Wednesday 6 May 2015

'Britain is no country for old men' : six years, 600,000 pageviews on

When I started this blog six years ago, it was met with derision. I recorded 'Reactions' on 25/05/09 :

Of three old friends, the first told me on the phone that the blog was "crap".
The second said that I'd "lost the plot".
The third e-mailed to ask 'Is the 'l' in blog silent ?'

Since then, despite a sustained lack of interest among family and friends, I have continued to post and receiving my 600,000th Google recorded 'Total Pageviews' today gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I'm running at 100,000 a year. Not bad for an old blogger.


Even more than that, I take it as a great compliment when someone of note reads a post and retweets it, or better still, leaves a comment and retweets it, albeit with the proviso that a 'retweet does not amount to an endorsement.'

Tuesday, 28 April 2015 :
Britain is a country and Scotland a nation which say "Farewell" to an old conservationist called Dick Balharry   http://ow.ly/MBRAw

Ramblers Scotland                  
'That's a lovely tribute to Dick Balharry, thanks for sharing it.'





Fraser Milne
Hazard Geoscientist at the University of Dundee.
'a great tribute for a real champion. My Granddad explored the woods, marshes & fields around Muirhead with him when they were boys'
 

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Britain is a country which once made and has now lost its scarce 'old' historian, Professor Chris Bayly  http://ow.ly/MBSLM  
Historian (London/Riots), Adjunct Research Prof (Carleton), Policy Analyst.
'Find a lovely tribute to Chris Bayly here: '
 
Artellus              
International Literary Agency: fiction and non-fiction. Liaison for several Italian periodicals.
'Thanks for that, really good piece'
 
 
Margaret L. Sharp       
Award-winning author of 'Of Love and Secrets', 'Love, Desire and Betrayal' ,'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia', 'Encore'.
Retweet
 
Giles MacDonogh      
Author of 14 books on German history, French gastronomy and wine. Written for major newspapers including the FT, the Guardian, the Times and FT Deutschland
'That's very good, and more informative than the Telegraph obit! Thank you.'


 
Sir Richard Evans    
Historian of modern Europe, President of Wolfson College and Regius Professor Emeritus of History, Cambridge, and Provost of Gresham College, London
'Nice tribute to the late Sir Christopher Bayly, full of his fascinating autobiographical reminiscences '
Tamson Pietsch
'Oh that's wonderful John thanks so much. The life in the history'
 
 
 
 
Revati Laul   Chronicle of  politics and culture as an independent journalist, Gujarat, INDIA              
'I enjoyed that very much...thanks for posting it'
 
 
 
                
Aditya Chakrabortty         
I am gainfully employed by a newspaper. Future generations will not be able to say that.
Retweet             
 
 

Writer, historian and Mehrauli goatherd
Retweet



History Today       
The UK's oldest and most respected history magazine
Retweet



SocialHistorySociety               
Promoting historical study of society and cultures
'A charming tribute... '
 

 Jon Wilson               
Historian of India, writer on politics
'Wonderful'
 


Bombaywalla
Knowing City Structures @BalliolOxford
Retweet 

Richard Jones      
PVC for Research and Innovation at Sheffield University.
'Thanks, very interesting and revealing'


Julia Rampen         
Deputy editor Mirror Money Online
Retweet

Arpita Das              
Publishing junkie; principal spirit behind YODA PRESS
Retweet



S l Habib @irfhabib
Historian of science and modern political history based in New Delhi.
'Very different way to pay a tribute to someone as great as Chris Bayly ' Retweet
 
 
Gyan Prakash              
Princeton, NJ, USA
'Thanks for this. We were together in Delhi this Feb & he agreed to lecture at Princeton later this year. Great loss'
 
 
BL Asian and African   
Introducing the collections of the British Library's Dept. of Asian & African Studies.
Retweet
 
 
 
manan ahmed             
historian, walker, medievalist, frumious bandersnatch, author
'Wonderful!'
 
 
 
Jeff Wasserstrom           
History prof, freelance writer, commentator on China
'Thank you for sharing; so much about his life and career I didn't know'
 


Sunday, 12 April 2015


Britain is no longer a country for and says "Farewell" to its old and best blind artist, Sargy Mann  http://ow.ly/MBU8k


 
Voice Monet                
'This is AWESOME...Thank You!'
 
 
 
A.P.T Gallery        
A.P.T is a Charity that encourages participation in the visual arts through creative practice, exhibitions and education.
'Thanks John, a moving and well researched tribute. He will be much missed.'
  
Alice Hole Artist             
Alice Hole- An artist, constantly inspired by my surroundings. Based in Helston, Cornwall
'Fantastic tribute. What an inspiration he was...'


Monday, 30 March 2015

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Farewell" to an old English guitar player called John Renbourn   http://ow.ly/MBVbH

 
Will Hodgkinson                
The Times rock & pop critic, author of The House Is Full Of Yogis, Guitar Man, Song Man.
'Thanks, a very nice tribute'
 
Gordon Giltrap               
Acoustic guitarist. Been in the business for about 46 years. Still crazy about guitars, composing, performing and working with nice people
'John,I had known JR for nearly fifty years but there were things in your tribute that I didn't know.THANKYOU '
 
jon turney              
Science writer, author: Latest book I Superorganism (Icon books) about human microbiome.
'thanks :)' and Retweet
 

Retweet

Gareth Bonello             
The Gentle Good Cantor/Musician
'Thanks john - fascinating!'
 
 
 
Making radio, listening to it, tweeting about it...and music.
'Many thanks! Loving the links.'
Retweet
 
Michael Deibert              
Author of In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America's Drug War in Mexico, as well as books on Democratic Republic of Congo & Haiti
'Very nice. As an amateur guitarist myself, I was always impressed with his work...' Retweet
 
 
Terry McCarty            
Los Angeles poet since 1997
Retweet
 
 
 
Champion for the Built Environment. Runner, Sportive cyclist & keen shot. RNLI fundraiser & Forces supporter.
'Superb, thank you. So much detail, you have gone to great lengths & the video links bring it all back to life. Very enjoyable.'
'Thank you for sending that. I love most the hawk & helicopter series & all the sunset watercolours, so beautiful. Osi.'


Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Britain is still a country for and says "Bravo" to its old and much loved humanitarian, Nicholas Winton http://ow.ly/MC3NS


@corrie_corfield

Newsreader/Announcer BBC Radio 4.
'A wonderful post for a wonderful man'
 
Alastair Stewart      
ITV news
'Fascinating. Thanks. I especially likes "Officials at the Home Office worked very slowly with the entry visas" ... and why ?'
 

Sunday, 25 May 2014

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old and forgotten debt-busting philanthropist called Martin Dent http://ow.ly/MBYHL

 
Jonty Bloom        
Business correspondent for the BBC, spend a fair amount of time covering the eurozone and EU.
'Thanks for that great read'
 
Monday, 1 December 2014

Is Britain still a country for an old Polish warrior from the Second World War called Captain Zbigniew Mieczkowski http://ow.ly/MBYez

 
Kirsty Wark
Retweet



Friday, 3 January 2014

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Goodbye" to an old TV producer called Allan McKeown http://ow.ly/MC1dy


Maurice Gran
Writer of stage musicals and TV comedy - Dreamboats and Miniskirts, Birds of a Feather - now on ITV - Goodnight Sweetheart, The New Statesman
'Good work Cooper. Will retweet' 
 
 



Michael Deacon  
Political sketch writer, Telegraph.
'Thanks John. Won't be the same watching P M Qs tomorrow without him muttering asides two seats away'

 

 



 

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