Lord Steerforth

I was trying to remember why the photo of Ivan Klima seemed familiar...

Exhibit A:

My favourite eight symphonies today:

Beethoven 3
Shostakovich 6
Sibelius 6
Rosenberg 3
Magnard 3
Mendelssohn 3
VW 3
Rubbra 6

The more astute will notice that they're all third or sixth symphonies. I assure you that it's a coincidence.

Good to see Glazunov get a mention.

I usually like Apple TV dramas, but my wife and I had to turn this off within minutes. I didn't even get to the part where I had to overcome my aversion to Emma Thompson. Maybe it got better, but to compress so many 'quirky' clichés into three minutes doesn't bode well.

So many well-known writers of my youth have dropped off the radar. Remember when David Lodge was huge?

Ivan Klima's death has come as a shock, as I thought he'd died years ago. Overshadowed by Kundera and Havel, he's been neglected in recent years, but I thought his novel 'Judge in Trial' was one of the best accounts of living under communism I've read. Glad he outlived his oppressors by 36 years.

Finished Blue Lights last night. What a brilliant drama! It's hard to pick out why it's so successful, as there are so many elements that make it work, but if I had to choose one, I'd say it was the characters. Each person is so well-drawn, in a way that leaves other series in the shade.

My son listened with genuine, open-mouthed amazement as I explained that in 1970s SW London, nobody celebrated Halloween. I then compounded the shock by explaining about kids asking for a "Penny for the guy" (shortly killed off by a double-whammy of inflation and health and safety) for November 5th.

I saw it live earlier this year at the Barbican and it was a real treat. The orchestration is so good.

The dialect is a particular joy. I love "wee fellah" and I had no idea that the seemingly redundant 19th century word for the police - 'Peelers' - was alive and well in Northern Ireland. Also, the accent is so much nicer than the whiny Estuary accent that's spread like a fungus across SE England.

1986 and 2025. My wife and I found an old-fashioned photobooth in the Photographers' Gallery, just off Oxford Street. As we were waiting for the photos to dry (remember that?), I recalled that we'd done this once before, 39 years ago. Luckily, I still had the original...

My older son, who never usually watches anything with us, is addicted to Blue Lights. I resisted it for ages, but it's far better than the average police drama, with really sharp writing and great characters. It would be interesting to hear what you think of it.

@profilebooks.bsky.social Is "Armerica" a typo, or am I being a bit thick and missing something profound?

I must be one of the few Divine Comedy fans who doesn't like Tonight We Fly. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to sneak out to the loo before the rush. Overall, it was a great evening that got progressively better as it went on.

I'm one of the last people to discover #BlueLights, but better late than never. And to my great surprise, our older son, who NEVER watches terrestrial television, is addicted to it. If every BBC drama was this good there'd be no debate about the licence fee.

Neil Hannon's new album may be preoccupied by ageing and loss, but at tonight's Barbican concert he was still a sprightly whippersnapper, bristling with energy.
@divinecomedyhq.bsky.social

In what way is it a devastating personal attack?

Good to see that a Teddington pub now celebrates the life of one of its finest sons.

It's this review on Amazon that really sold it to me.

I'm reading my first Nicola Barker book and it feels like nominative determinism in action. But after a few intial pages of "What!?" I've grown to love the rich, gently crazed world of the Barkerverse. She really is a one-off.

My hotel in Lithuania is probably not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a refreshing change from all those bland business chains, with their depressing conference rooms.

Being quite a shallow person, the main reason I didn't read it was because the man was called 'Moth.'

Raynor Winn is starting to become the charity shops' new Da Vinci Code. If she'd published them as novels, she wouldn't be in this pickle now.

For sheer comic value, Nicholas Courtney's performance in this 1974 Doctor Who clip is worth watching.

I love Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and I've recently grown to like his Sinfonia da Requiem, which I'm seeing in Amsterdam in November, but I really struggle with other pieces and I felt that this concerto was patchy.

October 24th.

I was there too and it was one of the best audiences I've experienced recently. The Shostakovich was superb, but the Britten left me cold, despite the brilliant soloist. I'm looking forward to seeing the 8th next month.

The FPTP system has limited their parliamentary representation, but they received more votes than the LibDems, so they're no longer a fringe party. But I wonder if the real reason is probably to do with the BBC's fear of being seen as metropolitan and elitist, so they're over-compensating.

As everyone seems to be doing their 10 favourite TV comedies...

1. Peep Show
2. The IT Crowd
3. Rising Damp
4. Frasier
5. Father Ted
6. Butterflies
7. Only Fools and Horses
8. Is It Legal?
9. Camping
10. One Foot in the Grave

Nearly all are well-known, but 'Is It Legal?' was underrated.