At Churchill's side

MONDAY evening brings the British premiere (BBC Two, 8.30pm) of Into The Storm, the double-Emmy-Award-winning drama about Winston Churchill in wartime, with James D'Arcy (LaA 84-91) - shown here with Janet McTeer as Clementine Churchill - playing Winston's close aide Jock Colville.

Hertford thespians

THIS fascinating Unofficial Forum thread, mainly about notable and/or interesting women educated at CH Hertford, has thrown up no fewer than five professional actresses: Pam Abas (Ross, 1's 36-43), best known for playing the Mother Superior in Clint Eastwood's Bronco Billy; Andrée Evans (4's 42-49), whose most recent screen credit was in My Spy Family last year; D Rosh Wright (Debbie Stone, 1's 57-66), a latecomer to the stage after a high-flying nursing career; Jane Hayward (1's, 2's 61-68), whose first recorded film appearance was in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey; and Louise Winstone (4's 77-83), already known to Houseyblog readers.

The octogenarian lifestyle

PIPE-SMOKING, knitting, gardening, a book or two, and heaps of world-class music-making: it seems to suit Sir Colin Davis (ThB 38-44).

Ibsen in Arundel

ALL next week at the Priory Playhouse, the Arundel Players are staging Ibsen's Hedda Gabler under director Paul Ward (Staff 91-04). He says "I have in recent times had a lot more to do with fairly frothy comedies. I wanted something rather meatier!" Learn more here and here.

55 more people have been added to the links page during October.

Protest is legal

SOMEONE should tell the police, suggests Mark Thomas (ColB 74-81), seen here on the right (for once).

They bred 'em tough in Lamb A

A PLEASINGLY unorthodox portrait photo of motorcyclist Jon Watson-Miller (LaA 72-79) has a story attached:

Jon … rode 5,200 miles of the Paris-Dakar Rally with a broken foot, finally retiring after a further fall damaged the tendons in his other foot. He managed to get the bike upright, remount and ride 20km to the end of the stage where he received medical attention.

No wonder he says he set up his motorcycle workshop because:

Due to no fault of his own (yeah right), crashing happened with monotonous regularity and Jon realised that he had so many BMW bits left over he may as well try and get some of his money back.

Sponsor our pilgrim

WELL on his way to Rome, Joshua Bell (PeA, GrW 02-09) is running short of funds and needs our help (as if being pepper sprayed weren't bad enough).

More to come

LIZZIE BALLAGHER (Glen, 4's 61-67), who as Elizabeth Gibson had six novels published in the Eighties and Nineties, now has a website - and three more novels in the pipeline.

A word from the chief

REPUTEDLY the highest-paid NHS official in Wales, Hugh Ross (MaB, ColB 64-71), chief executive of Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, gave this likeable interview in April (3 minutes):

No way in

TERM began badly at Solefield School, Sevenoaks, where Dougal Philps (Staff 91-97) is head.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

IS the Christ's Hospital Association about to metamorphose?

(Update: yes, it is.)

Scilly parishers

THE fourth series of An Island Parish, produced and narrated by Nigel Farrell (MdA 62-70), is currently going out on BBC Two on Monday evenings at 7 pm (repeated on Wednesday nights after midnight, and seemingly repeated again on BBC One the following Monday night, even later).

Dynamo in a bow tie

HIGHLIGHTS from last year's memorial service for the leading state school headteacher and educationalist Michael Marland (ThA 44-53) (9½ minutes):

"Our most important activity"

IN 1998 Elizabeth Tucker (Headmistress 72-82, Governor) was seriously injured in a road accident in Africa. Two years later she reflected on the experience of being prayed for.

Take warning

POP historian Vernon Joynson (ThA 62-71) can ruin your life.

Can we move beyond enmity?

AS the 7/7 memorial was unveiled in July, the director of St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, Simon Keyes (MdA 65-71), shared his thoughts.

Maximise your pleasure

MY eyesight never won any prizes. As a result this blog is written and laid out with "Text Size" in my View menu set at "Larger".

If at times the layout strikes you as odd or unlovely, switch your text size to "Larger" to witness a miracle of order, balance and harmony.

Darwin, faith and ethics

RIGHT and wrong ways of applying evolutionary theory to human behaviour, ethics and religion are examined by Philip Kitcher (PeA 58-66), philosopher of science (13 minutes):

Naught for their comfort

WHEN the storm over MPs' expenses started brewing, The Times went to Vincent Coughlin QC (PeB 68-75) for a legal view.