• OPINION

  The train robbery that gripped a nation

  Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/08/2023

  » Last week on television I watched the two-part series The Great Train Robbery, an intriguing account of the audacious heist that made headlines in Britain all those years ago. It slowly dawned on me that this month is the 60th anniversary of that extraordinary robbery which took place on August 8, 1963, on the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London. Frightening how time flies.

• OPINION

  Unmasking the situation may take a while

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 03/07/2022

  » We are now apparently entering the "post-pandemic era" according to the authorities, which in everyday language means it is not obligatory to wear masks anymore. However, just about everyone is still wearing them so it seems the public are not entirely convinced it's all done and dusted.

• OPINION

  Can't beat question time in the 'bear pit'

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/02/2022

  » While normally steering well clear of British politics I admit to having enjoyed recent live TV sessions of the UK Parliament. The weekly Prime Minister's Question Time (PMQ) held on Wednesdays is far more entertaining than any soap opera. Witnessing the verbal jousting as the PM attempts to side-step a withering grilling is sheer theatre. It is almost like being the accused in the dock at a court hearing.

• OPINION

  Sunken 'ghost ship' could haunt Gulf fish

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 16/01/2022

  » The week began promisingly with the discovery of a mystery "ghost ship" drifting in the Gulf of Thailand with no crew, cargo or documents aboard -- not even any defiant rodents. First spotted by Chevron oil-rig workers, the dilapidated Fin Shui Yuan 2, appeared to be a freighter of Chinese origin. Unfortunately, the vessel sunk in rough seas off the Nakhon Sri Thammarat coast while being towed towards land by the Thai Navy.

• OPINION

  A country so different to anywhere else

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/08/2021

  » The dramatic events in Afghanistan inevitably sparked memories of my own brief experiences of the country more than 50 years ago while on an overland trip from London to New Delhi and beyond.

• OPINION

  Say a little prayer for the Queen of Soul

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/08/2018

  » One sunny morning in 1968, I had settled down to my customary reading of the Sunday newspapers on Hampstead Heath in London, when a couple sat on the grass near me. I was a little irritated when they switched on a transistor radio and was pondering giving them a lecture on the sanctity of peace and quiet. But then I heard the piano intro to <i>I Say A Little Prayer</i> and all was forgiven. A rare sunny day on the Heath with musical accompaniment by Aretha Franklin -- what more could one ask for?

• OPINION

  I'll never forget what's'isname or thingy

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/09/2017

  » The other day a friend and I were trying to remember the name of an obscure British actor from back in the 1960s. His name continued to escape us, although we both knew who we were talking about. So we settled on calling him "what's'isname" or on occasions "what's'isface".

• OPINION

  The barrow, the guy and the carrot

  Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/11/2023

  » Today is the fifth of November which to many English people of my wrinkly age means Guy Fawkes Day or more likely Bonfire Night. It has very much declined in popularity since I was a kid, fighting a losing battle with the horrors of Halloween.

• OPINION

  Spivs, wide boys and dodgy kipper ties

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/11/2020

  » Every now and again a word pops up which I have not heard for ages. That was the case recently with an email from a London-born friend who complained about "spivs" who had contributed to ruining his local football club's finances.

• OPINION

  When protesters wore duffel coats

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 25/10/2020

  » There seem to be daily protests going on around the world at the moment for multifarious reasons and it got me thinking about the first street demonstrations I witnessed first-hand in England as a teenager back in the Stone Age.

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