Tony Hannan

That time Nancy Pelosi almost signed to play rugby league for Warrington

Agree! A true work of genius. Have you read his biography- Butterfly in the Typewriter? Well worth it, if not

Cover of A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole

Time to read this again. How I love this book. One of the absolute greats

I, Tonya

‘This place is beginning to smell like an owl’s foot’

He is, and always has been, a faithful

Folk who think sport is just people messing around with bats and balls are like folk who think music is just people making noises

Love this film. High recommend 💣

Wrote this the other month about The White Bus davehaslam.substack.com/p/shelagh-de...

Great context, thanks Dave. Beautifully written and evocative too

The White Bus, a short film written by Shelagh Delaney & directed by Lindsay Anderson, has just come on Amazon Prime, should you be interested

If you are interested in the history of sport, class and British culture, this little @itvx.com documentary may be an eye opener. Rugby has never just been about throwing a ball around www.itv.com/news/border/...

Tut tut. Ha! Mary Shelley nee Godwin’s dad

How had I never heard of this book by Frankenstein’s grandad? It’s terrific - absolute page turner. Any film directors out there? Get on it

Rock on, Tommy! Launch day for 'This Is Me', Tommy Cannon's memoir, at Blackpool Waterstones. Ask for a copy in your nearest Waterstone's and they might stock a few too! #RockOnTommy #Cannon&Ball

Telling Hollywood like it was! #DickVanDyke stars in THE COMIC (1969) at 9:55pm #TPTVsubtitles

Co-starring #MicheleLee #MickeyRooney in this comedy-drama.

STEVE NALLON’S GHOST STORIES – now in Waterstones shop window – is a darkly humorous collection of tales with modern takes on classic supernatural story traditions. Haunted houses, enchanted mirrors, spooky graveyards… as the nights grow longer, why not share them with a fiend? #Halloween

This means nothing to me

Absolutely love Old Grey Whistle Test repeats this time of a Sunday, especially after half a bottle of red. Whispering Bob introducing Emmylou tonight #mellow

Hawk just tore past with a bird in its claws. Quite the sight. Too fast for my phone camera. Wild, fierce and not bothered about anybody, as someone from Barnsley once said (not Dickie Bird)

I am now so old I no longer have any idea whether this actually means something or not

Richard Hines, hawk-keeping brother of Barry, directly inspired 'A Kestrel for a Knave', adapted for film by Ken Loach as 'Kes'. 'The Place That Knows Me' is a touching memoir of the family's South Yorkshire roots – roots that seem set to be pulled up www.scratchingshedpublishing.com/products-pag...

This is really quite something - a magnificently odd watch. You don’t have to have haunted second hand bookshops in the 1970s, but it helps

Quite right. Look after yourself, old bean.

Enough Said by Alan Bennett | Waterstones Buy Enough Said by Alan Bennett from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

New Alan Bennett diaries in-coming early next year - praise be to heaven, Booths’ supermarkets (where he does his shopping), mam, dad etc www.waterstones.com/book/enough-...

I’m past the point of caring if older films and music “hold up” or not. I love it when art is a perfect product of its time.

Three favourite Banksys

I deplore your taste in 19th century French artists, but I do so more in Seurat than in Ingres.

Opening time for Tolkien and CS Lewis - Harry Mount on the reopening of the Inklings' Oxford pubs - The Oldie Opening time for Tolkien and CS Lewis - Harry Mount on the reopening of the Inklings' Oxford pubs. CS Lewis became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, a century ago.

‘Tolkien and Lewis moved their pint glasses from the Eagle and Child to the Lamb and Flag when the landlady installed a dartboard – you can imagine their reaction to today’s modernising horrors…’

www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/opening...

Listening to Michael Smiley on BBC Ulster via BBC Sounds and delighted to hear how, in the 1970s, he was a driver for Fox’s Biscuits in Batley