Showing 1 - 10 of 47
Audience of one is better than none
Roger Crutchley, Published on 13/08/2023
» There was a story from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last week concerning English actress Georgie Grier whose one-woman show Sunsets attracted a grand audience of one. A tweet with pictures of a tearful Grier after the show prompted considerable sympathy and the following night she found herself performing to a near full-house which she joked felt the equivalent of "Wembley".
It seemed a good idea at the time
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/11/2022
» The annual elephant festival in Surin attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records. Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
Farewell to two fine former colleagues
Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/12/2023
» Far too many of my former Bangkok Post colleagues have passed away this year and this week things got even worse with two more old pals gone.
The cuckoo-clock tune that went to No.1
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/05/2021
» It was amusing to see that the UK entry to the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend attracted a grand total of zero votes. However, singer James Newman shouldn't fret too much as not getting any votes is almost a badge of honour in this annual festival of kitsch where music takes second place to gaudy, garish, glitter.
Fifty fascinating years in Wonderland
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/04/2019
» Having first arrived in Thailand a few days before Songkran, each year the festival approaches it sparks memories of those early days in the Kingdom. This year is slightly more significant because earlier this week marked my 50th year in Thailand, or to put it another way, roughly 18,250 days. That sounds decidedly scary. The frightening thing is that I can remember those early days better than the events of last week. The immature youth is now an immature wrinkly.
The day I realised Thailand was different
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2016
» I trust everyone has survived the Songkran Festival, suffering little more than a few damp clothes, and maybe stuck with a hint of a fixed grin. The festival brings special memories for me because when I first arrived in April 1969, it coincided with the start of Songkran, although I was unaware of it.
When it twigged Thailand was different
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2022
» For the third year running we have experienced muted Songkran celebrations, and I for one won't complain if it remains that way for a while. Of course there have been a few naughty tourists who have broken the water-throwing protocols, but maybe the heat got to them.
Tea for two and a sandwich at the Palace
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/06/2022
» There seems to be a consensus in Britain that the best moment of the Jubilee was Paddington Bear taking afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
Well, after that things can only get better
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/12/2020
» What a dreadful year. We found ourselves having to tackle a whole new vocabulary and most of the words were enough to make even the most optimistic among us depressed. It all began in March with "self-isolation", a horrible expression inferring you have become a hermit, hidden away, exiled, incommunicado, which in fact is exactly what we were.
And the award goes to … not these films
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/03/2018
» It's Oscar time again and as usual Hollywood is ignoring exciting Thai productions. Here are a few that caught the eye: