Archive for May, 2024
The first review of my latest book
May 31st, 2024 by Roger Darlington
My new book – “Rennie & River: Tales From Two Courts” – has just had its first review. The reviewer concludes: “The real strength of this book – and it is an excellent, stimulating read, into which the reader can dip at their leisure – lies in the concept itself which is quite brilliant; its […]
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A review of a wonderful new Italian film “There’s Still Tomorrow”
May 29th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
I was drawn to this film, partly because the central character is a working-class woman in a post-war Italian city (my mother was living in poverty in Naples at the time), partly because I love the work of the post-war Italian neo-realism movement (this movie is a kind of homage to that style of filmmaking), […]
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My latest book is a set of revealing portraits of 40 fascinating individuals who all live in the same little corner of central London
May 28th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
I hope that you will buy the book (just £4.99), read it, and review it. Many thanks. It’s available now on Amazon:
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A review of the 1954 classic film “Journey To Italy”
May 24th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Director Roberto Rossellini is best known as a noted creator of the post-war Italian Neorealism movement with works like “Rome, Open City” (1945), but “Journey To Italy” is not a neorealist film (he had moved on by then) and, although it was shot in Italy with an Italian crew, almost all the dialogue is in […]
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A review of the new blockbuster movie “Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes”
May 23rd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Following “Rise Of ..” (2011), “Dawn Of ..” (2014) and “War For ..” (2017), we now (2024) have the fourth film in the current series which makes a total of 10 movies in the whole “Planet Of The Apes” franchise that started as long ago as 1968 (I was in the cinema then). This work […]
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A review of the science fiction novel “The Dark Forest” by Cixin Liu
May 23rd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Following “The Three-Body Problem”, this is the second novel in the ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy by the noted Chinese science fiction writer. It was first published in Chinese in 2008 and then in English in 2015. While most of the first novel was set in the near future and concerned the threat of an […]
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Learning lessons from the Post Office scandal
May 22nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
For 23 years, I was a national official with a trade union which represented the staff in the small number of main post offices actually owned by Post Office Limited (POL). Then, for 17 years, I sat on bodies representing customers of post offices. On one occasion (an awards ceremony), I spent the evening sitting […]
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My Thought For The Week is now 25 years old – have you signed up for it?
May 22nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Twenty five years ago this month, I saw a quote in a newspaper, liked it, and sent it in an e-mail to the 12 people who worked with me in the Research Department of the Communication Workers Union. Every week since then, I’ve circulated a new thought and last weekend the number reached the milestone […]
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A review the 1953 classic film “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday”
May 17th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
In only his second film as a director, Jacques Tati introduced us to the character with whom he was to become synonymous. M. Hulot is the shy, gentle, unassuming, but constantly bumbling, Frenchman who is immediately recognisable with his long-stemmed pipe, his leaning forward awkwardly, and elbows pointing out with hands in the small of […]
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A review of the new movie “Challengers”
May 16th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
I have a much younger female friend who is a great tennis enthusiast and, when we saw the tennis movie “King Richard” (2021) together, she really enjoyed it. So I felt on firm ground when I suggested that we see “Challengers” – it features a considerable amount of tennis and has been both a critical […]
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