When my friend Caroline and I visited the US Library of Congress in August 2016, there was a special exhibition of the composer Marvin Hamlisch’s awards, which needed a considerable amount of room, largely as a result of three amazing years. At the Oscars in 1974, Cher called him Marvin Hamschmish, then Hamilschmish. But when he won his…
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Dec
You decide, but I think they beat the teddy bears from the US Supreme Court … … and those from the US Library of Congress … This one’s called Sid. I also like this … … though this one from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is still my favourite: The gift shop…
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Dec
Although I am yet to succumb to The Phantom of the Opera, in September I finally saw a play that’s been running continuously on the West End all my life, plus another sixteen and a half years: performance number 26,500, or is it more?… of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. That performance set a new world…
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Nov
In August, my Antarctic friend Caroline and I visited the United States Capitol – the Congress building, or, as Google Maps describes it, the ‘Legendary home of the US legislature’. We could have bought chocolate bars … … or chocolate Congresses. Milk … … dark … … or white.
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Nov
When I was in Munich in late August, they had lesbian and gay traffic lights (sadly now gone). In Trafalgar Square the following week, the lights were lesbian … … and gay … … and transgender … … and even straight! There’s something reassuring about how they all blend into the lions and double-decker busses.
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Nov
I saw them in August, but they’ve since gone, alas.
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Nov
Earlier this year, I saw 28 of the movies at the Spanish Film Festival, which was a bit of a slide in form. I’d seen 30 in 2015. I’m not quite so obsessed about the British Film Festival, which in any event doesn’t have as many. But in addition to showing some interesting new films, it…
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Nov
In retrospect, the next musical I saw after My Fair Lady at the Sydney Opera House was never going to seem remotely as good. My Fair Lady was based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, using large amounts of his words, superbly augmented by Alan Jay Lerner – one of musical theatre’s greatest ever writers….
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Nov
