City Of Culture 2029

Posted on 23 March 2026 by pws

There is an article on the BBC site about the next City Of Culture:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20z50xxv93o

They have particularly picked out three cities in the headline. They are Blackpool, Ipswich and Milton Keynes.

To be clear, neither Ipswich nor Blackpool is a city. The Ipswich football club gives it away: Ipswich Town.

Blackpool is a seaside town in the north east of England. It is known for its beaches, the tower and, after the summer season has finished, the seafront light show called the Blackpool Illiminations.

We went once. It rained the whole day. The illuminations were interminable.

Ipswich does a little better. There is the Corn Exchange which has many events, and at least a couple of theatres, including the New Wolsey.

We’ve been to Ipswich many times. It was a grim place, and still is but is better. The waterfront is very nice.

Milton Keynes has theatres and cinemas. It is definitely a city.

We’ve been many times and it is fine for a visit, if soulless.

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Len Deighton

Posted on 17 March 2026 by pws

We just wanted to record the death of author Len Deighton at the age of 97.

Deighton was a man of many talents, a very capable cook and illustrator and, of course, author.

We still have our original paperback of The Ipcress File. It was a novel unlike any other at the time. The film attempts to capture some of then post-war griminess of London, but having Michael Caine in always makes it a little too glossy. Read the book.

For us, it’s Oh What A Lovely War (the film) that is his highlight.

Deighton wrote the screenplay, based on the original play, and produced it but had his name taken off the credits, something, apparently, he later regretted.

There is an all star cast, some great tunes and a wonderful end but it doesn’t have the rawness of the stage play.

As far as we know, it has never had any kind of high definition release, but there is a dvd of it.

We were taken by school to see it at the cinema. The History teacher hated it because it was “too anti-war”.

Watch it, for all its flaws, if you can.

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Elvis

Posted on 16 March 2026 by pws

Since we were talking about Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago, let’s also mention the film EPiC, Elvis Presley in concert.

This is a roughly 90 minute film that brings together clips of Elvis preparing for and performing in concert, over an extended period of time after his hip swinging period and before the fat era.

It’s produced by Baz Luhrmann. The first part is typical of him, loud and glitzy and all over the place. It gives a little background to Elvis, and we thought we were going to hate the film, but once the concert footage begins, it’s fine.

There are clips from interviews, but the most part is either rehearsal or performance of songs.

We thought it would look all AI glossy and nasty. The clips clearly have been restored and cleaned, but it looks OK. The sound is a bit odd in places and doesn’t match the footage, but, since they had to bring so many bits and pieces together to try to make a coherent whole, we’ll forgive them that.

Elvis clearly enjoys singing and working with other musicians, who work hard at mking him look good (their job after all). He does the showbiz stuff with a tongue in his cheek, not taking it too seriously. Elvis does not come over as an intellectual heavyweight, just a simple soul who could sing like no-one else.

There’s no mention of drugs or other stuff. It’s just a celebration of a great singer singing.

Recommended.

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