MY FIRST memory of watching TV was as a 9-year-old boy in June 1953. Along with 27 million other people in Britain, the family and many of our neighbours were watching the coronation of Elizabeth II on a small black and white screen. I think Dad had bought the TV especially for the event. It…
ONE OF THE many attributes of eminent neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks was his celebration of life – even when he knew he was dying. Sacks (pictured) died last Sunday at age 82. Earlier this year he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and wrote in the New York Times of how “this does not mean that…
ALL THINGS considered, I would prefer to live longer. Of course, it helps if you are in pretty decent nick: things aren’t dropping off, the body and mind still works even though both are getting slower. New global health research published in The Lancet journal shows that we are living longer although not necessarily in…
THERE’S something wrong with my travel bucket list. The website Trip Advisor has published the top 25 landmarks for 2015, as chosen by millions of travellers, and I’ve visited only nine of them. What struck me about the list (see below) is that the UK did not rate a mention at all, whereas Italy, Spain,…
THE TROUBLE with the aging process is that you don’t really start thinking about it until you are older. And by then it may be too late to do anything about it. Nobel Laureate Elizabeth H Blackburn was in town recently to talk about her research into telomeres. These are the protective tips of chromosomes…
Oh dear, I seem to be behind the times again. Facebook tells me that HaHa has replaced LOL as its most popular phrase. And here am I having just found out what LOL means. Like many of my vintage, I was under the impression it meant Lots of Love. Now I know it means Lots…
IT’S A MARKETING ploy as old as Moses and his Ten Commandments. You can’t possibly stay healthy / stay fit / enjoy yourself / progress your career / do anything at all without doing these 100 / 50 / 25 / 10 things which somebody else has determined are must do’s for you. The Top…
AS A RESIDENT of Perth in Western Australia, it seems I am living in one of the top ten cities in the world. A new global travel magazine, The Escapist, from the London-based Monocle group, hails the scenic beauty of parts of Perth as rivalling the Amalfi coast of Italy. The magazine ranks Perth 8th…
LIKE MANY Baby Boomers and pre-Boomers I grew up learning the order of our planets with a little ditty: Mum’s Very Edible Marmalade Jam Sits Nicely Upon Plates. Of course, that was back in the days when there were nine planets, before the star scientists decided to downgrade poor little Pluto. That’s why I’m glad…
YOU’RE waiting and watching at the baggage carousel. And waiting. And watching. Until finally there are no bags going round and the carousel stops. That’s when you accept what has become increasingly obvious – you’ve arrived but your luggage hasn’t. Our two bags went missing on a flight with Vueling from Dubrovnik to Barcelona (via…
Booming Marvellous 