Cathedrals dominate the skylines of many British cities. Their development took place over a period of over 1000 years and represent one of the most astonishing artistic and technical achievements of western Europe.
Kinder Scout
Kinder Scout, a mountain plateau in Derbyshire, UK, where, in 1932 a mass trespass drew attention to the cause of the right to roam.
Blackpool
Is there a link between anti-depressant use and deprivation?
In Search of the Green Man #1
The first in a series of occasional episodes in which I attempt to find some of this weird isles’ hidden green men.
Camberwell
Remembering an afternoon in Camberwell with artist Tom Phillips, admiring his Humament, his Cloopseend, not to mention his Hairy Balls.
Skye
The Isle of Skye, home of the Talisker whisky distillery and controversial psychiatrist and author Iain McGilchrist. Also features pithy analysis from my neighbour Lofty Hazelhurst.
Colchestopia
Imagine a perfect world. What would you do?
Harrogate and Tea
Tea drinking in Britain was once a ritual, an institution. Tea was pivotal in two British wars, one with the embryonic USA, the other, China. Today, most tea is tasteless piss – a bag of dust dipped in a mug of boiled water – although grand old tea shops, like Betty’s in Harrogate, try to maintain some standards, and hold back the rising tide: of coffee.
Giant’s Causeway
Cathy was so obsessed with Led Zeppelin she flew to Belfast, then took a train to Giant’s Causeway just so she could lie down in the spot featured on the cover of Zeppelin’s album ‘Houses of the Holy’. We visit singer Robert Plant’s old home and I consider his fascination with the word ‘baby’ and Lord of the Rings.
The M4
Travel the M4 from Swansea in the west, to London in the east and you travel through time: a Viking settlement to a Roman city via a prehistoric landscape.