I have to peer closely. Is that really us? “What have you in common with the child of five whose photograph your mother keeps on the mantelpiece? Nothing, except that you happen to be the same person.” George Orwell My mum’s cousin, Margie Beirne left us in December. Margie was…

Eloping couple marry in Gibraltar Two days after Paul and Linda’s wedding, John and Yoko are in a car on their way to visit John’s Aunt Mimi. After a deep discussion on the back seat, they announce glad tidings to their driver. “We’ve decided to get married.” “Congratulations, sir. When’…

And why did January 1st become New Year’s Day? Hogmanay is the word used to describe the very distinctive Scottish celebration of New Years’s Eve. This includes the singing of Auld Lang Syne while linking arms — a tradition has spread across the world. Other famous customs include ‘first-footing’ —…

There were only eight words on the page but Oscar’s attention had wandered from them. ‘Try sounding,’ I said, tapping my pencil at the beginning of the sentence. Oscar glanced up at my big head, towering above his. Then he read fluently. “The Harvest Moon was high in the sky.” …

Paul McCartney’s surprise revelation In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (2021) Paul McCartney suggest that the song Let it Be was inspired by Hamlet. There are a couple of lines from late in the play: ‘O, I could tell you — But let it be. …

The extraordinary story of an unintended Beatles/Bard mashup In April 1964, The Beatles were railroaded into performing the “Pyramus and Thisbe” episode from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a TV special for the US market. They approached the task it ostentatious stiffness, hamming up their unfamiliarity with the text: …

The battle to be first amongst equals Paul: What I think… the main thing is this: You have always been boss. Now, I’ve been sort of secondary boss.” John: Not always.” Paul: No, listen. Listen. No, always. From the secretly recorded conversation in The Beatles: Get Back (2021) Officially, The…

England flounces out as delegates agree a new competition. Something called a World Cup. The 17th FIFA Congress was a firecracker, though you wouldn’t guess this from the official photos. Big item on the agenda was making Spanish an official language. …

Wrong town but a dance that brought the house down — The first live music I ever heard? I like to think it was my maternal grandfather. furiously blowing into a tin whistle, his feet bouncing off a stone flagged floor. More plausibly it was a showband in a church hall. Showbands specialised in what became known as ‘country and Irish’…