Author Archives: Ian

Searching for Private Martin

Posted on 10th July 2023 by Ian

After decades of speculative stories, I finally found documentary evidence. The International Committee of the Red Cross have prisoner of war records from the First World War online, half a million files of information. At last, I had found Uncle … Continue reading →

Posted in The stuff of daily life | 2 Comments

Meeting Sergeant Luxton

Posted on 7th July 2023 by Ian

Albert Luxton died five years before I was born. When I was young, the 74 years of his life seemed to represent reasonable longevity, now he seems a man whose life was too short. He is a man I should … Continue reading →

Posted in The stuff of daily life | Leave a comment

Wormwood

Posted on 2nd July 2023 by Ian

Aleister Crowley? You don’t expect the name of the old charlatan to crop up in an episode of Van der Valk. Twenty-First Century crime series don’t generally engage with the sort of pre-modern occult ideas propagated by a man dead … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | Leave a comment

Criminal yobs

Posted on 28th June 2023 by Ian

The long summer holiday brings a season of crime.  Even while in France two weeks ago, I found a German channel carrying episodes from the Kenneth Branagh incarnation of Wallander. (It was odd watching an English language programme with foreign subtitles). … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | Leave a comment

Hippy time

Posted on 20th June 2023 by Ian

My supervisor had been working in Poland and Latvia for the past two weeks. ‘There were surprises’, he said, ‘things I had not expected. In post-Soviet countries, it was surprising to find hippies’. I recalled seeing a documentary about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Out and about | Leave a comment