On Saturday, I went to visit my friend Julian at his allotment. It’s an unpromising scrap of South London tucked in behind a pub; a chaotic patchwork of plots nestling alongside the waterworks in the shadow of the prison. We sat for a couple of hours by Julian’s shed, hemmed in by peonies and ranunculus, …
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I went out for dinner in Paris. I was in high spirits. Although it was a miserable, chilly, February evening, I was on holiday, I’d found free parking and to top it all, Nelson Mandela had just been released from prison (yes, this really was …
At the weekend I washed the bedlinen. In other, less exciting news we left the European Union and the nation prepared for yet another lockdown. But as for me, I washed the bedlinen. It was only when I took the sheet and duvet cover out of the machine, though, that I realised that, worn soft …
In the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is this little, seventeenth-century Dutch painting, A View of Scheveningen Sands, painted by Hendrick van Anthonissen in 1641. Hendrick van Anthonissen, View of Scheveningen Sands, oil on panel, 1641 (prior to conservation); Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. (c) The Fitzwilliam Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation. In 2014, …
Last year at my house, my partner Susie was away at the exact moment in December when we normally get the tree. Now there are those who would regard this as a golden opportunity to take back control of Christmas - choose, install and decorate the tree in a quasi-military operation; no discussion, no arguments, …
One of the big questions at this time of year, obviously, is are you a Strictly house or are you a Factor house? We are a Factor house so I’m afraid that last weekend I was moonlighting for the opposition. This week is Faith in the World Week and it struck me as I watched, …
I went to a rodeo the other week, at Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the cowboys are the toughest and the cowgirls are the prettiest. Or is it the other way around? The skill of the rodeo riders is astonishing but perhaps the most astonishing thing of all was the names of the cowboys. Ty Fast Taypotat. …
The end of term comes in dribs and drabs in our house. Miriam and Esther finished ages ago because they’re at University. I’m still in Oxford, but all the students have gone. Sam has been taking exams so he finished before Silas and Linus, whose schools drag on till the end of this week. And …
In the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge there’s a seventeenth-century Dutch painting of some people walking on a beach. Last year, the painting went to be cleaned and, as she started to remove the old varnish, the conservator, Shan Kuang, noticed something unusual about the surface. It turned out that not only were there people on …
I am an art historian by profession and I work in a museum. The past is my business. I’m supposed to know something about it and to be able to teach about it. If I had one, therefore, the temptation to use a time machine would be very great indeed. Imagine the thrill of being …