ARTS AND POLITICS: THE ODD COUPLE With the UK holding an election in December that, even if the parties each try to address social issues, will inevitably be about Brexit and November 10th the date of a general election being held in Spain and across The Canary Islands after a spate of ´hung´ results recently, […]
CHESTNUTS AND OLD SPANISH CUSTOMS All Saints Day in Spain (Todos Los Santos) takes place on November 1st. It is a very important national public holiday throughout Spain, when people, from all over the country, return to their town or village to lay flowers on the graves of deceased relatives. There are few religious days […]
SING MISS MELODY, SING A recent enquiry led us down new Sidetracks and Detours and gave us this idea for this new post. It also took me hurtling back in time all across the arts to the days when afternoons in Manchester city centre were peopled by someone at every street corner yelling out headlines, […]
TO THE BEGINNING AND BACK AGAIN How does one write the Divine? St John the Divine may have shown us the way in the fourth Gospel with his timeless phrase ‘In the beginning was the Word’ but how do we write the word in a world of seeming unbelief or disregard for formal religion and […]
A MOMENT IN A UNIVERSE They will soon have been in existence for twenty years and in that time have become widely famed as a vocal group delivering improvised performances in the jazz genre. The Norwegian group, Trondheim Voices, were formed to take part in a Christmas Concert in 2001 that had been initiated by […]
VERONICA SHOOT, CONCERT PIANIST She was, when only six years old, predicted by Lord Yehudi Menuhin as ´destined to become a great pianist´ and Veronika Shoot is now identified by distinguished musicians and audiences alike as ´one of the most sensitive, charismatic and versatile´ pianists performing. Born in Moscow, Veronika moved to the UK at […]
BRIGHT NEW DAWN FOR OLD MUSIC In 2019 The Rochdale Music Society (RMS) is celebrating forty years of promoting great music performances by excellent artists. all across the arts regularly receives news items form Graham Marshall who does so much good work in publicising the RMS and who was particularly helpful to me when I […]
POEMS & STORIES: STANDARD & DIALECT By Michael Higgins & Norman Warwick Michael Higgins tells of the reading and recording of The Queen Of The Well: a children´s talking-book. In September I took part in a recording of The Queen of the Well, a children´s talking book.The producer, David Chatton Barker, had heard my presentation […]
LITERATURE AND IDEAS IN ROCHDALE The title of the festival reflects the wishes of the benefactors who, a few years ago, left a significant bequest to the borough library services. It also reflects the fact that history reminds that at least one of the world´s greatest ideas emerged from the town. Visitors to this year´s […]
FESTIVALS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED I felt enormously privileged to serve as host of The Annual Literature and Ideas Festival in my home town of Rochdale during the first four years of the festival before I ´retired´ over here to Lanzarote. The strong line ups we enjoyed each year cemented the reputation of a […]
