The restoration of Fawlty Towers

Posted by Simon Parke, 25 Jul 2017

We arrive at the Randolph hotel in Oxford.

It’s the city’s famous hotel, it featured a lot in the Morse TV series…which they are not slow to mention.

And it is expensive.

We’ve never been in a hotel so expensive but it’s my 60th birthday present, we’re pushing the boat out…

Rest is different from distraction

Posted by Simon Parke, 24 Jul 2017

I wish you rest this summer…rather than distraction.

And the two are different.

Ferreting around the internet on your phone at the end of the day (or in the middle of it…or throughout it) isn’t rest.

It’s mental distraction…

An incredibly human story

Posted by Simon Parke, 24 Jul 2017

A few years ago I read a biography of Jane Whorwood by John Fox, a most interesting book about a most intriguing woman, whose life and whose involvement in the life of King Charles I was largely forgotten by history.

That biography brought Jane Whorwood to life, and her portrayal in this novel enhances that biography with an incredibly ‘human’ story…