Remember, remember the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot I see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot. On this day in 1605, a treasonous attempt to assassinate the King of England by blowing up the Houses of Parliament, was foiled. The dastardly masterminds behind this little exercise in political grievance were Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright, and the soon-to-be-famous-through-the-ages, Guy Fawkes. All were disgruntled Roman Catholics furious with King James I for failing to show greater tolerance towards their religion. He was, after all, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, herself a…
Category: <span>BITS AND BOBS</span>
The perfect morning routine. Nipple daisies and a half-deflated netball. What really goes into the raunchy sex scenes of Bridgerton. A neglected London penthouse transformed into a riot of colour and pattern. Ohhh! Looks like we might be getting a Crown prequel. The billionaire death cult that steers humanity’s destiny doesn’t do existential crises. Travel the Orient Express from Paris to Tuscany. Good Lord, what a stunning train! It’s been a minute, but—all the best looks of Royal Ascot 2026. Looking forward to watching Daisy Edgar-Jones in a new version of an old classic. Just watched: Season two of Patience.…
A tiny mews house by the sea. HaHa! The unsung heroes of motherhood. The Scottish island that bought itself. Movies considered to be perfect. Beautiful travel photography. It’s so true. The British love to abbreviate EVERYTHING! Just watched: Ride Or Die What an absolute joy this series is. Hannah Waddingham. Octavia Spencer. Bill Nighy. I mean, come on! Judith and Debbie have been friends for decades and Debbie, wife to an MP, has always believed that Judith was a forensic accountant—until one fateful day when her husband abruptly announces that he wants a divorce on the way to a gala,…
Margaret Whigham came into the world on December 1st, 1912, the only child to a father who doted on her and a mother who, by all accounts, found every opportunity to criticize and belittle her. Born in Scotland, she spent the first thirteen years of her life in New York, raised amid extraordinary wealth and privilege. By her twenties, she had become a fixture in elite society. She was stunningly beautiful, self-assured, sexually uninhibited and utterly obsessed with glamour. Admirers found her to be charming and captivating, critics found her to be exhausting and manipulative. Either way Margaret was impossible…
An absolutely dreamy school bus conversion. A (somewhat) scientific investigation behind a huge pet peeve of mine. A gorgeous 900-square-foot Cotswold cottage. Yippee! A new Sharon Horgan series. Can’t wait. Just one shocking story after another. Not surprising in the slightest. Watching: The second glorious season of fabulous bonkbuster Rivals just landed. So. Much. Fun. Just Read: The Guardian And The Thief In the near-future, Kolkata, India is buckling under climate collapse—famine, brutal heat, and vanishing resources—and survival is a daily gamble. Ma, her father, and her young daughter, Mishti, are on the brink of escape, just days away from…
Born into poverty around 1650 — possibly in a brothel — Nell Gwyn began selling oranges at London’s Drury Lane Theatre as a young teenager: the seventeenth-century equivalent of hawking popcorn at the movies. In doing so, she became immersed in the theatrical world by default, absorbing the rhythms of the stage, its language, and the larger-than-life personalities who inhabited it. She also happened to find herself in the right place at the right time. This was The Restoration — not just the restoration of the monarchy, but the restoration of all things fun after the dour austerity of Oliver…
I adore ugly green. A gorgeously colourful Welsh home. Iceland has their Christmas book flood, apparently Norway has an Easter version specifically with crime novels. Wild. The fifty most underappreciated movies of the 21st Century. The story behind needlepoint’s modern day renaissance. Just (re)watched: The English Patient. This 1997 Best Picture winner remains an utterly breathtaking piece of cinema, less watched than drifted through like a dream. It begins in the vast emptiness of the Sahara Desert with a plane gliding silently over the dunes before being shot down by German forces. And this too, is where it ends. In…
Lovely wedding dresses that are not white. Infertility and a psychic. A food writers idyllic English cottage. St. Rita’s traveling bookstore. 19 things you didn’t know your iPhone could do. Just Watched:The Thursday Murder Club Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley is the dream cast for the film rendition of the popular book series (although I must confess that I thought Fiona Shaw would have been an excellent Elizabeth). If, like me, you have enjoyed reading the books about a group of old age pensioners who solve cold cases for fun and then become embroiled in a…
A lovely and hearty Nigella recipe perfect for counteracting holiday indulgence. Embracing hygge for the colder months. Ten things to give up in exchange for happiness. Small, cosy cottage bedrooms. Arranging charcuterie. A perfect skill for the holidays. The perfect Christmas present to oneself! For some delightfully fizzy, holiday TV watching try: The Pursuit Of Love This TV show takes the frothy, flippant tone of the book and ramps it up about 358 notches. It follows the story line of the book remarkably closely but in a highly- stylized, over-the-top way (my favorite style of all). It does stretch credulity to…
The loveliest blush pink paint colours. A deliciously colourful house in Chelsea A new Pride and Prejudice starring Olivia Coleman and directed by Dolly Alderton. Yes, please! Traveling the world without getting on a plane. 14 little things people stopped worrying about. The mental health benefits of a social media detox. Particularly beneficial for the holiday season. Just watched: Stonehouse The outlandishly true story of rising Labour MP, John Stonehouse, who in 1974, found himself in a spot of financial and espionage bother. He is blackmailed—via a honeytrap—into spying for the Czechs, but also paid handsomely with large sums of…