Archive for March, 2016
How to make a good speech
March 4th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I started public speaking at school and then university with debating competitions, so I’ve about 50 years experience and I’ve tried to distill my advice here.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
U.S. presidential election (21): the delegate count so far
March 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Following all the excitement of Super Tuesday, where do the Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidential election now stand in terms of the actual number of delegates secured? To win the Democratic nomination, 2,383 delegates are needed. Hillary Clinton now has 595 so she is 25% of the way there. Bernie Sanders has 405. […]
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
Things I learned on my latest visit to the British Museum (3): the location of the Parthenon sculptures
March 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This week, I visited the British Museum with a family of Czech friends. Of course, I’ve been to the museum on many occasions but, on each such visit, I always learn something new. The majority of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon are roughly equally divided between the British Museum in London and the Acropolis […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Things I learned on my latest visit to the British Museum (2): the origin of the term Phoenicia
March 3rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This week, I visited the British Museum with a family of Czech friends. Of course, I’ve been to the museum on many occasions but, on each such visit, I always learn something new. By the beginning of the first millennium BC, the territory on the north coast of modern Lebanon and Syria was known as […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
Things I learned on my latest visit to the British Museum (1): the origin of the word mausoleum
March 2nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This week, I visited the British Museum with a family of Czech friends. Of course, I’ve been to the museum on many occasions but, on each such visit, I always learn something new. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was a huge tomb built for Maussollos, a satrap in the Persian Empire, […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
The Academy Awards recognises the remarkable Alicia Vikander
March 2nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
There were not many surprises in this week’s Academy Awards and it was right that Leonard di Caprio won an award at long last for his eponymous role in “The Revenant”. A surprise to some may have been the award of Best Supporting Actress to the Swedish Alicia Vikander for her role in “The Danish […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Did Conservative candidates cheat on election expenses to enable return of a Tory Government?
March 1st, 2016 by Roger Darlington
“Two dozen Tory MPs failed to declare thousands of pounds spent on their winning election campaigns in marginal seats, a ‘Mirror’ [newspaper] investigation has found. None of the 24 Conservative candidates whose constituencies were visited by the controversial RoadTrip battlebuses included the cost within their election budget locally. And 20 of them could have breached […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)