‘Legend has it . . .’ and most of Man’s legends are thousands of years old. The Dragon, for instance, has been around for centuries, in art and…
Category: Today
Great Sauces: Bolognese
Take chicken or calves’ liver or some raw minced beefsteak, one large onion, olive oil, one level tablespoon of white flour, one third of a litre of recently…
The EU? Nothing but a big bully
In Greece the 1967 coup d’état drove King Constantine of the Hellenes and his family first to Rome, and then the comparatively Arcadian peace of London, where his British…
History of the Cinema: the first ‘Casino Royale’
During the 1960s, determined producers Charlie Feldman and Jerry Bresler set out on a saga that left even Hollywood astonished. They wanted to film the first of the…
Great Sauces: Béarnaise
This sauce goes marvellously well with any good cut of red meat, such as fillet, sirloin, entrecôte, rump and T-bone. But it is also superb with rich kinds…
History of the Cinema: ‘The Wild Geese’
In 1978 ‘the last gentleman producer’ Euan Lloyd made one of the funniest films on record. It was not meant to be funny. The theme was well-tried; a…
Romanticism
From the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century there was an almost radical revolt against simple reasoning, the sciences, all authority and most traditions, against…
Sicily & the ‘Sicilian Vespers’
Sicily is the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea, in the southernmost part of Italy, opposite ‘the toe of the boot’. The island is separated from the Calabrian…
The History and making of great Sauces: Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, however you like to spell it, is at least two hundred and fifty years old. It is said to have been invented by The Duc de Richelieu’s…
The Queen of Spain, and Gibraltar
Word has it that Sophia, Queen of Spain and sister to the exiled King of Greece, has been advised not to go to London to join the British…