13 January 2015
Jack Nicholson, love, Viagra and me.
It seems fame and fortune – like money – cannot buy happiness. Not even for an A-lister as well-heeled as Jack Nicholson. Regardless of his big bucks, big house and even bigger ego he is now just one of the lads. The ageing lads. The guys who, as the saying goes, may have snow on the… Continue Reading
It seems fame and fortune – like money – cannot buy happiness. Not even for an A-lister as well-heeled as Jack Nicholson. Regardless of his big bucks, big house and even bigger ego he is now just one of the lads. The ageing lads. The guys who, as the saying goes, may have snow on the… Continue Reading
Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel? Is this the turn-off on a long and winding road? Maybe it is one of those blips that tend to rattle forecasters before the status quo returns … but the news from the ubiquitous UK bookshop chain, Waterstones, is that sales of Amazon’s Kindle device… Continue Reading
Could it be that among the many words that have become overused, abused and exaggerated beyond all meaning, “bestseller” is the most misused of all? Screaming at us from the shelves, tables and remainder bins of our bookshops are covers proclaiming that what lies within is a “No.1 Bestseller” or that it has been written… Continue Reading
A whole hour … and just one song. But what a song. Absolutely fascinating viewing from BBC Four with the screening of Danny Boy: the song that bewitched the world. There was not a minute of boredom or padding in this wide-ranging analysis of Danny Boy, its beginnings, its history, its performers and, above all,… Continue Reading
Time and again we read reports of the decomposing body of some poor soul being discovered in the house where they have lived for ever and a day. Shock, horror. “How could this happen in this modern day and age?” goes the cry. Why the surprised reaction? Rather than express shock that such events could… Continue Reading
16 December 2014
Apropos posting an apostrophe
The question for today (and unfortunately almost every working day) is: how can a person progress through the education system to degree level and beyond and still not know how to use an apostrophe? This query has been provoked by tackling an enthralling and extremely well-researched biography focussing on a major player in a major… Continue Reading
A disclaimer: I was not the anonymous author of a submission to Sunday Telegraph agony aunt Graham Norton seeking the answer, other than hibernation, to coping with Christmas. But I might well have been. Every word of “Anon” rang clear. He/she admitted actively loathing this time of year in every way – “the food, the… Continue Reading
14 December 2014
Tortured by the language terrorists
The message used to be, keep it simple. Now perhaps we should rephrase that to, keep it short. Global best-seller Patricia Cornwell reckons it is increasingly hard for a novelist to keep their readers engaged and interested. Attention spans have shrunk. Which is why she has reduced the number of pages in each chapter to… Continue Reading
Once more I ponder the age-old question: what is it about apostrophes that so many people fail to understand? I am wading my way through a book edit in which two-thirds of the corrections require the deletion, placement or shifting of an apostrophe. In case you are among the perplexed masses, apostrophes do not denote… Continue Reading
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