Jackscott

LATEST ARTICLES ( 1092 )

• Doing Our Bit for Ukraine

  

  I’m constantly surprised by the milk of human kindness. Right across Europe the humanitarian crisis created by Tsar Putin’s invasion of Ukraine seems to have... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Tickling the Ivories

  

  It’s our wedding anniversary today – 14 years (and counting) since we tied the proverbial and Liam slipped his ring on my finger. What adventures we’ve had. Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Sucking on a Fag

  

  Who knew that there’s an Italian brand of pizza oven briquettes called ‘Faggetto’? We didn’t until the waitress sat us next to a stack of them at Franco Manco, ... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Bottle and Basket, Booze and Bunting

  

  After tripping the light fantastic along Tooting High Street, I took Liam even further down my memory lane with a short hop to Wandsworth Town. Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Give My Regards to Tooting Broadway

  

  I spent much of my teenage years in Tooting, a rough-round-the-edges strangely-named suburb in South London. My late, lamented old pal, Clive, was raised there... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Duke

  

  In 1961 a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya was lifted from the National Gallery in London. Only 19 days earlier it had been ‘bought for the... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• It’s a British Library Thing

  

  Every year I get a statement from the British Library setting out how many times Perking the Pansies has been borrowed from UK libraries. This is followed some... Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Another Death on the Nile

  

  I love a whodunnit even when I know who did it. And who doesn’t know who did it in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile? It’s Kenneth Branagh’s second outing as... Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Book of Mormon: The Newest Testament

  

  Since they switched the theatre lights back on, we’ve been playing catch-up with all the shows queuing up impatiently in the wings. Our latest gig was the UK... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Nuns and Nazis

  

  I first watched The Sound of Music in the sixties at the tender age of seven. To see over the heads of the people in front of me, I sat on an upturned seat.... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Belfast – Should We Stay Or Should We Go?

  

  I was a little nervous when I took my seat to watch Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film about the life of a working-class family in late... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Nimmo Twins – Normal for Norfolk

  

  After a six-year hiatus, local comedy heroes The Nimmo Twins (Owen Evans and Karl Minns) were back treading the boards at the Norwich Playhouse for the second o... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Heroes in Heels

  

  Soppy, sentimental old fool that I am, I’m a sucker for a tear-jerker. I cried during the opening Circle of Life scene of the Lion King when I first saw it in... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Betty White, Thanks for the Laughs

  

  I was so sad to hear of the death of my favourite Golden Girl, Betty White, just a few days before her centenary. She was the last of those amazing ladies from... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• In Step with Modern Britain

  

  With all the endless doom and gloom swilling around us, it’s easy to forget just how far we’ve come. It says something incredibly powerful about our society whe... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2022 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Top of the Pansy Pops 2021

  

  It’s been a queer year all told – locked and unlocked, masks on, masks off, masks on again, thrice jabbed, and a foreign foray thwarted. Unsurprisingly, 2021... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2021 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Santa Comes But Once A Year…

  

  …though round these parts he’s been known to do a dry run before the big night to check out the chimneys. Or maybe he’s been moonlighting for Amazon. He even... Read more

  Posted on 25 December 2021 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Tinsel Town

  

  The tree’s up and dressed, the garland’s draped above the fire, the mulled wine’s gently simmering on the stove and the village is sparkling in pretty strings o... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2021 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Wilting the Pansies

  

  Perking the Pansies was to be off-air for a while. After a so-so summer weather-wise, two cancelled getaways and three jabs to keep us out of intensive care,... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2021 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION

• Is That a Gun in Your Pocket…?

  

  Let’s face it, if you’re plugged into the modern world your privacy will get compromised all over the place. It doesn’t seem to matter what privacy settings... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2021 DIARIES, EXPAT, SELF EXPRESSION