Tonight on Amazon Prime, THE LION IN WINTER (1968), Peter O'Toole's second cinematic turn as Henry II. The greatest of all Christmas movies.

Tom Courtenay, Lulu, Stephen Fry and James Corden in Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, a comedy about psychokinesis. thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...

Tom Courtenay, Lulu, Stephen Fry and James Corden in Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, a comedy about psychokinesis. thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...

Robert Louis Stevenson was born 175 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2019/11/16/i...

News coming in that our @finlay24.bsky.social has committed content again...

Coming soon on @lionunicorn.bsky.social , yours truly on the quiet treasure trove that is BBC4.... #bbc #writingcommunity #drama #documentary #film #history #art

"The footage was heavily edited and shown out of sequence, so that it gave the impression of the Queen stomping prematurely out of the session. Or, as Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC One put it, it showed her ‘losing it a bit and walking out in a huff’." thelionandunicorn.com/2021/05/21/w...

He is working-class and a disco fan, she's a middle-class punk-rocker. Can love bridge the social and cultural divisions? thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...

"To tell you the truth, it’s all about the hype..." Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers was born 70 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2021/04/22/l...

On Armistice Day, the story of the first Two-Minute Silence. thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...

"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks" @alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...

On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men... thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...

Strip The Times of its Royal Charter!

"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all." Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...

"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built." Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...

Tonight on YouTube, BECKET (1964), starring Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole. youtu.be/LMwgMDUjVf0

"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks" @alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...

"Liberalism, with a capital ‘L’ sees itself as knowing what is best, it regards the population as illiberal and dangerous, it is a ruling point of view. Paternalism is its middle name" A fantastic, moving interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social.👇 www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men... thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...

"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all." Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...

"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built." Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...

How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance? Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased" thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...

"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever" — Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX @alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...

"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..." thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...

It's 30 years since Bovril tycoon James Goldsmith officially launched the Referendum Party in his usual modest fashion - and eventually changed British politics, but not in the way you think @lionunicorn.bsky.social

"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election." thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...

"Have you watched the John Lewis Christmas advert yet?"

How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance? Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever" — Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX @alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...

"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased" thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...

"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..." thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...

"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election." thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...

"We are going back to the origin of superstition – to an age when dragons tore each other in their slime." On the anniversary of Bram Stoker's birth in 1847, we remember his second-best novel. thelionandunicorn.com/2020/10/24/i...

"Goldsmith stared unblinking into the camera through his five-minute address, his intense demeanour and ominous message in no way resembling a Bond villain explaining an apocalyptic plan to a terrified world." thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...

"Britain is almost pagan and only a hairline from communism." Today we shall be remembering evangelist Billy Graham, born 7 November 1918. His London Crusade in 1953 attracted two million visits. thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/m...

This was bonkers at the time, but seems almost fact-based given how some in the US currently view the UK. Hstorians have looked at how Britons viewed the US but has anybody done a history of how Americans viewed Britain?

This time next week, I'll be speaking at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. I'd love to see you there. www.rct.uk/event/alwyn-...

"Britain is almost pagan and only a hairline from communism." Today we shall be remembering evangelist Billy Graham, born 7 November 1918. His London Crusade in 1953 attracted two million visits. thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/m...

"Goldsmith stared unblinking into the camera through his five-minute address, his intense demeanour and ominous message in no way resembling a Bond villain explaining an apocalyptic plan to a terrified world." thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...

Now Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night have passed, it's only right that I start work on the @lionunicorn.bsky.social top ten Yuletide albums for next month... #topten #christmas #yuletide #writingcommunity #vinylcommunity

I literally cannot stop watching this.

Much to consider

"A wonderful dark satire of the goings on within the ‘glass and steel’ universities that grew from the higher education boom in the early 1960s." Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for @lionunicorn.bsky.social

On the first anniversary of Donald Trump's second election victory, here's a reminder of how the great and the good in Britain greeted the result. thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/06/r...

Liberal England: Market Harborough welcomed a 1905 unemployed workers march liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/mark...

"‘Do you think that this Free Trade stuff is lunacy or criminal?’ enquired Captain de Wilton-ffallow. ‘Definitely criminal,’ replied his senior officer. ‘They’re all in the pay of Moscow.’" Satirical novelist A.G. Macdonell was born 130 years ago today. thelionandunicorn.com/2016/09/10/a...