This is a wonderful example of how few words are needed to tell a story!
Author: Andrew G Lockhart
My name is Andrew Lockhart and I grew up in Coatbridge, Scotland. I studied at Glasgow University. After spending three decades in planning, statistics and international sales and marketing, I am now an author, family historian and owner of Magda Green Books. Apart from writing (and reading great books) and blogging, my other interests are science, music of all sorts, and traveling the world.
It's a Wonderful World
In a world so often corrupted by wars and darkened by terrible acts in the name of perverted philosophies, occasionally a ray of light shines through the abyss of hatred and intolerance to remind you that life is not all bad news. Sometimes, the tiny shafts of illumination come in a form so unexpected, yet …
Witches and Castles
"There shall not be found among you anyone who practises divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or necromancer.' The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham by Tony Riches History and historians have been unkind to women, giving them at best a minor role, at worst demonising them and even, …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part Three)
Further Memories of Japan In Kyoto, the sakura blossom will be opening, a sure sign that spring has begun. In the Nagano highlands it is still winter. The mountains that ring Matsumoto stand out, white-capped, in glorious vista-vision against the pale blue sky. In the crisp morning air, they seem closer and more three-dimensional than …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part Two)
More Memories of Japan The Japanese label their railway stations - and the destination boards - both in kanji and in romaji (western lettering). Thus, armed with a map of the system, you won’t miss your stop - in theory. However, buying a train ticket in Tokyo's Shinjuku-eki for the first time is an ordeal. …
Sashimi, Shoes and Suzuki (Part One)
Memories of Japan Irasshai-mas-ehhhh....! It is 10.30am in Ginza, Tokyo’s fashionable shopping precinct. The Hanyu depato - department store - has just opened. A dozen assistants assemble on the ground floor to greet the first customers of the day. They form a line. Bow politely. The last syllable of their welcome elongates and fades to …
'Tis the Season to be Jolly!
Carols and Other Celebrations Deck the hall with boughs of holly! 'Tis the season to be jolly. Fah-Lah-Lah! Don we now our bright apparel. Sing the ancient yuletide carol! Fah-Lah-Lah! See the blazing yule before us! Strike the harp and join the chorus! Fah-Lah-Lah! Follow me in merry measure, while I tell of yuletide treasure. …
Now you see him, now you don't!
The Invisible Man by HG Wells 'His goggling spectacles and ghastly bandaged face under the penthouse of his hat came with a disagreeable suddenness out of the darkness ...' I drew this novella - number 13 on my list of classics - in the Classics Club Spin #8 from November, to be read and reviewed …
The Bad Sex Award 2014
No-one's in it to win it! Last week, Booker Prizewinner Ben Okri became the latest author to receive the literary world's least sought after award. The winning entry is from his novel The Age of Magic: 'When his hand brushed her nipple it tripped a switch and she came alight. He touched her belly and …
Saving the Sumatran Tiger
Tyger, tyger, burning bright,In the forests of the night;What immortal hand or eyeCould frame thy fearful symmetry?(William Blake) Today, I'd like to suggest a thought experiment: Suppose that those of you reading this article - let's say there are four hundred of you (you see, I'm an optimist) - are the …
Magda Green Books 