Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Consul-General
Part of27th July 2015 New York, USA
Family Guy probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the BBC Proms. This annual festival, which started in London on July 17 and runs through to September 12, is the 76-course meal (plus sides) at the heart of the British classical music calendar. Now in its 120th year, it continues […]
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23rd April 2014 New York, USA
His is an amazing name when you think about it. Something tremulous, something virile. Vulnerability and power in tension — or is it harmony? Like his characters, so recognisably real in their complexity, even the playwright’s signature seems to encompass a vision of humanity in all its strengths and failings. “What’s in a name?” Juliet […]
29th March 2014 New York, USA
Today, 29 March, will be a particularly significant wedding anniversary for many couples in years to come. Today, England and Wales join the list of countries that have full marriage equality, and scores of same-sex couples across the country are celebrating their new rights by getting hitched. By request of the Deputy Prime Minister, a […]
22nd November 2013 New York, USA
This weekend Doctor Who celebrates his fiftieth birthday. “Ha!” cries my nine-year-old self. “Any Whovian can tell you that he’s actually somewhere between 900 and 1200 years old!” Current Who writer-in-chief Steven Moffat maintains that the Doctor probably lies when asked about his age. At any rate, 23 November marks fifty years since the show […]
11th June 2013 New York, USA
There’s a long and glittering history of traffic between the West End and Broadway. In a recent lavish exchange of gifts, London finally got The Book of Mormon and New York was introduced to the delights of Matilda the Musical, which promptly snaffled five Tony Awards from 13 nominations. One of Matilda’swinners on Sunday night was British playwright Dennis Kelly, who […]
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23rd May 2013 New York, USA
If you were strolling into Central Park at the Columbus Circle entrance last Saturday morning you might have been surprised to see a Metropolitan Police car parked under the USS Maine monument. A hundred yards further in, you might have stopped short at the sight of three-score British police officers warming up for a light […]
23rd April 2013 New York, USA
It is fitting that St. George’s Day, England’s national day, should coincide with the birthday of William Shakespeare, Britain’s greatest cultural icon. Despite his surviving works’ totalling fewer than a million words – making the whole kit and caboodle only three-quarters the length of Proust’s tome – they are the pillars of the language and […]
22nd February 2013 New York, USA
It was during an Academy Awards ceremony presided over by Johnny Carson in 1982 that Colin Welland famously declared, “The British are coming!” Eeyores back home would have it that Welland’s battle-cry has turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, but the facts tell a different story. There’s actually been an awful […]
8th February 2013 New York, USA
My first Super Bowl experience was transcribing the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s half-time show in 2009 for Sky Sports’ subtitled output back in the UK. This, fortunately, required zero knowledge of how (American) football works – and played to my eternal love of The Boss. Since I moved to the […]
29th November 2012 New York, USA
Moustaches have been a staple of British male identity for centuries. They can be comic (Basil Fawlty, Borat), serious (any of Daniel Day-Lewis’s efforts), musical (Freddie Mercury leaps enthusiastically to mind), even political (one thinks of Harold Macmillan’s full-bodied triumph). Handlebar, pencil, horseshoe, toothbrush… such variety of facial topiary means there’s something for everyone. Approval […]