Showing 1 - 10 of 22
Recalling the 'the quick brown fox' era
Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/03/2026
» Every day of the year has its own niche in history and March 1 is no exception. On this day 152 years ago the first typewriters went on sale in the US. It was 1874 and the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, invented in Milwaukee, was proudly presented by Remington & Sons in New York.
The loveliness of a flying beetle
Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/07/2025
» The recent cricket match between England and India at Lord's was reportedly briefly delayed by a swarm of ladybirds which were bothering the players. It is believed to be the first recorded instance of "ladybirds stopped play". More importantly, swarm is not the correct term for these flying beetles. The collective noun for ladybirds (ladybugs for our American friends) is a "loveliness".
Make way for the Bold Gendarmes
Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/08/2024
» The Paris Olympics have sparked memories of the time as an eight-year-old I was dressed up as a French Gendarme for a Christmas concert at a church hall in England. There were four of us and we had to perform The Bold Gendarmes, a popular song in the mid 1950s by French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach. It made gentle fun of the French policemen as the opening lyrics suggest:
Those acronyms can be bit of a pain
Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/05/2024
» One of my pet peeves with newspapers around the globe has always been the proliferation of acronyms, especially in headlines. Apart from the fact that no one really has the faintest idea what they stand for there's something about them that's just plain ugly.
Lonely sheep survives real cliffhanger
Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/11/2023
» Some rare good news last week was the rescue of the "world's loneliest sheep" from a rugged beach in northeastern Scotland. The sheep, a ewe named Fiona, had been stuck on the beach at the foot of a steep cliff in an isolated spot of the Moray Firth for the past two years without any woolly friends or non-woolly humans for company.
Sharing good times and hard times
Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/08/2023
» Earlier this week the Bangkok Post marked its 77th anniversary which is quite an achievement really considering what the country has experienced since the newspaper was established in 1946. Any paper that has displayed such longevity, surviving countless coups and assorted other upheavals deserves a nod of acknowledgement.
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.
Bangkok still tangled up in 'sky spaghetti'
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/08/2022
» Earlier this week I was sitting in the customary traffic jam on Sukhumvit near Phra Khanong Bridge and found myself gazing at the tangled mess of overhead cables which have decorated Bangkok's streets for so long. It was not a pretty sight, especially dangling in front of ageing shophouses and filthy iron grilles that are not exactly a vision of splendour themselves.
The Stones just keep rolling along
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/07/2022
» This past week marked the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones' first-ever gig which took place at the Marquee club in London. That makes me feel even more wrinkly than usual.
Cold War getting too hot for comfort
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/02/2022
» Having been brought up in the 1950s and 60s during what was known as the Cold War, I find it a bit sad that after all the ensuing decades nothing seems to have changed. Russia and the West are at it again, still calling one another names. But as long as it remains name-calling we'll take that.