Humpty Dumpty

London was divided. Half backed Handel. The other half backed a musician whose name I and many others cannot remember. The Duke of...

I ask you. How could we (or rather our ancestors) sparkle when we spent all our days steering a couple of heavy horse across a field and...

‘Sometimes when we look up a word in a dictionary, we find it has a welter of meanings. The word ‘copy’ likes to stand alone but it gets...

We stub our toe and it engulfs our feeling. We run too far and we find ourselves gasping. We forget our suit-case has wheels and we...

Kingsley Martin was the son of a Congregational minister and had a Christian upbringing (of his father’s pacifist kind). Kingsley was a...

Those of my gallant readers who have spent time mooching about in central Asia with a back-pack or have spent youthful years lapping up...

Horses know when they are well shod. The farrier with his leather apron has been to see them. No longer are hard surfaces a problem. For...

Bang, crash, wallop. That’s another day’s work in the lists. Work for the knight who has taken a tumble and has had his lance shattered....

Greaves, muskets and breast-plates: it’s re-enactment time. Soldiers from the days of Alexander the Great and the Peninsular War are in...

St Mary’s church, Belford, Northumberland is something of a pace-setter. Its website has a series of photographs of its trim interior. It...

‘Deft’ is the word I would choose for the choice of hymns on Monday’s service. ‘Telling’ must be the word for the impact on the...

‘I started out with the best intentions. I could see where my career was heading and it looked good. I married a nice woman and we have...

Even dictators have to take note of popular feeling. Englishmen did not like rule by major-generals. Majority parties in a democracy have...

What is the most intelligent breed of dog? Answer: the Border Collie. They have a strong herding instinct and quickly grow bored. They...

Mostly we’re on the way to Spain for the sunshine. That includes the beach and maybe some slight acquaintance with a language that might...

‘Those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.’ (Isaiah 40.31) The globe spins. The days are long or short – except at the...

Did you know that garages have been transformed? A garage is no longer a home for a car. The car is out there feeling the cold on the...

‘I’ve been living here for less than a thousand years but some things haven’t changed. I lift up my eyes to the hills and they’re the...