Category Archives: The stuff of daily life

T.S. Eliot was always a favourite. Knowledge of his poetry was unnecessary. Anyone who named a poem East Coker, the parish west of Yeovil in which my grandmother lived, was someone who was to be esteemed. Never mind that the … Continue reading →

The Sixth Year students are nothing, if not eclectic, in their tastes in music. From a Twenty-First Century rap, one switched to playing Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees. A discussion ensued about a production of Grease that is to … Continue reading →

We laughed at the superstitions we used to have, not that superstitions seemed ever to be about anything happy. Death and misfortune seemed generally to be the order of the day for those who failed to observe the necessary precautions. … Continue reading →

Perhaps among the writings of Freud or those of Jung, there is an explanation. Why are there certain images from childhood that recur in the memory? They are not images from significant moments, they are not images from occasions shared … Continue reading →

When did popular music become popular? There were folk songs that people knew that were passed down from generation to generation, and there were the music hall songs from the Nineteenth Century known and sung in urban and industrial communities … Continue reading →