Without Alfred and his children there would never have been an England with its English language, literature and culture. The story of his triumph when all had seemed lost is one the greatest dramas of England’s history.
Continue reading “Alfred the Great and England”
Autumn will soon be dressing the skirt of trees around Arundel Castle as it towers over the quaint streets of the town clustered below. For 900 years this symbol of power and permanence has silently watched the river Arun’s steady flow past.
Continue reading “Autumn in Arundel”
Recently when asked on BBC’s ‘Desert island Discs‘ which book, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, would he take if stranded on that imaginary desert island, the writer Robert Macfarlane chose the writing and poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Though virtually unknown in his life-time, today Hopkins has many admirers.
Continue reading “Gerard Manley Hopkins -the ultimate harvest”
A moment of summer solitude on the Sussex coast with ‘the lonely sea and the sky’ raises some deep thoughts. We are on the edge of an immensity of ocean here. Richard Jefferies will have walked on this beach too.
Continue reading “The Lonely Sea and the Sky”
A Listening Heart 