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Living her Dreams While She Danced With Death
Soraya was not her real name, but it’s close to it. She was as beautiful as Persian Queen Soraya, and also had some of the fine-boned quality of that Queen’s successor, Farah Diba . Strikingly...
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Hollywood, Ruined Reputations and Truth
In the New Zealand Parliament this week the leader of one of the parties put up a motion congratulating the New Zealand Ambassador and his second secretary for “their courageous and commendable” role...
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The power of one
Continued from Eyewitness to history… Christmas at Belsen was rather different to homely war-time Christmas in the quiet Dorset village where I’d lived before being uprooted to join my new parents....
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Ode to friendship
Wherever I look there are the tokens, and maybe calling them tokens is a misuse of the word. On the bookcase is a round blue stone, and written on it are the words: ‘ In the bonds of love we meet,’...
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“Old soldiers …”
Leafing through an old notebook looking for a blank page to pull out to write a shopping list, I found these words I’d forgotten I’d written. Timing isn’t always everything I decided, and though I’m...
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The truth about Dunkirk
Dunkirk is a word that probably means something to some Britons these days, and very little to the rest of the world. But to people of my generation the word conjures up a tragic and magic moment in...
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Christmas in Antarctica
The lady in the cancer book shop where I regularly search the shelves for a good bargain as well as a good read, told me she was spending Christmas in the Antarctic. ‘Very expensive,’ she murmured....
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Strong Spirit – Bright Beautiful and Beloved
Another instalment of my autobiography before I revert to my normal blogs I first saw Philippa as I stood in line at the chemist. Like me she was waiting for a prescription for her son. Unlike me, her...
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What’s wrong with a stiff upper lip?
The East End of London during the Bitz. The woman on the right lived in the bombed building opposite. Their food was cooked on a campfire in the basement. Victors or victims? These thoughts came to...
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On my birthday a few weeks ago, a friend sent me an elegant doorstop with a note saying she hoped this would not prevent her coming through my door again. When I wrote back I included the words of an...
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