Have you ever read a book that felt like it was looking directly into your soul? A book that gave you the exact push you needed to return to a long-lost passion or project? I've just finished reading Virginia Evans’ masterpiece, The Correspondent, and I am still reeling. It's a spectacular novel – elegantly paced, [...]
With the recent launch of Artemis II, the first moon mission in 54 years, it’s got me thinking about more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Okay, full disclosure: that’s Shakespeare, not me. But still, do you get the vibe? When we look into space at night and gaze at the [...]
I don’t know if my brother liked Pink Floyd, but in many ways, he was a crazy diamond. There was a lot I didn’t know about him. My half-brother, to be correct. I didn’t even know he existed until I was eighteen, when my father told me about the son he'd had to a previous [...]
On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, I wrote a sonnet for my future self, so that when I was older and wiser, I could read it and look back on my youth and smile. Several decades later, here I am, on the eve of another significant birthday. So I'm re-reading that sonnet, and looking [...]
Before going any further, full disclosure. If you’re someone who hated your schooldays and never wants to be reminded of them, then maybe this blog post isn’t for you. But on the other hand, why not give it a go? My own schooldays weren’t exactly plain sailing – there were some pretty grim experiences, some [...]
My would-be father was murdered at the age of thirty. Peter Donald Fox, British journalist, shot dead on the beautiful island of Cyprus, the place where the goddess of love was born. But the terrorist who killed Peter was full of hate, not love. I don’t know what kind of gun he used, because the [...]
‘Nearly everything that happens to you in life you forget. Should have kept a journal.’ I came across those words while reading Ian McEwan’s latest novel, ‘Lessons’, and they lifted my mid-winter spirits astronomically. Why? Because keeping a journal is at least one New Year’s Resolution I don’t have to worry about, seeing as I’ve [...]
