The Shakespeare First Folio, which I’d previously reported was predicted to go for £3.5m, only fetched £2.5m. The ultimate purchaser was, in the glorious prose of the auction room, an “unnamed private buyer”. What’s the betting – Russian? Are they in this market yet?
Over on My London Your London I’ve got a review of the BAC show A Lie of the Mind, by Sam Shepherd. Is it a metaphor for the state of America in the word? If not, why not?
Interesting piece on In Our Time this morning on Greek comedy – described as being most like seeing Oh! What a Lovely War. I also liked the news that agone (sp?), from which we get agony, was the ancient Greek for competition. (And they were very keen on competitions, even having them for ploughing.)
You can listen on a computer or by podcast. Well worth it.
Still only talk, buy London’s mayor is talking about a £20 congestion charge for Chelsea tractors. Even people with more money than sense like their owners are, I suspect, going to notice £100 a week. On some things we are, however, glacially, heading in the right direction.
And even the talk will hopefully make people think before they buy one.
What editors really want out of Australia are stories about sharks, crocodiles and other dangerous beasts (despite the fact such things are rare) devouring humans – preferably young, blonde female humans. Failing that, a pretty child cuddling a cut marsupial will do. (If you’re an Australian editor, you want these stories out of the Northern Territory.)
Thus, the perfect Australian story: KILLER KANGAROO. That it lived abour 10 million years ago is a mere technical detail, although that it is accompanied by “the demon duck of doom” doesn’t do any harm.
“There were meat-eating kangaroos with long fangs, and galloping kangaroos with long forearms, which could not hop,” he told The Australian newspaper.
Palaeontologist Sue Hand, who also participated in the dig, told Australian radio that other potentially frightening creatures were unearthed.
“Very big birds… More like ducks, earned the name demon ducks of doom, some at least may have been carnivorous,” she said.
Over on Comment is Free I’m saying why I think the new house seller’s packs in the UK are a good idea. Sorry if it is a bit middle-class dinner table, but who can resist taking a pot shot at estate agents?
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