I’ve been feeling old. I went climbing yesterday with my son Silas. We’ve been climbing together for about five years and his fearlessness and strength have amazed me from the start, but the difference now is that he’s a professional. He works at the wall every weekend and he climbs at a higher standard than …
Morning, Chris. Let me start by saying that I’m very happy to be here. Happy to be out of the house, glad it’s Monday. Part of this, obviously, is that I love my work, my colleagues, my students. But it’s also something else. You see, it has emerged, over the past couple of days, that …
I went to the pub on Tuesday with my daughter Esther, known in the family as Eddie. She's back from university for about 45 seconds before she heads off again for the summer. Eddie is excellent company. She’s smart. She knows about maths and physics. And she’s at least as argumentative as I am, which …
I’ve been thinking about marathons. I watched my friend Jonny Taylor run the London Marathon some years ago and yelled encouragement on the approach to Tower Bridge before bursting through the crowd to run with him for a moment. I must have been so annoying. Now I've run half a marathon but at the end of that, …
It’s half term. We are surrounded by our children. Actually, my family are all on holiday while I’m at work and I am in no way grumpy or ungracious about that. Obviously. But it’s had me thinking rather wistfully about the summer, when we went all together to Brighton for a day of beach, fish, …
I went out for dinner on Monday night with my three children, Miriam, Esther and Silas. Miriam’s away at university now and Esther heads off in September, so the opportunities for us all to be together are increasingly limited. This dinner was special though, because until my birthday later this month, we are 100 years …
So, last night, I’m at home, cooking macaroni cheese. Now, my macaroni cheese is good. It is rich and golden, it is unctuous and gorgeous. It is an artery-hardening, full-fat delight. There is much cheese, of many varieties. And that’s the problem. There are three boys in my house, Sam, Silas and Linus, and they …
I was going to talk about holidays today: about the excellent John Lubbock, who, in 1871, introduced the Bank Holidays Act to fix national holidays in the working calendar and about how the Sabbath, one day’s rest in seven, shows that even God recognizes we all need a break sometimes. Instead, my producer wrote to …