Cometo ANOLDIE LITERARY

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C O N T E N T S

FEATURES & REGULARS

7 The Old Un’s Diary 12 Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter

John McEntee 14 Profitable Wonders James Le Fanu 16 Modern Life What is la bise? 17 Olden Life Who was Ally Sloper? 18 Pearls of Wisdom Melanie McFadyean 19 Notes from the Sofa Raymond Briggs 20 I Once Met… Sir Francis Chichester 21 Granny Annexe Virginia Ironside 22 Whiteboard Jungle Kate Sawyer 25 House Husbandry Giles Wood 26 God… Melanie McDonagh 26 …Mammon Margaret Dibben 27 Fashion Tamasin Doe 28 Dr Stuttaford’s Surgery NSAIDs and

Achilles tendons 30 Still With Us George Cawkwell 33 Wilfred De’Ath Brittany melancholia 33 Rant Jessica Mann 34 Roving Reporter John Sweeney 35 Sporting Life Jamie Douglas-Home 37 Superbyw@ys Webster 38 Me and my Rabbit Ursula Holden 39 Mind the Age Gap Lizzie Enfield 40 East of Islington Sam Taylor 43 Brave New World Jane Thynne 43 Words Diarmaid Ó Muirithe 44 The Strange Death of Old Yorkshire

Austin Mitchell 45 Pedants’ Revolt Jane Thynne 47 Olympic Journal Janie Hampton 48 Savile Row Miles Goslett 49 World’s Worst Dumps

Norman Deplume 50 Readers Write 55 Unwrecked England Candida Lycett Green 57 Out and About 58 Death on the Verge Robin Houston 59 Rant Richard Ingrams 68 Oldie Literary Lunches 69 Readers’ Event Taste of Provence 90 Dear Mavis with Mavis Nicholson

BOOKS 61 Piers Brendon on ‘The Diamond Queen’;

Patrick Reyntiens on Tom Lubbock; Duncan Campbell on Ronnie Biggs; Juliet Gardiner on ‘The West End Front’; Roger Lewis on Duncan Fallowell; Andrew Barrow on a history of the English language press in East Asia; Rachel Redford reviews audiobooks REVIEWS 71 MUSIC Richard Osborne on poetmusician Frank Turner 72 shoping Alice Pitman on train travel

72 FOOD with Elisabeth Luard 73 WINE with Robert Joseph 74 theatre Paul Bailey on ‘Travelling Light’ 74 FILM Marcus Berkmann on ‘The Artist’ 75 OLDIE MASTERS Philip Athill 76 CD Derek Parker on British and

American Poets 76 RADIO Valerie Grove’s radio roundup 77 TELEVISION Richard Ingrams on

Richard Wilson and Vladimir Putin 78 GARDENING David Wheeler takes a trip down memory lane 78 SPORT with Frank Keating 79 MEMORIAL James Hughes-Onslow 80 EXPAT Paola Hanna in Dhaka

PLUS 81 COMPETITION with Tessa Castro 81 SUDOKU 83 CROSSWORDS by Antico 84 CLASSIFIED

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A M O N G T H I S M O N T H ’ S C O N T R I B U T O R S

BIL DALY was born in Scotland but has lived in France for the past 25 years. Now retired, he is a member of the Writers Scotland online forum. His first novel, ThePheasant Plucker, a humorous spy thriller, was published in 2006, and his light-hearted articles have appeared in the FTWeekendand French News Online. In ‘Modern Life’ on page 16 he explains the intricacies of ‘la bise’. Robin Houston is a broadcaster, voiceover artist, and writer. A founding presenter of commercial radio in Britain, he went on to be a TV newsreader and announcer for many years, prior to presenting over 1,500 TV quiz programmes. He now narrates audiobooks, particularly for RNIB’s Talking Books. See page 58 for his report on the continuing hostility between Republicans and Nationalists in post-Franco Spain.

ristian Green works diligently for a sprawling multinational corporation, yet still finds time to alleviate his stress by moonlighting as a freelance writer for magazines such as Countryman’sWeekly, BestOf British, NaturalHealth, Evergreen and FictionFeast. He is an authority on vintage comics and pulp magazines – expertise which he brings to bear in this month’s Olden Life on page 17.

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