Jacque Russell Lives

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Write a letter to your 100-year-old self. As the classical author said ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’. I expect the world of 2078 to be the same but different. In your hundred years of life the world will have changed tremendously and in many respects 1978 is a world away. I remember in 1988 the first BBC computers in schools. These were less powerful than the phones…

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance? Oh mum and dad what did you do to me giving me a name meaning ‘great’ or ‘magnificent’. I, of course, am neither just a mild mannered normal person who now knows his middle name is an English corruption of the Latin name Augustus! Augustus in the Middle Ages was corrupted to Augustine which was then further corrupted to…

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain. The question I hate to be asked is the question that more people should ask, especially of people like me. It is “Why?” Because it forces you to confront the reasons for something you think, something you just say or something you mindlessly believe. I hate to be asked it but am relieved when people do. It shows me that I am not alone in…

What bores you? I am increasingly thinking that the post enlightenment world is needlessly cut off from myth and majesty. It is a funny feeling but I do wonder if the world is running on empty. It is a feeling that I have had for a long time. When I worked in an open air museum I had a feeling that the trees were working overtime, that they sensed that the end was nigh and that we only had a…

CS Lewis had a prime facie complicated approach to Christmas but on analysis it is clear that there are underlying reasons for his complicated response to this jolly season. In the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Narnia is in a miserable situation. It is a land which echos the lyrics ‘Who have winter, but no Christmas‘ from the hymn ‘Cradled in a Manger meanly’ by George S. Rowe (1830-1913). It…

The success of An Inspector Calls lies with JB Priestley’s talent with exploiting the underlying tensions within the Birling family. It is from these tensions that the drama – a thing done – flows. The characters act logically within their own moral frameworks and limited perceptions which are exposed by the Inspector who sees not the limited but the expanded impact of the families…

Daily writing promptWhen was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?View all responses The title is a butchered CS Lewis quote but I think you get the message. One of the things adolescents fear is looking childish, I think children themselves feel shame if someone accuses them of being acting like a child, despite being a child a quality of being young and something to be…

Daily writing promptIf you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?View all responses Most of my work is tongue in cheek and flippant. I try to make useful points but I am far too English to be serious. This prompt calls for me to use my imagination and I have done so thinking in terms of my real interests in the world. I have a heart for the vulnerable and the marginalised…

Daily writing promptWhat’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.View all responses The title to this blog is absolutely true, if you want to do sky diving twice you need a parachute. You can go once and will have the ride of what is left of your life but I could never do that. I would be terrified. In fact I would also be terrified of jumping with a parachute. It is not…

The cool sport of this month is the World Conker Championships held in Peterbough, Cambridgeshire. I hope you’ve got your nuts good and hard!