There’s many great stories here including the time Briggs saw Einstein waiting for a bus in Princeton on a day of no buses and gave him a lift. And also that Briggs liked Are You Being Served and knew Mollie Sugden from schooldays. I hope they discussed Mrs Slocombe’s Pussy together.

NEW: Astronaut Reid Wiseman shares a video of ‘Earthset’ that was taken with his iPhone “This is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye…” Wiseman said. This has to be the greatest iPhone video of all time.

Just ordered. Cinematic Immunity looks good for Future City Film Festival work. Richard Brody’s full New Yorker review is here: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Looking forward to hosting the panel session following the film 5 May. Later this year I hope to run a season of Naples on film, too.

2026 Exhibitions #10. Just managed to catch the 40th anniversary exhibition of Show of Strength. What wonderful memories this brought back about a brilliant company led by the visionary Sheila Hannon. Exhibition closed now but Show of Strength has more walks and podcasts: showofstrength.org.uk

2026 Exhibitions #9: Seurat and the Sea. Another small but perfectly formed exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery.

Books Read April 2026 #8 Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina. Well actually a March and April read. This is the Rosamund Bartlett translation and is a fine read (and as brilliant as everyone says). I’m trying to read a classic a fortnight and focussing on ones I haven’t read. Next up Tolstoy’s Resurrection.

Books Read April 2026 #7: Adam Sisman: The Indefatigable Asa Briggs. Another solid biography from Sisman. Briggs was important in my university years and due a revisit, particularly his Victorian Cities book. This includes his life at Sussex, and attempts to create a new university experience.

2026 Watching #81: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. TV series from 1978. Geraldine McEwan splendid as Brodie. Originally planned as a 39-part series it ended after seven. Good example of how regional TV - STV - delivered then. Huge viewing figures compared to now and very good then.

Enjoyed last week’s session at Toppings Bath with Nicholas Boggs and Maureen Freely on James Baldwin. I read Boggs’ new and important book on Baldwin last year. It’s recommended.

Terrific first day. Great to see these on the biggest Bristol screen thanks to @swsilents.bsky.social. Day two tomorrow with three films.

Spending most of the weekend here:

Books Read April 2026 #5 Eric Price: Boy in the Bath. Life and times of Fleet Street journalist ending up editing Western Daily Press. He didn’t like the (very good) arts page in the early 1960s and the journalists working on that didn’t like him. But he managed to increase circulation massively.

Books Read April 2026 #6: Sara Wheeler: Jan Morris. Morris was one of the best writers on cities and influential in our city work. Wheeler is a fine travel writer so a good marriage of writer and subject. It’s honest too; Morris always advocated kindness but didn’t fully live up to that belief.

Books read April 2026 #4: Allan Massie’s A Question of Loyalties. Massie died recently. He was an extraordinary writer, reviewer and columnist and this is, I feel, his masterpiece. One of the best books about the Second World War and its aftermath in France.

This is an excellent review essay of what sounds to be an important biography of Larry McMurtry.

NYT on volume IV: ‘This is a strange, absorbing, subversively funny literary performance, a deadpan satire of life in a borderless, complacent Europe and an allegory of civilizational stuckness.’

Visit to Salisbury mostly in the rain so just a few photos. None of the cathedral, alas.

Latest newsletter looks back at work on James Baldwin in 2024 to mark the publication of Nicholas Boggs’ new book on Baldwin and tonight’s event with him at Toppings Bath. open.substack.com/pub/festival...

New newsletter reprints two essays from our 2024 project on James Baldwin as Nicholas Boggs new book on Baldwin is published by Bloomsbury. Boggs is in Bath tomorrow night at Toppings.

Pamela’s book is published by @stickingplacebk.bsky.social which is publishing many interesting books on film and cinema, including in-depth interviews with critics and writers. stickingplacebooks.com

Books Read April 2026 #3: Pamela Hutchinson: The Curse of Queen Kelly. I love books about individual films and @pamhutch.bsky.social is one of our finest writers on cinema. She tells the whole doomed story through three leading principals: Erich von Stroheim, Gloria Swanson and Joseph P. Kennedy.

Books Read April 2026 #2: Ian Baruma: Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939–1945. Brilliant book about Berlin in the Second World War in the words of the people who lived through it: resisting, accommodating and simply trying to stay alive.

2026 Watching #80: The Dawn Patrol (1938). Mixture of derring-do and pointless slaughter in tale of First World War pilots. Journey’s End in the air. Song: So stand by your glasses steady, This world is a world of lies Here’s a toast to the dead already, ...hurrah for the next man that dies!

The Rat Inn is rightly named. This is appalling behaviour. Why be an MP when you face hostility like this? The landlady should be especially ashamed for spying on the mobile phone use.

Latest post looks back at our project on Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 2006. A more optimistic time. And looks forward to more work on Brunel. And it’s also Mr Brunel’s birthday week.

Isambard spotting in Bristol yesterday.

In my latest newsletter I wish Isambard Kingdom Brunel a happy birthday, look back at Brunel200 launched 20 year’s ago this week and mention the beginning of work on my new book on Brunel and the future. Subscribe to more in the links in the piece. Just tick no pledge in the subscribe section.

Some reading for my project on the 1960s.

‘Zac is at the center of London Falling. But Keefe situates his death on a bigger canvas: a city that has tried to address its collapsing industrial base by becoming increasingly dependent on oligarch money, and a police force that is woefully underfunded and plagued by complacency and corruption.‘

Beautiful day for walk Freshford to Bradford on Avon.

Enjoyed a lot - and learned much that is new - in @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social new book on A Hard Day’s Night. It’s wonderfully published with terrific illustrations, too.

Books Read April 2026 #1: Solvej Balle: On the Calculation of Volume (Book III). I was sceptical about this ongoing book series - about a women forced to live the 18th of November every day - but I’m hooked and look forward to volume IV. Once all are published I plan to read them again as one book.

There’s an interview with the director of Underland here:

2026 Watching #79: Underland. I read the book on publication and interviewed Robert Macfarlane for our Festival of Ideas. This is a fine film. I was fortunate to see this last night with an interview with the director Robert Petit

I had high hopes for this government when it came to animal welfare but those hopes are quickly disappearing.

‘We’re under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing’s riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys fuck up again, I’m going to get mad. Goodnight.’

2026 Watching #78: Goodbye Mr Chips. 1969 version - not the classic 1939 film. Insipid songs. Always good to see Petula Clark and Sian Phillips but one to avoid.

Handy to know.

‘Brave, beautifully written and shrewdly researched, this is a riveting read by a writer at the top of her game.‘ Looking forward to reading Sara Wheeler’s biography of Jan Morris. Morris is the finest of writers on cities - books on Venice, Trieste and the fictional Hav recommended. 1/2

Currently working on plans for interviewing Natalie Bennett 28 July for Bristol Talks. We’ll be talking about her book Change Everything. Book here: bristoltalks.co.uk/event/change...

Haven’t had a liquorice pipe for decades. A good buy.

Books Read March 2026 #21: Goodbye Mr Chips. Packs a lot into 128 pages. Nice illustrations. It’s very moving and easily readable in a couple of hours The film - with Robert Donat and Greer Garson - is very good too. Not sure about the musical as not seen it but plan to this weekend.

Used to watch occasionally after school when it ran in the UK. It was regarded as a bit salacious by parents (which made it all the more essential). Might give it a go in full.

Books Read March 2026 #20: Helen Taylor: Childless by Choice: The Meaning and Legacy of a Child-free Life. I’m childless by choice and have often thought (and sometimes been questioned) about this. Here memoir, family history and deep reading and thinking make an engaging read and a guide.

2026 Watching #77: All About Eve. Seen this many times but always worth another watch. Brilliant film and cast, perfect script and direction. It’s a treat all round. On BBC iPlayer now.

44 years ago today TISWAS ended. I had the opportunity to host TISWAS Reunited for @slapstickfest.bsky.social a few years ago. What a terrific evening. I met Spit the Dog, hugged Sally James. And I got flanned by the Phantom Flan Flinger who was later unmasked.

Managed to get a picture yesterday of a swan taking off.

Looking forward to reading this new biography very much and revisiting Spark at the same time. I went through a Spark phase around 15 years ago and keen to get back to her books and her life.

Helen Lewis on reading, research and writing. I agree with this.