BY DAVID CAMPBELL I hail from Western Pennsylvania, that fertile crescent of gridiron greatness known to Wikipedia as the Cradle of Quarterbacks. Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath—the list runs to three dozen and more. There are probably more professional American football players from those few counties than from anywhere else on earth. I grew up in the era of the Pittsburgh Steelers … Continue reading An American Who Became a Football Fan
BY DAVID CAMPBELL The quote has been attributed to any number of wits, but it rings true enough: “The English and Americans are one people separated by a common language.” I have found this to be the case on my travels throughout England, and I daresay I have the collection of puzzled looks and red-faced corrections to prove it. Like most Americans, I arrived with … Continue reading An American Learns to Speak English
BY SEAN WALSH Like many people, possibly even the majority, I don’t have much time for Nazis. Norm MacDonald said of Hitler that he “didn’t really care for him at all”. I see no reason to disagree with this. There might have been some early years comedic opportunities but these had pretty much run dry by about 1933 and now seem very tired, very “been … Continue reading Are there Nazis in Devizes?
BY DAVID CAMPBELL My wife Janet and I found ourselves in London during a crisp November in the mid-nineties, when an invitation from our friend Peter Farmer promised a weekend escape to the coastal town of Littlehampton. Upon our arrival, Peter announced the occasion: his annual Bonfire Night dinner. “I hope you’re familiar with the Gunpowder Plot?” he asked. I assured him that even across … Continue reading An American Attends Bonfire Night
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Dear Reader, (You see – that wasn’t difficult.) I know, I know, I know. What I am about to say is so petty and trivial in a world of such serious issues but… When did the salutation of “Dear …” morph into Hi, or worse, Hi Ya? I suspect it became deeply embedded with the texting generation – another of life’s slow degradations which … Continue reading Good Salutations
BY DAVID CAMPBELL I was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania, a region that isn’t just a footnote in American football history—it is the history. Known as the “Cradle of Quarterbacks,” it’s the hallowed ground that produced legends like Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, and Joe Namath. To this day, I believe it has gifted the NFL more players than any other corner of the country. My childhood … Continue reading An American who is a Football Fan
BY DAVID CAMPBELL It’s a sentiment often repeated, and for good reason: “England and America are two nations divided by a common language.” As an American who has spent considerable time on your scepter’d isle, I can confirm this is not just a witticism, but a daily reality. Like many Yanks, my initial lexicon was gleaned from British television imports and the Harry Potter films. … Continue reading An American Learns English
BY DAVID CAMPBELL The reputation of English food is, unfortunately, one of blandness—a calumny I believe stems from the soldiers who tasted it during the rationing of World War II and carried that impression back to their home countries. My own experience has been quite the opposite; I’ve found English food to be excellent and deeply satisfying. It all begins with breakfast. A full English … Continue reading An American’s Defence of English Food
BY DAVID CAMPBELL During my university years, I pulled pints in an era of glorious excess—women with backcombed hair sipping Piña Coladas, men clad in gold chains and polyester, shirts unbuttoned to mid-chest, swigging lager straight from the bottle. The air thrummed with disco, the dance floor a whirl of strobe lights and glittering mirrorballs. Later, I drank in proper working-men’s boozers—dim, fag-hazed rooms that … Continue reading An American Goes to the Pub
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN To comprehend Britain is to decipher the queue, our Sphinx’s riddle. The silent, orderly lines of Britain (Thorpe Park last Saturday a case in point) reveal everything: a nation that loves rules but hates being told what to do, that demands fairness yet revels in passive-aggressive martyrdom. The queue is our secular Eucharist, its rituals more deeply ingrained than common law, its … Continue reading The Queue
BY DAVID CAMPBELL Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, Friday nights meant a humble trinity: a greasy fried fish sandwich, McDonald’s-style French fries, and coleslaw drowning in vinegary mayo. It was sustenance, not cuisine – a far cry from the revelation that awaited me years later on the windswept pier of Littlehampton. There, I encountered proper Fish and Chips for the first time—a glorious, golden slab … Continue reading An American Enjoys Fish and Chips
BY DAVID CAMPBELL My first encounter with the hallowed tradition of afternoon tea was in 1992, in the quaint seaside town of Littlehampton, West Sussex. Janet and I, then wide-eyed Americans in London for work, had been graciously summoned by our dear friend Peter Farmer—the illustrious set and costume designer—for a weekend steeped in English refinement. Peter, ever the arbiter of propriety, informed us we … Continue reading An American Goes to Tea
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There are few greater luxuries afforded to the Briton than the ritual of the bath. Not the perfunctory, hurried ablutions of the shower—that brutish, Continental invention—but the proper, deliberate submersion into steaming, scented waters, where a man, or woman, might, for half an hour, pretend that the world beyond the bathroom door does not exist. The bath is not for eating in, … Continue reading The Bath
BY ALEX STORY Austria is beautiful, Vienna magnificent. The Habsburg dynasty’s signature is everywhere: elegant, impressive and yet humble and welcoming. It is no surprise then that every January there takes place the Technical Ball, one of the world’s most elegant. In the grand halls of the Hofburg, the former imperial residence, nearly four thousand guests meet to dance as couples. She will wear a … Continue reading Dancing in Austria
BY MAX WALLER Although I rarely frequent them anymore, there are few greater luxuries, when in a once-major city like London, than slipping into a private club and ducking out of the rat (not Ratty!) race for a few hours. For me, it feels like having all the stress of the city shut out while I compose myself and centre myself on an island of … Continue reading The Willows
BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD ‘What do you chaps get up to at Club?’, asked Don as he/she/it/they passed the shaving bowl to Reggie. Don who had previously been known as Doreen until she discovered Uncle Ted’s wife-beaters came from a long line of Oxford scouts, serving gentlemen through thick and thin. The late grandmother had even served on the ‘Dons’ staircase’. But, this was the … Continue reading Fīat Iūstitia Ruat Cælum
BY ROGER WATSON Every now and then YouTube coughs up a gem. On the verge of closing the channel down one evening, I spotted a video on the YouTube home screen, The Black Country 1969 An amazing video from the 1960’s showcasing the life. Made by Associated Television (ATV) in the Midlands, this 30 minute documentary presents a picture of the Black Country as it … Continue reading Black Country Joy
BY DANIEL JUPP If I had money I’d dress like a Victorian or Edwardian all the time. I’m working class but I like all the style and elegance we lost. I can’t stand modern elites, I eat fast food every week, I think the working class are the only people, largely, maintaining any sanity, but I’d like to go back to everyone dressing for dinner. … Continue reading Upping Dandyism
BY STEWART SLATER Some time ago, back at the dawn of that Golden Age which will be known to historians as the Biden Administration, your humble correspondent penned an article outlining the societal challenges facing America which had led some to predict a range of outcomes from mass civil unrest to full-scale Civil War. But something nagged at the back of his mind. For all … Continue reading Neither Greece Nor Rome
BY STEWART SLATER In one of those ironies of which history seems so fond, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man celebrates its thirtieth anniversary just as war in Europe adds to the list of events which seem to invalidate its thesis. Like The Great Gatsby and the roaring twenties, or The Bonfire of the Vanities and the go-go eighties, Fukuyama’s work, … Continue reading Can the Last Man Restart History?
