What do Ford Hermann Hueffer and Michael Emile Telford Miller have in common? Well, they both ended up being called Mr Ford and they both have blue plaques in Kensington.
Ford Hermann Hueffer became Ford Madox Ford, with a plaque in Campden Hill Road. And Michael Emile Telford Miller became Emile Ford, with a plaque in Kensington Church Street. Continue reading
There are those who say a second EU referendum would destroy faith in democracy. Their argument seems disingenuous. I can understand people taking this line if it is in their interest to. But for every person who sees a second referendum as an affront to democracy there could well be at least one other who sees it as an assertion of democracy. Continue reading
I came across an intriguing post today entitled The problem with Corbyn: he isn’t left-wing enough. It seemed to put its finger on why my response to Jeremy Corbyn is so often one of ultimate disappointment.
Here are a couple of excerpts: Continue reading
On Campden Hill Road in between Observatory Gardens and Tor Gardens is an elegant semi-detached house displaying a blue plaque to novelist and critic Ford Madox Ford. The plaque was put up in 1973 not by English Heritage but by the Greater London Council – ah, those halcyon days! Continue reading
One down from Gloucester Walk is Campden Grove, W8, where an English Heritage blue plaque records that James Joyce lived there in 1931.
It seems he and Nora Barnacle were only there from May until September 1931. During this time he worked on the final draft of Finnegans Wake. He didn’t like the flat though, and thought Campden Grove should be renamed ‘Campden Grave’ as it was so full of mummies. He presumably meant Egyptian-type mummies rather than yummy mummies. Continue reading
I’ve just started Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, the first volume in his new trilogy The Book of Dust, set in the parallel worlds Pullman first explored in His Dark Materials.
La Belle Sauvage itself is a prequel to His Dark Materials, whereas the second volume, The Secret Commonwealth – to be published later this year (please!) – will apparently be a sequel to His Dark Materials.
I am only two chapters into La Belle Sauvage but it is like meeting up again with an old friend.
© Chris Lawrence 2019.
Thanks to leisureguy I came across a welcome affirmation that, despite ‘t internet, AI, fake news, Donald Trump, Cambridge Analytica and what have you, William Clifford’s 1877 The Ethics of Belief is still being read and taken seriously today.
This is good as I’m desperately close to finishing a PhD on Clifford, The Ethics of Belief and William James. Continue reading
