Friends of the Armchair Traveller

Last night I watched the first episode of this fine work by the astonishing Ken Burns and his co-producer of recent times, Lynn Novick. Hemingway Directed by Ken Burns Lynn Novick Narrated by Peter Coyote How could any documentary serries about this giant of early twentieth century American literature be less than engrossing? I'm hooked on it and must view the other two episodes very soon despite the pressing need to keep up with the Olympics in these grim times. But the grim times we face are as nothing compared with what Hemingway lived through in WW1, and with what films by Ken Burns and his various teams have documented over the years since I first saw his immense series "The Civil War" (1990). So I write this piece as a tribute to both Hemingway, great writer, remarkable person, contentious figure... and Ken Burns, magnificent prolific documentarist. What a contribution Burns has made to my life. Here's a list of his credits from Wikipedia since1981: Brooklyn Bri...

 PT,    I loved the gift from Aeon but here are the pencils I use... I wrote to Ade...  Sad to see you letting the side down Ade... all these modern contraptions, make life easy and such. A very great Australian once said life wasnt meant to be easy, and he made sure it wasn't!  His successors are doing a good job of making it much worse. He responded thus: I am a fountain pen man and love the smell of ink.  Am I forgiven?  I remember taking offence when Malcolm said that…it may not be easy but it ought to be fair. cheers Ade To which I replied: Well, I also like drawings done in ink but never fell under the sway of its odour! Yes, it was offensive, especially coming from someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  But you may have noticed Adrian, politicians are very slow learners.  There are many in his party today who are just like him. Anyway, I'm glad to know you are an egalitarian. Next thing you know this arrived in my mail: Jack Z...

The Colossus of Rhodes and The Pharos In 1987 there was a story in a local newspaper about a woman who claimed to have discovered the site of  “The Colossus of Rhodes” , a giant statue which vanished from sight about 2,200 years ago. In this article from “The Sun” ( Jan 2,1987) journalist Rick Burnett writes that Mrs. Anne Dankbaar of Adelaide claims to have located “the lost wonder of the world”, and that a search for the statue based upon her directions is said to have been successful. The article also comments that the University of Adelaide says she has “very significant paranormal powers” and has used these psychic powers to find three large pieces of the 2000 year old bronze statue. I’m so pleased I kept that page of that newspaper from 1987 because it raises many questions relating to the past: the recording of the events under the banner of “HISTORY”... vagaries in the historical record (including the disappearanc...