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86 and Still Counting

 

I'm 86, and life continues to be one great adventure.

I'm a jazz musician, webmaster, web project developer, writer, journalist, audio and video content creator, bibliophile, cook, fitness enthusiast, and lifelong learner. Whether I'm making music, developing websites, writing stories, producing digital content, experimenting with a new recipe, or staying active at the gym, I believe every day is an opportunity to learn, create, and connect.

This website brings together my passions—music, conversation, creativity, technology, worldwide friendships, and the simple pleasures of everyday life. It's a place to share ideas, experiences, and discoveries with people from around the globe who believe that curiosity and creativity have no expiration date.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll enjoy exploring, join the conversation, and come back often—because at 86, the adventure is still unfolding.

Welcome • Bienvenue • Willkommen • Bienvenido • Benvenuto • 欢迎 • ようこそ

New and Recent

Singing Jazz Changed Their Lives   Both young women when I first met them. One, a single mother with two young children, living in difficult circumstances. The second, shy, nervous, and...

Paul Dubois - What Kind of Fool Am I   Paul Dubois. Bass & Voc. Pierre Menetier. Pno. Robert Cordier. Drums. Peter Maguire. Valve Trombone. A track form 'The Groovers' album. Recorded at...

Miscarriage of Justice   Returning late from a jazz gig in Manchester. It was after midnight when I exited the motorway on to the moorland road, the way to my home. I saw a van parked hard...

Tolkien Lord of the Rings - Ralph Bakshi's Film   The Lord of the Rings is Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was release: November 15, 1978. A mixture...

Prague Spring The Soviet Invasion   A period of political liberalization in communist Czechoslovakia led by Alexander Dubcek. He promoted “socialism with a human face,” including greater...

Great British Puddings   What is a British Pudding? Most people living within the British Isles would I expect know the answer to this question. Also, too, places in the world where early...

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86 And Still Counting

Robert Maxwell Sent Me to Survey a Site for a Potential University Bookshop   Just a few days after taking up my post as assistant manager in The Robert Maxwell Bookshop, Oxford. I went to...

'Hair' Sitting On Stage With The 'Hair Band'   "In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hair wasn't just a musical—it was a cultural phenomenon. It ran for five years at London's Shaftesbury...

James Joyce’s The Dead — John Huston’s Final Film   The Dead is a 1987 film directed by John Huston, based on the final story in Dubliners by James Joyce. It was Huston’s last completed film,...

Before YouTube: Live Audio Streaming Over the Internet in 2000   Around 1999–2001, live internet streaming of press conferences and concerts was still uncommon, especially outside major media...

Tolkien The Hobbit Calendar 1976   Some members of the Book Trade did not react with enthusiasm to the publication of a Tolkien Calendar. At that time significant numbers of booksellers...

Three Small Blondes   Three small blondes, each in their own way, had a profound effect on the course of my life. Mid-teens, early twenties, and fifty...

John Alvaro Caldas: Artist Without Ego   John Alvaro Caldas was born in Rusholme, Manchester in 1934. He showed an early talent for painting and drawing but chose to become a dancer, moving...

Beating The Bounds With Chichester Town Band   Beating the Bounds is an old English tradition in which members of a parish walk the boundaries of their parish to remember and reaffirm them....

Piano With A Ten Mile View   In the nineteen fifties, stationed at RAF Tangmere, a good friend, Lila Horne, who came from Bedford, invited me to an al freco minor rave. It was to take place...

Band Mobbed on Stage - My First and Only Time   The gig was at a Northern Variety Club with the Victor Brox Blues Train and Dougie James. Sometime into the performance waves of young, and not...

Maureen Became Exactly Who She Wanted to Be   Maureen, once a dowdy and somewhat nondescript young woman, emerged from her chrysalis as a resplendent individual—confident, assertive, and...

Tolkien Christmas   Prior to Christmas the demand for Tolkien's books by the bookshops was enormous. Each year from the start of December to Christmas Eve, I became a part of a rapid 'to your...

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