http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/ The Oxford Times /news/opinions/graymatter/ en-gb Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:08:26 +0100 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:08:26 +0100 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/rssterms/ M6 nvincent@newsquest.co.uk (Nigel Vincent) webmaster@digitalmedia.newsquest.co.uk (Tim Joy) http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/resources/images/727338/?type=rsslogo http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/ http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4458612.Why_we_were_laughting_at_Phedre_s_misery/?ref=rss I was interested to read last Friday the comments of Benedict Nightingale, the drama critic of The Times, on the surprising laughter from the audience during the National Theatre’s new production of Racine’s Phèdre. By strange coincidence he provided as an example, in the opening paragraph of a feature article, precisely the same section of the play that I had cited, again with a comment on the laughter, in my review in Weekend the day before. This is where Phèdre, played by the marvellous Helen Mirren, having described the horror and emotional turmoil she has endured through unrequited love for her stepson Hippolytus (played by Dominic Cooper, pictured with Dame Helen) realises that this has only been the “overture” to her woes now that she has discovered he is in love with someone else. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:14:29 +0100 783c3bf9bddaaa76276030017fde4043 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4458498.Why_The_Winslow_Boy_matters_to_me/?ref=rss I would not have missed this week’s production of Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy at the Oxford Playhouse, even if I had not been there to review it. The play has a special place in my affections, partly for its own merits but chiefly because my first experience of giving a stage performance came when I played its title role. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:54:54 +0100 30816ab173090fb6f021911128556161 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4443791.Stepping_out_in_style_with_Annabelinda/?ref=rss A stylish collection of clothes was on display at the Oxfordshire Museum at Woodstock at the weekend for the launch of an exhibition highlighting the work of Oxford’s leading coutuur house, Annabelinda, set up in premises behind the New Theatre in 1971. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:53:33 +0100 9925979b94dfcf727d1eda3f9b6143a6 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4443780.Valuable_guides_to_our_best_boozers/?ref=rss These days, I regret to say, my ‘visitations’* to pubs are much fewer than they were, though I remain part of their ‘audience’** at least once or twice a week. I think it quite clear that I am failing to heed my oft-given advice over one’s local that one must ‘use it or lose it’. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:51:37 +0100 54ae296cb616546fbc94bbf7807595ba http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4417195.What_was_big_in_the_year_of_the_drought/?ref=rss An arresting sentence in Sebastian Faulks’s fine novel Engleby (2007) brought a smile to my lips as soon as I read it. “I couldn’t stand another article about 1970s fashion, Abba or tank-tops. This kind of decade-drivel used to be the territory of Chicks’ Own or Bunty but has now run through whole sections of once-serious newspapers.” Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:44:56 +0100 33c1a89b0d9e6f20d23139e439ef7118 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4417179.The_decade_of_Bunty_and_Blossom_Toes/?ref=rss An arresting sentence in Sebastian Faulks’s fine novel Engleby (2007) brought a smile to my lips as soon as I read it. “I couldn’t stand another article about 1970s fashion, Abba or tank-tops. This kind of decade-drivel used to be the territory of Chicks’ Own or Bunty but has now run through whole sections of once-serious newspapers.” Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:43:52 +0100 e977f6ddea6f6fd1d80f3d1c9a492099 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4329533.How_architect_Jackson_left_his_mark_on_Oxford/?ref=rss There is scarcely a more iconic image of Oxford than the Bridge of Sighs linking two parts of Hertford College above New College Lane. Millions of photographs of it must feature in albums across the world. At the weekend I was admiring a study of the bridge produced even before it was built. How so? Because it was the work of its architect. Who was he? For every reader who can name him I feel sure there will be a hundred others who cannot. Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, Baronet and Royal Academician, is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be in a city on which he left a mighty mark. Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:50:19 +0100 e27091ae1ba7184b05ba23ca1dfac9f2 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4311836.A_wonder_cure_for_fatties_/?ref=rss Alli slimming pills went on sale over the counter at pharmacists this week, giving the nation’s fatties a hope of a trimmer tomorrow. Myself, I shan’t be needing them, having been made aware of a rival product that, frankly, puts alli firmly in the shade. It is called the Size-Zero Pill because it is capable of reducing you, in an instant to . . . well, size zero. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:20:44 +0100 86d367a0a3c111121ba83613d97d0aee http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4311820.Why_can_only_black_actors_play_Othello_/?ref=rss I have seen three productions of William Shakespeare’s Othello in recent weeks in each of which, of course, the title role has been played by a black actor. I say of ‘of course’ because these days the idea of any white actor ‘blacking up’ for the part is unthinkable. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:18:18 +0100 10e5d1100639194e35b993bb22b0ba02 http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/4295343.Kelly_s_eye_for_the_handsome_headmaster/?ref=rss St Edmund Hall was not a popular destination for Oxford entrants from Westminster School during John Rae’s headmastership. Perhaps this reflected its status as far from the smartest Oxford college; perhaps it had something to do with the reputation of its Principal, Canon John Kelly – pictured above with the University Chancellor Harold Macmillan – for being rather a danger where young men, particularly the sportier ones, were concerned. Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:12:28 +0100 bb694a9786a57fc5d1cb91762a688d2e