The debonair Basil Marigold's

I have no wish to blow my own trumpet but I was a remarkable historian in my early twenties. My historical mind was as sharp as any others and sharper than most. That leading edge is perhaps a little blunter through lack of continual use. But that is not the point, the passion for history is the point. That is still and will always be there; that inability to douse the fires for knowledge gathering will never go out.  Many people assume history is 'states and dates'. The present government seems to think so. But it isn't to me. Of course, they are part of the framing structure of history and always will. It is however, and always has been, the people involved that piques my interest, the squiggy bits of flesh and blood that have so impacted our world through sheer force of personality and opportunity to be able to change the streams of nationhood and the very world we live in. Some, mostly now ancient people even somehow managed to alter the course of the very world; The

It comes around every three years and has done since, 1882 when they choose Sophocles to be the first tragedian that was acted out for the audience and his play, Ajax. There followed, in triennial periods now, the now named Cambridge Greek Play. To think it has lasted just over 125 years is quite impressive in itself, especially when in 1890, the  Daily Chronicle  stated that 'Greek Plays are a fashion not likely to last'. Yet it has and now flourishes and provides acting talent to the world, most recently; Loki actor Tom Hiddlestone, who played Orestes, in the 2001 Sophocles  Electra.  These are most talented folk. The Prometheus bound (The Tragedy) was as powerful and as searing as you would expect when you are talking about the god who provided skills to man in defiance of Zeus. Prometheus; the fire bringer, now chained to the rocks and being tortured for betraying the olympian gods and withholding the name of the love interest that should Zeus lie with, then their child w

I have no finally finished my first Agatha Christie novel, The ABC murders. As discussed earlier, it was driven by an interesting discussion on BBC Radio 4's 'good reads' programme, was it a good read? Yes, it was a very good read. I have thoroughly enjoyed every single page of the 'Hercule Poirot' murder mystery. I particularly loved the almost alien language and writing style, a product of the book being nearly 80 years old itself. Yet, the language was fluid and carried me along with good descriptive passages and the pace is deceptively quick for a character, in Poirot, who is designed to be slow and thoughtful. It carries along at two speeds, a ripping yarn and above that the thought process of the Belgian unfolds above it and they meet simultaneously, in a beautifully written twist at the end that truly blew me away.  Whatever my preconceptions were the one thing I was aware of, was Christie's love of a plot twist in the style of most thriller novels, a

Over the last few weeks I have found myself pulled back into resharpening my knowledge of ancient Greek (Athenian, really) theatre. Six years after completing my masters degree dissertation, surprisingly for me at least, on the subject of Greek theatre & transgressive women. A lot has been driven by trying to increase my reading time, attending a couple of plays one a few months ago and the triennial ' Cambridge Greek Play ' , this coming month.  It was whilst reading a book on Greek Dramatists by, Prof Alan Sommerstein of Nottingham University (Not so far away from home) that I stumbled upon a fact I had not known. A little curiosity that seemed quite fun and that fact turned out to be that the creation of Opera may well have been by mistake and therefore, arguably one of the greatest misunderstandings that has spawned an expression of high culture and some of the most appealing works of art in the history of mankind. And it was all evidently built on a huge error mad

I think it happens that you develop an aversion to something or someone to such a point as to almost erase them from existence, within your universe. For me, this has been relatively easy and is strangely one of the most brutal talents I possess. At times this has been a useful skill, other times, perhaps not. However, it has in this particular case meant that I have managed to reach the ripe old age of 37 having never read, nor felt inclined to ever read, any book by Agatha Christie (I have the same pathological feelings towards Dickens, Austin, Hardy. Though I argue in my head that this is a principled stand in regards to the worlds belief that to be educated or literate you have to read these books or be able to recite page after page; You don't) Yet, it seems I find myself mellowing with age. And it was on the drive home after work listening to the radio when a programme came on that I had not been able to hear. It is a called 'A good Read' website here  and the show

It had to happen, at some point, looking back from the birth of our first child. Yet, it was the one situation I had not really thought about until I actually walked out of the place when the thought struck me like a lightning bolt. I had just taken my daughter to her first parents evening; where we read her book of things that she had drawn, painted, written during the past year at nursery. I then listened to her teacher discuss what she was like in class, etc and then we viewed the room where she will go full time next year.  We then left. And then, it struck me about the last parents meeting I attended...I was with my mum! I was the child. Like a small bomb going off in my head, this fact suddenly and without warning flooded my head. I was in Grace's position, accompanied by my parent, for my last parents evening at the age of 14. But no less, that was my last experience of parents evening. Now I experience as the parent. More of my life then sunk into me. There are times

This, above, is one of the images that Nero use to advertise their burning software. It is a 'pun'. They share the name with the Roman Emperor, Nero, who according to myth, 'fiddled while Rome burnt' (the truth is perhaps a little different in that he didn't fiddle, he actually made a rather concerted and at times proposed clever demolitions to prevent the fire spreading). Yet, the reputation of Nero (who, in other areas was far from perfect, or indeed, normal), means we can picture him playing a fiddle while watching the heart of the world at that time get devoured by fire, set by Christians (if we're replicating all the myths). Rome Burned. It was close to total destruction. It would be like 60+% of London being destroyed in a fire. It was catastrophic. So, as you see, the connection is Nero's great fire of Rome, connected to the Colosseum, the other still physical and most recognisable symbol of Ancient Rome. That's the pun, Nero is burning softwa

In 411bc. Athens and Sparta were engaged in the greatest Greek war of the classical age; the Peloponnesian war. It had begun 20 yrs previously and the superpowers of the Greek world fought for hegemony. For ease, split geographically; Athens, the democracy, who after the Persian Wars (Ta Medika), had almost accidentally found itself as head of the Delian League of Greek allies that swiftly transformed itself into a loose Athenain Empire, controlled by the efficient and competent, Athenian Navy. Sparta, however, as head of the Peloponnesian league, with their strange dual kingship, had become invincible on land due to their professional army. An entire nation trained in marshal ways from birth. A state of army. Two nations and two different military strengths. The main reason why the war, by 411bc had lasted so long was with neither side willing to engage the other outside of their strength then the neither side could land a knock out blow. War and skirmishes continued and spread thr

Being of an age, my music tastes were formed at times, by music far older than I am. It was a time when bands, put about as much effort into the album covers as they did the music that lay behind them. Usually Vinyl record sleeves which became a form of art themselves. Their are those that hang their album artwork, as artwork, independent of the music.  One of the greatest proponents of Album artwork, was, The Pink Floyd. The music needed to be complimented by the vision of the band. Yesterday, the news reported the death of an artist, not a musician. Yet, this artist's death was reported by Pink Floyd's publicists because the artist had become so associated with the band that it seemed unsurprising that this happened. The artist was called, Storm Thorgerson . He was 69 and he had helped create the 'Image' of Pink Floyd, from the early 70's all the way through to the mid 90's. Without this connection then certainly my perception of Pink Floyd would be differ

I discussed, prior to going to the tramway museum as my early birthday treat (the Ipad mini being deemed to extravagant by my wife), with my mother as to the last time that I went to Crich Tramway museum. Dredging our combined memory we believed that it was when I came up for my annual 2 week holiday to Annesley Woodhouse, when I lived in Devon. Our best guess was that my grandparents took me and my sister and this would have been when I was around 12 years old, which was about 25 years ago. heading back from the small mining display, end of the line It has been quite a while and I have to admit I struggled to recall there being much there apart from one tramline and a tea shop. To be fair to Crich, this is still pretty much the focus of the site. A tramline and two trams running up and down it. As shown here, up and down the track; looking down into the main terminus where  tram sheds are Everything is pretty well off these central tracks. The only thing that is a little o

One of the most moving news stories today, will, sadly pass unnoticed below the radar of many people today. It is this story from the BBC about the author, Iain Banks.  It is a sad tale in itself from the human perspective. How does anybody, when confronted by their certain death, cope? least of all someone who has a 'celebrity' image, in a certain circle, at least. Not in the Cheryl Cole, vacuous way. But in the downright absurdly talented way. I have been a fan of Iain Banks, since I read one of his earlier novels, the Wasp Factory . And I would heartily recommend it to all. As one of my friends has pointed out, in places, it is a mighty tough read. However, it was his alter ego that drew me closer to his works. Iain M Banks, (the additional 'M', from the middle name, Menzies, his parents wanted to give to him but in error didn't register at his birth) science fiction writer. In fact, his science fiction to me is perhaps the most startling, original and ope

Continuing the Science Fiction theme, and how at times it can become Science fact. An interesting news story came in about the plans for Europa. One of Jupiter's moon's. This moon is quite exciting for Science fiction fans because as we all know it took a centre stage in Arthur C Clark's, Space Odyssey series of novels. For when Jupiter is devoured by the black Monoliths and transformed in the new star Lucifer, this is then for the benefit of Europa.  Arthur C Clark picked Europa for good reason. It is the very reason that scientists are now looking towards this moon with an increasing interest. The interest is in its geology, especially its surface and what may be underneath. Covered by a sheet of thick ice scientist are under the impression that beneath this exists a very deep ocean. Oceans being a great generator of potential life, simple organisms perhaps. This theory, near on follows from the thoughts of Arthur C Clark, when a space craft crash lands on Europa, havi

I have mentioned this before but I am even more now convinced that man's greatest invention, which may have more impact than we can imagine. Is a small, distant object that is beyond our eyes but not our technology.  The creation is Voyager 1. The NASA launched satellite that has now spent 35 years hurtling away from our, tiny blue planet, which must now look like a tiny blue dot. The news is exciting, in that there is a distinct possibility that this tiny explorer may well have broken through to the other side. If this story is confirmed then this satellite be the first man made object to leave our solar system. Quite a momentous moment in the history of our civilisation as we reach beyond our home into a new one, who knows what valuable information will be sent back? We do know that the radio signal takes 16 hours to get back to us here, on Earth. The life of Voyager is only believed to be able to hold out for another decade or so. It will be a sad moment when the powe

So, my wife's friend has just celebrated her 40th Birthday. She has now moved to a place called, Nantwich. A town in Cheshire. I have never been to Nantwich, and have rarely been this way in the UK. I did however, begin my University career at Keele, which is in the area but apart from this I haven't made my way here often. So it was all a surprise really. It's a nice little town, about 12,000 souls. Parts of it indicate a fairly high amount of these souls are pretty wealthy, more so in the outlying rural villages I imagine. For instance, in my town there are neither 'Aga' cooking range shops nor a large amount of designer menswear shops and lots of 'Holistic' healing clinics. That is not to say Nantwich is uber posh. I imagine that there are other towns and villages that are far more Cheshire set than Nantwich. It does though, have a very nice town centre. In fact, strangely it seems to have two, seperate and distinct town centres. The first and most attr