Tobias Sturt

The icon for flight connections at Heathrow - a walking figure with a plane either side of its head making it appear to have antlers; the international business moose of business

There’s a business moose loose aboot this hoose

A painting of the baby Jesus in a manager glowing with a radioactive light from which the shepherds are shielding their eyes. I bet he’s awful for oncoming drivers at night.

These new LED babies are too bright

A triangle of cream cheese decorated with an image of a terrifying moppet called Trixie, who has a rictus grin and murder in her heart

What better preparation for the horrors of the day than facing the grinning imp Trixie over the breakfast table?

Ludwig is genius. The original creator used to have a website where you could buy and download the entire run for something like a fiver; my kids grew up with it, as I did.

A sign reading ‘Mix of bread bitses’

Nice of my hotel to offer Gollum work experience writing the breakfast signage

http://wfuv.org • Follow @wfuv: http://ow.ly/flLAg Allison Russell performs "Springtime" live in Studio A. Recorded 8/22/23. Host: Kara Manning Audio: Jim O'Hara, Allen Wang and Erin… Allison Russell - "Springtime" (Live at WFUV)

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‘Springtime’ - Allison Russell. But then, if Autumn’s here, it means Spring is coming. Eventually.

Provided to YouTube by IDOL Vina Vina Malawi · Madalitso Band Wasalala ℗ Bongo Joe Released on: 2019-03-29 Composer: Yobu Maligwa Composer: Yosefe Kalekeni Auto-generated by YouTube. Vina Vina Malawi

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‘Vina Vina Malawi’ - Madalitso Band. Or Malawi? It certainly sounds cheerful.

Provided to YouTube by K7 Records GmbH Ces P'Tits Je T'aime · Daniel Forestal Et Sa Guitare Disques Debs International Vol. 1 ℗ 1964 Disques Debs International Released on: 2018-06-29 Music … Ces P'Tits Je T'aime

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‘Ces P'Tits Je T'aime’ - Daniel Forestal Et Sa Guitare. As far as I can tell Daniel Forestal was from Guadeloupe, so perhaps this offers an escape to everyone who’s sorry to see Summer go.

Provided to YouTube by PIAS Throwing Bones · The Phantom Band Checkmate Savage ℗ Chemikal Underground Records Released on: 2009-01-25 Producer: Paul Savage Mixing Engineer: Paul Savage Mixing… Throwing Bones

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‘Throwing Bones’ - The Phantom Band. The Scots know how to deal with long, dark nights: stay inside and make a ruckus.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises Never Go Away · John Andrews & The Yawns · John Andrews Never Go Away ℗ 2023 Woodsist Released on: 2023-03-13 Auto-generated by YouTube. Never Go Away

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‘Never Go Away’ - John Andrews & The Yawns. Although Autumn can be cosy if you really embrace it.

"The Willow" by Magon from the album "In The Blue" Stream/Buy: https://streamlink.to/InTheBlue ——— Directed and shot by Magon & Alexa Rotarescu Special thanks to Kitui, Lormaki, Leboi and their… Magon - "The Willow" (Official Music Video)

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‘The Willow’ - Magon. Here, though, the shadows are deepening under the trees and the evenings are getting chillier.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises Ayalqem Tèdèngo · Akalé Wubé Akalé Wubé ℗ 2010 Clapson Released on: 2010-05-07 Auto-generated by YouTube. Ayalqem Tèdèngo

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‘Ayalqem Tèdèngo’ - Akalé Wubé. Followed by a cheery Ethiopian inflected instrumental. There’s sun somewhere, if you can find it.

“Next to Normal” from Lucius’ new album ‘Second Nature’ out now! Listen / Buy ‘Second Nature’ & Get Tour Tickets: https://lucius.ffm.to/secondnature Follow… Lucius - Next to Normal (Official Music Video)

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‘Next To Normal’ - Lucius. However here’s some upbeat disco-adjacent groove for everyone mourning the shortening days.

"i used to live in england" by supermodel* presented by f***ing whatever. directed by frankie beanie creative direction by frankie beanie & bowen moreno dp - bowen moreno 1st ac - jacob… supermodel* - i used to live in england

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‘I Used To Live In England’ - supermodel*. Having lived in England this gentleman would know that Autumn is absolutely the best season for it.

http://www.myspace.com/aberfeldytheband One two, one two three Well, we get along Yeah we really do And there's nothing wrong With what I feel for you I could go with you, you, you If… aberfeldy summer's gone

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‘Summer’s Gone’ - Aberfeldy. I know this is going to upset some of you, but Summer really is over now.

Metropolitan Mixtape: September 2025 The American Civil War, The Russian Revolution and Jimmy Kimmel

It's Mixtape week in The Metropolitan, which means it's also time for my playlist of the month: buff.ly/ipEpRW1

Chartle - A daily chart game Guess the country in red by analysing today's chart

Quite intrigued to see two data-based guessing games out there at the moment: chartle.cc and buff.ly/owSix2G - can't help but see it as an indication of how large the data viz community and how mainstream the practice has become.

A ghastly iron clown with a swollen red navel, standing outside a church

A grocers out of a picture book, all jewelled piles of fruit and neatly arranged packages

A furry homunculus on a swing hanging over an alley, no doubt preparing to drop on the unwary, observed by some arboreal totem

A street leading away into a fiery sunset

And so we say farewell once more to Luxembourg, city of contrasts

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Red Headed League (22nd September 1985). Roger Hammond guests as Jabez Wilson in John Hawkesworth's adaptation of a story first published in 1891.

I recently learned that Harry Secombe once released an album of songs in French. 🇫🇷

The title is beyond brilliant.

Recipes always feel like the perfect candidate for information design and this splendid app is a definite contender: it formats any recipe into a distinctive visual structure - here's a house favourite, for example, Felicity Cloake's Perfect Vegetarian Chilli:
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StoryTerra Explore stories by location and time.

This is an amazing tool for discovering books and film by their settings in time and geography - its fascinating in its own right, but I can see this becoming invaluable in researching subjects for The Metropolitan

I wrote about 'Catcher in the Rye' for The Metropolitan this week, a book I adored as a teenager, and was delighted to discover it rewards reading as an adult too
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Absolute nonsense, of course - everyone knows Surrey stops at Park Lane

The Treasure A one-man play written by Tobias Sturt, recorded and performed by Jamie Lenman Paid for by Patreon tinyurl.com/tojlfc

The one man entertainment industry that is Jamie Lenman has recorded a little one man performance of one of my Halloween stories, and utterly splendid it is too:

This new app wants to help prose-loving journalists make the leap into vertical video Sophiana wants to turn your semicolon-laden story into something your nephew won't swipe past.

We're experimenting with short form video as part of the social media strategy for The Metropolitan, but, as old people we're struggling with the medium, so I'm very interested in this app, designed for generating scripts for short form video from longer pieces of writing.

The Secret History Donna Tartt (Knopff, 1992)

I re-read Donna Tartt's 1992 smash hit 'The Secret History' for The Metropolitan and was delighted to discover that its still a cracking read while being a lot more '90s than I thought at the time, inevitably
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All the musicians having to open up their back rooms for literary lodgers

Most of Musicland has now been assigned for the expansion of Bookland

YouTube video by Yuma Abe (Thaian Records) Yuma Abe - Omaemo (Official music video)

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Omaemo - Yuma Abe. Japan is apparently experiencing something of a tourist overload at the moment, though, so perhaps it's best that we just stay home and listen to the music instead