My armchair birdwatching has reached new heights during the screening of The Kettering Incident on television. The Knowler family has long been used to my announcing what birds are singing in the background of TV shows, usually “cosy school” British crime programs like the “Midsomer Murders” series. “European magpie”, I’ll shout out with glee during a murder scene, or “song thrush” during the funeral of the victim in a village cemetery. The Kettering Incident, however, has … [Read more...] about The lazy-boy guide to birding
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Traveller born of the outback
Willie Nelson is singing on my car radio he’s “gunna chase the sky forever” and on a winter’s day, I’m doing the same. The brilliant blue sky, dotted with fluffy white clouds, certainly appears never ending as I head north along the East Coast, tapping out the beat of the tune on the steering wheel. Willie Nelson is talking of stealing a silver stallion to ride to the horizon. I search for another gift of nature, not to steal but to revel in its sublime beauty and perhaps … [Read more...] about Traveller born of the outback
Purr-fect storm for birds
The song of a male scarlet robin drifted across my garden at the start of winter and I rushed to the lounge window to have a look at him. Yes, there he was atop a pin-cushion hakea beyond my lawn, singing his heart out and declaring a winter territory. He might even be trying to attract the attention of a mate. It was special to hear, and then see, the resplendent robin in his bright-red finery because the species had been missing from my garden all summer and autumn. I … [Read more...] about Purr-fect storm for birds
The spirit of the press room
A SHADOW drifted across the far end of the long, dark passageway and Don Bentley stopped, surprised that someone else should have been down there in the printing works at this hour. Bentley strained his eyes to identify the shape in the near darkness, at the far end of the passageway where the light from a single light bulb at its entrance barely penetrated. The shadow moved out of sight and Bentley called out, softly at first as if not wanting to disturb the silence down … [Read more...] about The spirit of the press room
Doors close on the past
Donald Knowler celebrates more than half a century in the newspaper business. He started work as a messenger boy in Fleet Street in September 1963 before writing his first words six months later on the newspaper that gave him his start in journalism, the Woking News and Mail, in Surrey. He usually looks back, and forward, through his alter ego, Don Bentley, but in two articles first published on the Tasmanian Times website lamented the demise of the office pub. The … [Read more...] about Doors close on the past