Covering Zoffany, rosary, and prophylactic. And not agreeing about them. Great to have this back. Hope it’s here to stay. Bravo!

Today is the anniversary of the Synod of Herutford (possibly Hertford) in 672/673 CE, convened by Archbishop Theodore, and generally considered to have been the starting point of the broadly unified English church.

Yes, the world needs a new podcast. Or rather, an old one resurrected. Just finished recording - dropping next week.

October concert in London

“When year’s eighth month comes to its end, The sun at eight o’clock doth wend.”

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A bit late for a song about Spring, but this was the first Lehrer song I heard and as a little boy I really liked it: youtu.be/VR9Qm7IXpU8?...

Cleo Lane … what words are sufficient? RIP and thank you

The vast majority of us can never know the true Norman Tebbit (RIP), so what we have lost is this chap: spittingimage.fandom.com/wiki/Norman_... which is nonetheless a loss.

What better way to celebrate the milestone of HH The Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday than by reading his birthday message: www.dalailama.com/news/90th-bi...

I decided to compare the size of the product with the photo, and it looked identical.

At the age of 92 Alfred Brendel was thrilled to have discovered Handel. But he thought Grieg was a gateway to Rachmaninov. Which was not good. My conversations with the great pianist who died recently. app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/70308/...

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Happy 90th birthday to James Bolam.

Perhaps my brain is running at the wrong speed today, but the slow marches in Trooping the Colour seem unusually quick to me.

I was duly flabbergasted. And I was one of the players!

Very interesting pod on information and epidemiology podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s ep is about a pivotal event in British history: the 1975 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Community. David talks to historian @robertsaunders.bsky.social‬ about why it was so different from the Brexit referendum in 2016. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

A flabbergasting programme, and a lovely early afternoon slot. I’m looking forward to playing in it, and hope you will come to flabber your gast. www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/cor...

It would be helpful for Reform to warn donors that, if you (for example) buy some bitcoin for £2k, and its worth £4k when you donate it, then you’re taxed on a £2k capital gain.

A flabbergasting programme, and a lovely early afternoon slot. I’m looking forward to playing in it, and hope you will come to flabber your gast. www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/cor...

It’s at 7pm. Should be a white knuckle ride.

Upbeat dynamism is the key attribute of the pieces being played by Islington Sinfonia on Saturday. wegottickets.com/event/658229/

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A week to go until Beethoven and Strauss in Islington:

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It’s days like today that make me long to live in an “island of strangers”. That would be preferable to living in an island full of people who think and talk like that…

Not long to go now to Beethoven and Strauss in Islington: wegottickets.com/event/658229/

Highly readable primer on a dilemma of democracy 🧵👇🏼

Not long to go now to Beethoven and Strauss in Islington: wegottickets.com/event/658229/

Another almost entirely empty LNER train to London, on which tickets are the price of a flight to Rome, because the LNER website insists the train is ‘full’.

Phew! Lots to concentrate on in that concert. Both pieces came off with verve. Props to Lorena Paz Nieto for the sublime singing in the Britten, and Matthew Scott Rogers for conducting with gusto throughout.

Interested in the “lesser known” output of Benjamin Britten? It’s coming to Smith Square Hall in a couple of days: www.sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk/event/cgco-p... Called ‘Our Hunting Fathers’ (not an endearing title) composed when he was in his 20s. And you get Mahler’s 9th to round it off.

Totally irrelevant what I think, but it would be nice if the world snooker final was Ronnie v Mark Williams.

Can anyone with a highly trained editorial eye spot the mistake on this front page ? 😂

A mega-programme coming to Smith Square Hall on Saturday 3 May. No less than all of Mahler’s 9th Symphony and Britten’s early little-performed work, Our Hunting Fathers. Epic! www.sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk/event/cgco-p... conducted by www.connaughtartists.com/conductors/m...

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Oh dear. Jean Marsh has died. RIP www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Happy 97th birthday to Tom Lehrer, who confirmed his status as a Great Man a few years ago by releasing all his work into the public domain. tomlehrersongs.com

Death of a philanthropist focused on outcomes for young people: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

@arusbridger.bsky.social Any fake news so far today?

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We are excited to announce the KSO Scholars programme which launches this Saturday at Fairfield Halls. 7 talented young players from nearby Wilson's School will join us for the rehearsal of Mars and Jupiter from Holst's The Planets. Read more on our website kso.org.uk/about-us/

NHS’s resource issue: My prescription should have been issued electronically to the pharmacy, but the surgery printed it and simply put it aside so the pharmacy can’t issue. A person in the queue found out that the hospital had written to the surgery requesting a test, but as the surgery… (tbc)

Can the BBC comment on whether any hospital has been disabled by the Hayes power cut? Heathrow Airport is important but, they’re beginning to repeat themselves and state the obvious about the sole focus of their reporting.

Guilmant, on his birthday youtu.be/GOzV41iwe-E?...

Mickey Dolenz 80 today. Happy Birthday youtu.be/AZYPlNuljHE?...

Born this day, John Wilbye, best known for his madrigals, and particularly for Draw On Sweet Night. youtu.be/puJvWNi2PKA?...

The RPS Gamechanger Award is supported by I Can Compose. It's presented by the RPS Board and Council to those who break new ground in classical music, as the Philharmonic Society's founders set out to in 1813. This year's Award goes to NMC Recordings @nmcrecordings.bsky.social #RPSAwards