The Wench is Dead

The Franchise Affair

Dec 27, 2020

Book Reviews

“Princes”, Alan Grant, allegory, Brat Farrar, Colin Dexter, crime, Elizabeth Canning, Endeavour Morse, Henry VII, Josephine Tey, kidnapping, novels, Richard III, The Daughter of Time, The Franchise Affair, The Wench is Dead, Tichborne case

Josephine Tey is renowned for writing contemporary novels that refer to older mysteries. The Daughter of Time was unquestionably about an injured police Inspector learning about Richard III and the “Princes” – a device borrowed by Colin Dexter. Brat Farrar was about a missing boy who seems to reappear but whose identity is doubted, for…
Further travels in enemy territory: Oxford

Oct 16, 2020

anniversaries, buildings, culture, humour, religion, television reviews

Ashmolean Museum, Beccles, Bocarno Prison, C.S. Lewis, Cambridge University, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford., Crick, DNA, Dorothy Hodgkin, eagle and child, Endeavour Morse, football, Four Candles, Headington, heresy, Hugh Latimer, J.R.R. Tolkein, Last Bus to Woodstock, Manor Ground, Martyrs’ Memorial, Matilda, Nicholas Ridley, Oxford, Oxford High School for Boys, Oxford Prison. Oxford Castle, Oxford United, Pitt-Rivers Museum, Ronnie Barker, St. Michael at the north gate, The Wench is Dead, Thomas Cranmer, Watson

Oxford (Oxenford) is obviously a compact and historic city although visiting specific buildings at short notice is difficult at present. Christ Church Cathedral (England’s smallest for the largest diocese) and the Ashmolean Museum (currently organising a Rembrandt exhibition) were unbookable whilst the Pitt-Rivers Museum didn’t open until September. I went for the Bank Holiday weekend…
A pleasant surprise

Sep 19, 2020

television reviews, travel

“Princes”, Avon-Kennet Canal, Birmingham, Bristol, Brunel, canals, centurions, Channel Five, Coventry, Crimewatch, Dan Jones, Edward II, Endeavour Morse, Grand Union Canal, Lancashire towns, Lancaster, Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Liverpool, London, Oxford, Oxford Canal, ports, rainfall, red hot poker, Richard III, Roman roads, The Wench is Dead, trade, transport, Yorkshire

In recent years, Dan Jones’ posing and fanciful Crimewatch-style re-enactments, together with Starkeyesque conclusions formed before he started, has marred quite a few series on mediaeval history. Now he seems to have changed tack completely with this series, covering canal building from the middle of the eighteenth century and – yes – I rather enjoyed…

The Wench is Dead

The Franchise Affair

Further travels in enemy territory: Oxford

A pleasant surprise