: About Me

I'm a writer! I've done other stuff of course. It was necessary because I needed to eat. In another life I was a professional Landscape Architect, but the best bits were usually writing about my work. Then I bought a hotel - I know, it doesn't fit the normal work pattern but at least it was a challenge. During this time I fell in love with farmhouse cheese and our efforts at the hotel were recognised year on year by our winning Best Cheeseboard in Scotland. Again, writing (and selling) the 'definitive' guide to Scottish cheeses was as much of a buzz as eating the stuff. Now I build dry stone walls and immerse myself in heritage issues. I have diaries from 1961 and never go anywhere without pen and paper. Many of my articles will contain details of food and drink - it's a passion. No apologies for including all the details!

Entertainment > Music Genres, Trends & Scenes The benefits of listening to jazz

2 of 2

Reflections on Jazz. Ah, the 1920s and 1930s - the age of speed and style. The dark valley' period between the two world wars was in many ways contradictory, when the arts, architecture, engineering and general human endeavour all experienced a glorious heyday despite near global depression, the stock market crash and the very real fear of a backlash from the punitive Treaty of Versailles. Great buildings were being conceived and constructed in what now seems like no time at all, and without health and safety regulations. This was a period of world land speed records, of Blue Ribands, of p...

More..