign travels this year, which cleared the way to smash my personal record: I’ve read 223 books this year. Looking back at the list, some have already faded into the backwaters …

My reading year: 223 books read, two of my own published.
irnewtonwrites.wordpress.com/2025/12/31/2...

Kalyan Minaret, Bukhara, USSR. 1986. Photo by Richard Newton

Kalyan Minaret, Bukhara, USSR. 1986. Photo by Richard Newton.

Intourist brochure from 1986 advertising the 'Treasures of Central Asia' tour.

The same minaret in 1986, when, as a teenager on my first solo holiday, I did an Intourist package tour of Soviet Central Asia.

Cover of Chris Difford's 2008 album The Last Temptation of Chris, in which he replicates a famous photograph of Tony Hancock.

If anything, Chris Difford's homage makes the original all the more haunting. You can replicate the pose, but not Hancock's eyes.

'The Untold Story'- which has been the subject of several books. What *is* an untold story with cinematic potential is the fact that his daughter, Kelly, was a primatologist studying gorillas in Rwanda with Dian Fossey, and Jimmy visited her there. Would love to see gorillas reacting to that voice.

YouTube video by Global Traveler Talking Travel with Richard Newton

@irnewton.bsky.social discussing his new book with John Wroblewski. Global Games is available in paperback or eBook from Amazon www.youtube.com/watch?v=g78n...

He made difficult subjects accessible, which was a gift. As I reader, I always presumed some of the details were made up - not least to protect patient confidentiality. If he'd falsified scientific data - I don't think it's alleged that he did - that'd be more difficult to defend.

My hero, too. My first season at Roker Park was 1976-77. The 1973 squad were being phased out, and kids like me got our own generation of players - minus long hair and moustaches. Gary Rowell was foremost among them. His two goals in the 6:0 victory over West Ham are highlights of my childhood.

Environmentalist and author Edward Abbey playing the flute in the American wilderness.

The ultimate male role model.

The Monkey Wrench Gang?

Global Games: Columns from Global Traveler Buy Global Games: Columns from Global Traveler by Newton, Richard (ISBN: 9798275615524) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Games...

Boris Becker about to abort his serve at the 1990 Wimbledon semi-final versus Goran Ivanisevic. (Photo by Richard Newton)

Cover of Global Games: Columns from Global Traveler by Richard Newton.

The photo that earned me the ire of Boris Becker and the entire Centre Court crowd, including Princess Diana. Full story - and many more - in my book, Global Games.

Ed, a West Virginian hunter, firing an arrow at a target propped against a motel sign.

Front cover of Global Games by Richard Newton.

That time my archery lesson in a motel car park was stopped by the police - only for us to discover we'd impaled the target on the motel sign. One of many stories in my new book, Global Games - a compilation of columns from Global Traveler magazine. Out now in paperback and ebook at Amazon.

Global Games: Columns from Global Traveler Buy Global Games: Columns from Global Traveler by Newton, Richard (ISBN: 9798275615524) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Games...

Ed, a West Virginian hunter, firing an arrow at a target propped against a motel sign.

Front cover of Global Games by Richard Newton.

That time my archery lesson in a motel car park was stopped by the police - only for us to discover we'd impaled the target on the motel sign. One of many stories in my new book, Global Games - a compilation of columns from Global Traveler magazine. Out now in paperback and ebook at Amazon.

And another.