Archive for September, 2013


75th anniversary of the infamous Munich Agreement

September 30th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I first became fully aware of the travesty of the 1938 Munich Agreement – whose 75th anniversary is today – when, in the early 1980s, I was researching the life of the Czechoslovak RAF pilot Karel Kuttelwascher. He was my wife’s father and my biography of him was published under the title of “Night Hawk” in […]

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Why women shouldn’t be allowed to drive

September 30th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Apparently this could affect their ovaries (!), according to an Islamic cleric in Saudi Arabia – see story here. Will men ever run out of ridiculous excuses – often self-serving – for treating women equally?

Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)


Two reviews of Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”

September 29th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie published his ambitious and complex novel “Midnight’s Children” in 1981 and I finally read it 2003 [my review here]. At long last, a film has now been made of the book and I viewed it this weekend. You can read my review here.

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My Saturday spent thinking about where I want to spend the rest of my life – it’s called the future

September 28th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I spent all of today at an event entitled  “FUTUREFEST: SHAPING THINGS TO COME” which was held at the Shoreditch Town Hall (build in 1862) in east London. We will spend the rest of our lives in the future but we spend so little time thinking about the future. So I found it a fascinating occasion. […]

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A commemorative medal for Vee’s father Karel Kuttelwascher

September 27th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

In 1985, my biography of Vee’s father was published. It was called “Night Hawk” and told the story of Karel Kuttelwascher, a Czech pilot with the wartime Royal Air Force who was the RAF’s most successful night intruder ace. At the time, we assumed that would be the end of the story – but again […]

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A review of the film “2 Days In Paris”

September 27th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

One of the great things about being a subscriber to a service like Lovefilm is that you can rent films from way back. So, as a fan of Julie Delpy, I’ve just rented and viewed the 2007 movie “2 Days In Paris” on which she performed multiple roles. You can read my review here. Now […]

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Which countries are in the wrong time zone?

September 26th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

As Einstein said, time is relative, so the time we choose to live in is not always obvious. Check out this fascinating little piece on strange time choices.

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Can you imagine a television programme on life in a cul-de-sac? (1)

September 26th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

The power of the Internet, eh? Seven years ago, I did a short piece on this blog about living in a cul-de-sac. This week, I have received an e-mail from a television production company that is interested in putting together a TV documentary about life in a cul-de-sac: “I have just stumbled across your website […]

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Another fun time with my granddaughter Catrin

September 25th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

As regular readers of NightHawk will know, I have a wonderful granddaughter called Catrin who is now 2 years and 8 months old. I try to see her once a week and, on two occasions, I’ve looked after her overnight – both times for one night only and at our house. However, I’ve just had […]

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A philosophical question: how important to our lives is it that others live on after us?

September 24th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

“Consider a hypothetical scenario. Suppose you knew that although you yourself would live a long life and die peacefully in your sleep, the earth and all its inhabitants would be destroyed 30 days after your death in a collision with a giant asteroid. How would this knowledge affect you?” This challenging question about death turns […]

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