Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #desertislanddiscs
Most recents (6)
Earlier in August my top tweet was this:
and the cartoonist Satish Acharya (@satishacharya) was my top follower.
and the cartoonist Satish Acharya (@satishacharya) was my top follower.
November 2022 saw the 6th anniversary of the Dreadful Distaster that was #DeMonetisation. I wrote this account of the evidence that it was a flawed move from the word go.
newslaundry.com/2022/11/08/dem…
newslaundry.com/2022/11/08/dem…
Remembering James Mason on his birthday 🎂
📷 Lord Snowdon, 1950s
“Talent, intelligence, versatility, independence, and enterprise made Mason’s career remarkable.”
- David Thomson
📷 Lord Snowdon, 1950s
“Talent, intelligence, versatility, independence, and enterprise made Mason’s career remarkable.”
- David Thomson
Great chemistry between Christopher Plummer (Holmes) and James Mason (Watson), in one of my favourite Sherlock films, Bob Clark's Murder By Decree.
📷 Kent Gavin, 1978
📷 Kent Gavin, 1978
Max Ophüls directs James Mason & Barbara Bel Geddes on the set of Caught. This was Mason's first film in Hollywood.
📷 Slim Aarons, 1949
📷 Slim Aarons, 1949
Remembering Philip Larkin on his birthday 🎂
📷 Fay Godwin, 1974
@NPGLondon
Kingsley Amis asked him if he'd ever thought about becoming the Poet Laureate.
"I dream about that sometimes - and wake up screaming. With any luck they'll pass me over."
📷 Fay Godwin, 1974
@NPGLondon
Kingsley Amis asked him if he'd ever thought about becoming the Poet Laureate.
"I dream about that sometimes - and wake up screaming. With any luck they'll pass me over."
I love when artists turn out to be photographers, whether serious or just the snapshot type. Here's Philip Larkin's portrait of Kingsley Amis. Amis's own caption of the photo: "Kingley Amis in 'writer' pose."
Philip Larkin by Humphrey Ocean
acrylic on canvas, 1984
@NPGLondon
"I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any - after all, most people are unhappy, don't you think? Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth."
acrylic on canvas, 1984
@NPGLondon
"I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any - after all, most people are unhappy, don't you think? Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth."
In 2014, I resolved to read 50 books a year. It's generally a delight and a great discipline, but it's been a struggle this year, due to a pandemic-induced months-long collapse in my concentration. However this is - drumroll - the normal time for my top 10... Thread /1
I read about 50/50 fiction/non-fiction, so my top 10 reflects that split. And this list is in the order I read the books in 2020 /2
First in the non-fiction category @Jonathan_Rowson's "The Moves that Matter: a chess grandmaster on the game of life". An excellent, engaging read, and also a good accompaniment to The Queen's Gambit /3
This is massive, and horrific. @NFUtweets is secretly lobbying the government to allow #neonicotinoid pesticides to be reintroduced after Brexit.
It tells its members: "Please refrain from sharing this on social media."
On the contrary, please RT.
campaigns.nfuonline.com/page/72051/pet…
It tells its members: "Please refrain from sharing this on social media."
On the contrary, please RT.
campaigns.nfuonline.com/page/72051/pet…
Here's the letter it sent to sugar beet growers across the UK. The link seems to be members-only. It is closed to the public, for obvious reasons.
In public, the National Farmers Union claims to be defending our food and farming standards from a US trade deal. In private, it's secretly using Brexit as an opportunity to undermine them.
OK. For those of you who have had enough of politics, perhaps a thread for music. I have been trying to choose my #DesertIslandDiscs and I have found it impossible to narrow it down to 8 all at once. What I've decided to do is go through my own personal musical history.
The tracks I choose will be chronological and based entirely on their effect on me at a particular time of my life or their connection to an event. My first track is from 1974. On Christmas Morning at 5 o'clock I woke up to find a cassette recorder at the bottom of my bed!
With that cassette recorder was my first ever 'album' 'Keep On Wombling'! I don't know how many times I played it in those first few days, but it was in double figures. Difficult to choose a favourite but I have gone for the opening track.
