While Ben Stokes and Mark Wood were polishing off the Australian tail at Trent Bridge on Saturday morning, I was in the cellar. There are three things to take from that. First, that in the forty-one years since I first went to a test match I’ve seen very little that was as thrillingly unexpected or …
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 …
Every so often, I have to travel for work, to teach or do some research. It’s great. I love travelling and I’m aware of the huge privilege it is to see new things and places, to talk to new people. The part of travelling I relish least, though, is the preparation. I stress about making …
This summer I didn't have a 'summer holiday'. I camped for a couple of days each in Wales and Dorset. I visited friends for a couple more, and I volunteered at a festival. In every case, someone shared. Some friends shared their garden for camping and others their house for more refined sleeping. To prove …
I’ve been doing a lot of tidying up lately. If you were to ask the rest of my family they would say that this is because I am a strangely obsessive and troubled little man; if you ask me, it’s just that I think it’s important to live in an ordered environment. An obsessively tidy, …