A Different Country
10 March

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The days are lengthening and around Crosby the early rhibes and forsythia are beginning to leaf and bloom.

Here, on the banks of the Irish Sea, we've had a lovely day with a clear bright morning, a lovely, long evening and some refreshing rain in the afternoon.

This is in complete contrast to what we were promised and what the rest of the country has been experiencing as seen in the photos below (starting top left and going clockwise) with snow in County Durham, flooding in Exmouth, waves in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire and high seas on the cob at Lyme Regis.

Really, it feels like we have been living in a different country.

Last Friday, Ross and I schlepped into town to the Eleanor Rathbone Theatre on the University campus to see a student performance of Cole Porter's Anything Goes. It was remarkably good fun and Cole Porter's music with Guy Bolton and P G Woodhouse's lyrics are still remarkably good value. And, no matter how slender the talent, there's still something exhilarating about watching thirty people do even a simple tap routine in more or less complete unison. Rachel McEnaney took on Ethel Merman's rôle with appropriate gusto. I also took a shine to William Carroll as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. But the person who held the stage every time he came on was John Bainton as the Stewart and he was just a star.

The reason we went was to support Ross's brother, Sam, who was on stage in the small rôle of Ching. His partner in crime was Jamie Barfield, who appeared as Ling. They were both supposed to be Chinese missionary converts with a pension for gambling. It was all certainly caricature (as was the portrayal of the English Lord Sir Evelyn Oakleigh). Did the source material teeter from racial stereotyping into racism? I think that it's a close call but the stereotyping wasn't pernicious or evil. Anyhow Sam was good and so was the show.

And I've just finished a most interesting book.

When do you think that Britain was last successfully invaded by a foreign army? 1066? Wrong.

When was the last time that an Armada intent on invading these shores sailed through the English Channel? 1588? Wrong.

The answer in both cases is 1688 with the overthrow of James II and the installation of the Dutch prince, William of Orange, along with his wife Mary (daughter of James II) on the throne of England.

Patrick Dillon's The Last Revolution - 1688 and the Creation of the Modern World is an exemplary rendition of the circumstances that led up to the coup d'état (for that's what it was) and the social revolution which followed it. Suddenly within a decade, you have the creation of The Bank of England, the National Debt, the Stock Market, boom and bust trading in futures. You have trade. You have gambling in the wildest extremes. You have social mobility with fortunes made from investment and not from the land. You have the complete cessation of press censorship. You have the disassociation of Church and State. You have a two party parliament. You have the beginnings of a democratic monarchy. You have (virtual) religious tolerance - or at least you have an end to burnings and torture. You have Pepys, Wren, Judge Jeffreys, Purcell, Newton, Locke, Defoe, Evelyn, Dryden, Vanbrugh, etc, etc.

And with great clarity and not a little verve, this book charts its way through all of these turbulent waters. Excellent.

Earlier this year, we noted the presence of Anthony Ogogo on Celebrity Big Brother Hijack. We also reported on the photoshoot that he did for Attitude magazine. The results have now hit the newsstands.

So, Anthony Ogogo A-GoGo.

Elsewhere, the third in line to the throne has been doing the soldierly thing in Afghanistan. At least he was until non-British websites told the world where he was. Apparently, the British media all knew but said nothing. Which may be very commendable but, as soon as the news broke, there was a steady steam of video and photographic coverage of his time there.

So, presumably he was over there, he was under constant scrutiny from the media and no-one was going to say a word. Sounds very likely.