Back to Bretton for the first time in nine years. Arresting. Sculpture can be startling, stimulating, enchanting. It can turn you into stone.
Backstopped in Bretton
Top Rank Groovy
How an iconic 1960s Preston night club became a musical.
ABBA, David Bowie, the Red Army of Russia, Wonder Woman, The Starship Enterprise and the people of Preston
From glitterballs to mothballs – an offstage rummage through four and a half decades of Preston Guild Hall.
Around the World in 80s Days
A review (Blackpool Grand Theatre, Friday 9th August 2019) For seven consecutive years in the 1960s my childhood holidays were spent in Lytham St. Annes just sixteen miles from home. It may seem a raw deal when schoolmates would traverse the country, or set out on the first of the popular package holidays to that … Continue reading Around the World in 80s Days
The Launch
She claimed that she could see the moon through her skin. Few believed her. Some had more buoyant benevolences, after all, who knew what she could do? Eseld was unlike anyone ever born to them, for she had no eyes.
Sigh no more
(Extracted from Will at the Tower) Will rubbed the ache from his eyes. He could remember nothing of the night. The mattress beneath him was coarse and sank sharp shards into his naked back. The sunlight seared across the ceiling rebounding off the lime wash. There were no familiar scents in the air, but the … Continue reading Sigh no more
Finders Keepers
One of the most perplexing aspects of Hoghton Tower in Lancashire is the question of where is the building from which it takes its name? The original tower has been missing for 376 years. There were theories as to where it was, but no one was sure until now.
Over the Moon on the milky way
One small doorstep delivery I do not remember where I was when JFK was shot, but I do remember where I was when his pledge to put a man on the Moon ‘in this decade’ was fulfilled. I was in the lounge of a customer of my father. My father was a self-employed milkman and … Continue reading Over the Moon on the milky way
I.O.U.O.U.
What I owe the Open University Fetishism was not a personal priority upon applying to the Open University, but it proved too much of a temptation subsequently, when it was the title of an optional lecture at one of the residential summer schools. Despite being on the final half day of our week-long stay that … Continue reading I.O.U.O.U.
Downhill from John O’Groats
Trials on a tandem “I’d like to ride a tandem,” said Bob, “along the Pennine Way.” It was the kind of remark Bob would make. He was a well-known character locally and had been my best friend as a child. We were in our twentieth years and still very close. Sharing a tandem in the … Continue reading Downhill from John O’Groats
uneasywords 