I got a Christmas card from an airport.

Martin Parr RIP

"all just laws condemn cruelty"

As an aspiring Playwright, when I was 15, i wrote to Tom Stoppard and then had a correspondence with him - he couldn't have been more charming and supportive to someone who he didn't know. He was a great man. And then there's this:

"I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like."

I was staring at a crumbling ancient brick wall with wooden stops holding it up - and the words 'flying buttress' came into my head - words i haven't heard, used, or thought about for years - and yet they're words lurking in my subconscious ready to surprise. Language is an incredible facility.

this is brilliant: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0it...

Playing On Nature of Daylight after the 2 minutes of silence was the perfect choice #Radio3

Enjoying the double bill of vintage comb over quizzes on bbc four

THE DAGENHAM PORKCHOP - is on at 2.15pm today on BBC Radio 4. (And on BBC Sounds afterward.) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

New drama: The Dagenham Porkchop by @broughton500.bsky.social 1415 today @BBCRadio4 Ronny 'The Dagenham Porkchop' is an old wrestler with a painful past. Stars Robert Glenister, Ron Cook, Holli Dempsey & Lisa Palfrey. Sound by Nigel Lewis. Directed by John Norton www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Saw The Weir tonight (25+ years after last seeing it on its premier.). Recommended.

the forbidden portal

Tuesday on BBC Radio 4 (4th Nov) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The Chair Company is making me laugh a lot

4th November

rip

Last night’s dream - scuba diving in a small muddy pond

In Cardiff BBC Studio - day one of recording

The Mall tonight

Love Rameau

French baroque is so French #proms #bbcfour

There's a 6-part drama series in this.

Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden

I stumbled on seven misty mountains

I am other people

Annual reminder that Geek Love by Bang Bang Machine is the greatest single ever.

RIP Frank Caprio

"it's always the person you most medium suspect"

Everything about #totp 1978 is magnificent - not just legs and co dancing to Dylan

“The blast wave from a thermo nuclear explosion has been likened to an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell”

Is Peter Watkins the most underrated British film maker?

Fallen Leaves (the beautiful little finnish film) is currently on bbc iplayer. It's so good.

some morning are built for a Malcolm Arnold dance

18th century rock and roll #proms #bbcfour

Loving this prom #proms #bbcfour young Parisians are so french

overheard - window cleaner talking to my next door neighbour: "my old man got himself a pair of bifocals, and the next day he smashed his car up. They're fucking dangerous."

I still love the kids from fame #totp

Chloe Kelly has magic in her boots

1583 (Sienese) portrait of Elizabeth I holding a sieve. She looks more real than usual.

“Sit down Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.” -Wicker Man

I'm in the throes of the exquisite sadness that comes from just having finished reading a great book.

Super-Infinite - Katherine Rundell’s biography of John Donne - is really excellent. The chapter on the death of his wife and his writing of her epitaph is v moving.

every year i listen to this song on this day www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfq...