5 star review

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; the Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester has received a five star review on Amazon's website.  Barbara Davis (thank you Barbara) writes that it is 'undoubtedly the best biography I have read so far..written in an easy style'.  The book is only available in a Kindle Edition at present but a print version will be available soon.

Frank Dickens 80th - BBC R4

This morning I caught an excellent documentary on Radio 4 celebrating the 80th birthday of British cartoonist Frank Dickens whose 'Bristow' comic strip is the longest-running cartoon strip in the world published all over everywhere.  As it was originally published in the London Evening Standard of which I am a long-standing reader I guess Frank Dickens must count as another of my formative influences since I have regularly read the adventures of Bristow for years and having been stuck from time to time in various dead end jobs in the equivalent of the Chester-Perry building empathised accordingly.  The documentary 'Holy Mackerel - it's my life!' was comprised of a 'sort of' autobiography engagingly read by Bernard Cribbens interspersed with interviews with various cartoonists who worked with Frank Dickens during his long career in Fleet Street.  He came across as a rather sweet-natured and quirky eccentric not unlike his creation.  Ralph Steadman I think it was mentioned the pigeon that sat on the window sill engaging in conversation with Bristow.  I too always liked the pigeon.  It probably helped if you were familiar with the Bristow strip but considering it was a programme about a visual artist the documentary was surprisingly effective on radio -  not the obvious choice of medium.  I liked it.  More of BBC and  Happy Birthday Mr Dickens.