Postcard from Bishkek

Comets have been observed by humans staring at the night sky for thousands of years. Until the sixteenth century, they were usually considered bad omens of deaths of kings, or of coming catastrophes … or even interpreted as attacks by heavenly beings. To a Brit like me, the classic example is the appearance of Halley’s […]

Today, back home, it’s a very big day in the world of sport … the FA Cup final. To be honest, football  oh, sorry, Soccer for the Americans - is not really my game … I was already well into my teens when I got introduced to Rugby Union. but I have to admit that there is […]

The name Bruce often conjures up images of Scotland … which I suppose is down to stories of King Robert the Bruce, (1274-1329).  It’s actually a French name – deriving from the place name, Brix, and it apparently arrived in Scotland with the Normans … although William never actually Conquered that land. Since then it’s […]

Andrei often asks me questions about English … and they often takes the form of: “Is that in English-English … or American?”  Although there are differences – quite real and significant differences – at times.  I remember, for example, as a child reading Superman and Batman comics, or watching American TV sitcoms, feeling a little […]

Ever since 1993, May 3rd has been earmarked by the United Nations as World Press Freedom Day. The General Assembly of the United Assembly declared World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of the freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to […]

Perfect Day is a song written by Lou Reed in 1972,and featured on his iconic album Transformer … and was the B-side of what was probably his most famous (or infamous) record, Walk on the Wild Side. I have commented before how some dates seem to attract more than their fair share of particular types […]

Back in the UK, I rarely ever had to worry about paying the household bills for the utilities … they were all taken care of by Standing Orders or Direct Debits with the cash disappearing out of my bank account on a regular basis each month.  Here I get utility bills, (for electricity, water, gas, […]

Back in the autumn of 1962 a film was released which was to have a significant effect on the genre of espionage movies in the West: Dr. No, based on the James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.  Indeed, Bond is not just a Western icon, even here everyone knows about James Bond. Although it was […]

In the United States, 15th April is known as Tax Day. This is the day when tax returns have to be submitted to the Federal government … there are also local “Tax Days” for those states which have a different deadline for the submission of the forms. For the record: The deadline was originally March […]

On 14th April, 1894, … the first ever motion picture house opened in New York … however, it wasn’t exactly what we would recognize as a cinema. It operated ten Kinetoscopes, a device for “peep-show” viewing of films … inside the carcass was a long strip of perforated film which passed between a light source and […]