Category Archives: This sceptred isle

There is a moment in the television version of Michael Dobbs’ House of Cards when Francis Urquhart puts the new King Charles firmly in his place. Urquhart alludes to the fact that his family had come south at the beginning … Continue reading →

In 1981, the 1960s seemed a different world. Going to the Monsters of Rock Festival in Castle Donington in August of that year, AC/DC, the band at the top of the bill, seemed as far removed from the bands that … Continue reading →

There were celebrations in bars around Dublin this evening as Harry Kane’s penalty kick flew high over the French goal. The cheers at the final whistle were loud. This evening’s World Cup quarter=final result recalled and apocryphal story I heard … Continue reading →

There was an instinctive sense of beauty in childhood years. The countryside in mid-Somerset is not classic picture postcard stuff, but there are sights and landscapes that have a special quality.  Every village and every town has at least a … Continue reading →

There was a time when High Ham had its own rector. Then it was absorbed into Langport and High Ham had a vicar under the rector in Langport. Then there was no longer a vicar in High Ham. And now … Continue reading →