Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
The oldest cinema in Britain
June 8th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
Last night, I went to see a film – “Mongol” [my review here] – at a cinema which could be the oldest in Britain. The Phoenix cinema in north London first opened in 1910 as “The East Finchley Picturedrome”, offering ‘the world’s finest picture plays’. It has been open as a cinema since and is […]
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I have no idea
June 2nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
This lunchtime, I was at the Treasury – at the invitation of my half-brother who is an official there – to hear a lecture by Professor Frank Trentmann. He was speaking about his latest book which is called “Free Trade Nation: Consumption, Civil Society and Commerce in Modern Britain”. The Treasury officials there seemed to […]
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How to take a good photograph
May 31st, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I have a section of my web site called Life Skills which is very popular. There’s nothing terribly original there, but the advice is offered in a concise, catchy and friendly form which appears to appeal to readers. Today I’ve created the 25 page in this section. It’s called “How To Take A Good Photograph”. […]
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Fox in the garden
May 27th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been working at home today – mainly reading more than 250 pages of papers for tomorrow’s meeting of the Board of the New National Consumer Council. This gave me the opportunity to spot an urban fox which occasionally frequents our garden in north-west London. In the past, I’ve seen some pretty mangy foxes in […]
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Visit to Apsley House
May 26th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
I have lived in London now for 37 years and I fairly recently read a book about the Duke of Wellington [my review here] but, until today (a very wet and windy Bank Holiday Monday), I had never visited Wellington’s home at Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner. The house was built between 1771-1778 by […]
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Is Karen Armstrong religious?
May 25th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
It’s Sunday – so let’s have a religious posting. On the strong recommendation of a friend, I’m currently reading “A History Of God” by Karen Armstrong. I’m find it tough going, not least because I am so unsure of the position of the author, and I am constantly asking myself whether Armstrong is now a […]
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“My name’s Bond ..”
May 22nd, 2008 by Roger Darlington
As a teenager in the 1960s, I read all 14 of the James Bond novels and saw every one of the 007 movies as they were issued. When I became a father, I always took my son Richard to see the latest Bond film and today the two of us when to see a special […]
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Farewell to Billy Blease
May 20th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
In my 60 years (OK, short of a few weeks) on this earth, one of the most decent men I have ever met was Billy Blease, otherwise known as Lord Blease of Cromac. He has just died aged 93 and today his obituary appears in the “Guardian”. At the time I knew Billy best in […]
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Off to do some training
May 13th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
When I am not doing my consumer work, I sometimes act as a Support Trainer with a training consultancy called Lamont Associates. This is run by a remarkable woman called Georgeanne Lamont who wrote the book “The Spirited Business” [my review here]. I’m off now for a few days to run a course for a […]
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This week’s Thought For The Week
May 12th, 2008 by Roger Darlington
For no less than 453 weeks now, I have circulated by e-mail a Thought For The Week to a growing number of friends and contacts around the world (the current circulation is around 1,200). You can check out all these thoughts here. Now this week’s thought is: “Remember – a statue has never been set […]
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