Category Archives: London
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Part Four: What Was Your First Permanent Job?
I’ll always remember my first working day at the BBC in London W1A. I stepped into the BBC Radio office at 1 Portland Place, W1A, opposite Broadcasting House (to be known forever as BH). By the end of that day, I had experienced my First BBC Crisis. I was working for one of the producers inContinue reading “QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Part Four: What Was Your First Permanent Job?”
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Part One: Who put the pop-up in the pop-up toaster?
And the answer is: I did! That was just one of my previous jobs, on the conveyor belt at Morphy Richards factory in my hometown, when I was in my teens. In fact it was first ever paid job and I was thrilled, and when I received my first pay packet I thought I wasContinue reading “QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Part One: Who put the pop-up in the pop-up toaster?”
A Visit to Denis Severs’ House, Spitalfields, East London
We recently visited Dennis’ Severs’ House at 18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields. This was a revelation to me, and I’ve discovered new things since my visit, about Dennis himself, his life, the creation of the interiors in the House, and the life of the Spitalfields community around him, which make the visit an even more poignantContinue reading “A Visit to Denis Severs’ House, Spitalfields, East London”
Book Review: ‘The Secret River’ by Kate Grenville
As one who lived in Australia for nearly five years, before returning to live in England, I found this novel by Australian author Kate Grenville totally immersive. Kate Grenville takes her main protagonist William Thornhill from his life as a Thames waterman in the late 1700s out to New South Wales on a convict transport,Continue reading “Book Review: ‘The Secret River’ by Kate Grenville”
Book Review: ‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O’Farrell
I waited quite a long time for Waterstones to send me this book; and having received it, I spent the next few hours devouring this story of William Shakespeare’s family and the tragic death of his 11 year old son Hamnet. Living as I do near Stratford-upon-Avon I have visited all the Shakespeare properties aContinue reading “Book Review: ‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O’Farrell”
Book Review: ‘Half a World Away’ by Mike Gayle
This is a profoundly moving novel set in our contemporary society, which works on so many levels, intimate, insightful and also demonstrating panoramic vision. In ‘Half a World Away’ Mike Gayle takes as his subject those children who are born into deeply dysfunctional situations in the UK, and thus come to the attention of theContinue reading “Book Review: ‘Half a World Away’ by Mike Gayle”
Book Review: ‘An Eagle in the Snow’ by Michael Morpurgo
Set in the second World War, this story is appealing in its simplicity yet powerful in its implications. A young boy and his mother are on a train bound for the countryside, away from their London home which has been destroyed in a bombing raid. During their journey they meet an unassuming stranger to whomContinue reading “Book Review: ‘An Eagle in the Snow’ by Michael Morpurgo”
Book Review: ‘Reparation’ by Gaby Koppel
I first heard of this book via my local independent bookshop Warwick Books, and planned to go to an evening with Gaby Koppel, to hear her talking about ‘Reparation‘. The subject of the book – a young Jewish woman’s research into her mother’s past as a survivor of Nazi persecution during World War II –Continue reading “Book Review: ‘Reparation’ by Gaby Koppel”
London Scenes Through Different Eyes
I visited London one day recently and whilst there took the opportunity to do a bus tour of the city. London was my home in the past (in the Bayswater area) for eight years. Also I was a regular visitor from Orpington during my childhood and teens, since I lived twenty five minutes train rideContinue reading “London Scenes Through Different Eyes”
scskillman.com 