RIP David Lodge

 

David Lodge was nearly ninety when he died last week. There are numerous obituaries on the internet. I can only add that I always looked forward to his latest book. On the 19th November 2009, I included a review of one of his novels deaf sentence. The author himself was losing some of his hearing, as I am now. So I will read it again to see how he coped. Here is what I said:

But if you want good writing, David Lodge is your man. This is the eighth novel of his that I have read, and "deaf sentence" is up there with the best. The words are music to the ear. Retired professor of linguistics Desmond Bates is going deaf, and the story revolves around his coping, or not, with his affliction. It is funny, poignant and life affirming. Brilliant.

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

 

I rarely post about TV programmes, but Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is included in Sight and Sound film reviews as it was shown in a few cinemas. Nick Bradshaw tells us "Nick Park and his crack corps of modellers have honed another marvel of homespun mayhem and northern burlesque ungirded by iron-strength irony". I was slightly disappointed in that it did not quite match previous films. But there was still much left to enjoy. See my comments in the review of the winter edition of Sight and Sound magazine. 

Garden in New Year 2025

 

The bulbs next to the dwarf wall were already sprouting before Christmas. On a frosty January morning, it was great to see a promise of the spring to come. Then today I noticed the hyacinths appearing for the first time.

RIP Johnnie Walker

 

It was only on the 10th October that I posted about the retirement of Johnnie Walker, the BBC disc jockey. His death was published on the last day of December following his passing on the Tuesday. There are many obituaries on the net. I previously said how he was important to my drive home on so many early evenings.