It’s always reassuring when memory and photographs combine to create a correct setting for a scene, rather than a setting absolutely impossible for what you’d intended. I finally got into London yesterday to check on the details of Westminster Bridge, which plays a major part in the ending scenes of The Green Man (name to…
Read MoreIn the early Twenties, BBC (the radio variety) used the phrase “London calling” as its call sign, informing the world that London was still up and active. During the War, the phrase took on overtones that were both poignant and pugnacious: We’re still here, damn your eyes! I like London, despite there being far too…
Read MoreFor twenty years, one of my favorite places in Britain has been Calke Abbey, not far from the gloriously named Ashby de la Zouche in Derbyshire. The National Trust took possession of the property in 1984 and embraced its idiosyncratic nature of it by treating and presenting Calke as “a country house in decline.” The…
Read MoreLaraine was the winner of the signed copy of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. We’re discussing the book this month over at the Virtual Book Club, and Alan will join us—or, me, for a discussion towards the end of the month. In the meantime, here in the UK I…
Read MoreOxford is my second home. I’m not much of one for cities, and there’s no doubt that’s what Oxford is, but especially now the authorities have banned private motor traffic in the town center, it feels more like a really crowded village than a large manufacturing city. So Thursday was an Oxford day, with a…
Read MoreThis is a test message, sending smoke signals into the blue…
Read MoreThere are reasons why England is green. Most of them fell upon our heads yesterday. But we were lucky enough that on the longest walk, it waited until we were back in the car before the sky opened. Yesterday was a day for ancient history. First to the Cotswold weaving museum, with its displays of…
Read MoreIn the seventeenth century, the Plunger family built their manor house down near the Lieux River on the edge of Gloucestershire. It was a lovely spot, meadows going gently down to the reeds on this most English of streams, on the outskirts of the hamlet of Nether Bollocks. And the Plungers were happy, for three…
Read MoreSunday was a Roman day. We drove down the Fosse Way to the ruins of the Romano-British villa at Chedworth, where the villa built by a wealthy Brit fond of the Roman life-style built a home for himself 8 miles from the big Roman city of Corinium (now Cirencester.) As it was a typical English…
Read MoreBoth of the recent Russell books I’ve worked on, The Language of Bees and The Green Man (which final name is still to be decided…), look at the roots of what we now know as Britain. Thomas Brothers particularly is fascinated by the Norse and Roman roots of British society, and significant place names touch…
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