marktrevorowen

Elisabeth Sladen: 10 Years On

At the time of writing (19 April 2021) it’s the tenth anniversary of the death of the actor Elisabeth Sladen. She had a good solid career combining theatre, including a spell working for Alan Ayckbourn at his Scarborough theatre, and TV, where she appeared in such well-regarded shows as Z Cars, Coronation Street, and SomeContinue reading “Elisabeth Sladen: 10 Years On”

Taking A Dive Into Open Air Pools

Warning: my latest article for Gef contains references to nearly-naked Victorians. A Manxman has already written a letter of complaint. You may want to keep the smelling salts handy as you click on the link below, and dive in. https://gef.im/2021/04/17/taking-a-dive-into-open-air-pools/

A Very Brief History

It’s the birthday of one of the most controversial figures in Manx history – William Christian, AKA Illiam Dhone. To mark the occasion Culture Vannin have shared this YouTube video from Jack Rackam. The title Patriot or Traitor? pretty much sums up the whole debate that’s rumbled on about Dhone since he was executed byContinue reading “A Very Brief History”

Let’s Not Knock Knox Jokes

I instantly fell for this photo that Manx artist Alice Quayle posted online recently, to mark the birthday of the most famous Manx artist of all, Archibald Knox. The picture was taken in 1930 and shows Knox standing in the grounds of the Douglas School of Art, where he had learned his craft decades earlier.Continue reading “Let’s Not Knock Knox Jokes”

Telly Vannin

I’ve had the pleasure of writing for the excellent Manx website Gef again. Here I’m looking at what happens when the Isle of Man crops up on TV programmes. Why don’t you just switch off your television set and click on the link below instead? https://gef.im/2021/04/10/give-me-more-manx-tv/

The Steam Peacock

Dear old Facebook, forever encouraging us to look at the past, while examining our personal data for future use, today flagged up this photo as being exactly two years old. As you can clearly see, it’s a peacock, invading rather a lot of personal space, in a railway station. The Steam Railway station in Douglas,Continue reading “The Steam Peacock”

The Breath of Myrtle Street

With lockdown restrictions ever-so-slightly eased in the last few days, I went for a walk with a friend today. Just a Sunday afternoon stroll around Douglas, avoiding busy areas and all properly masked and distanced. It wasn’t the most carefree or relaxed walk, with all those rules to remember, but it was the furthest I’veContinue reading “The Breath of Myrtle Street”

Bridge of Exasperated Sighs

I took this picture on the old railway line near Kirk Michael. It was May, and the gorse was huge, thick, and outrageously yellow. In some places, it was growing right across the former narrow-gauge line, leading to snagged jeans and some frankly rather ungainly bunny hops. The photo was taken at a mercifully clearerContinue reading “Bridge of Exasperated Sighs”

Mining The Past

The ‘Memories’ tab on Facebook is one of the site’s more endearing features. Now that they’ve tweaked the algorithm so it doesn’t send inappropriately chirpy reminders to people of the time their grandfather died and dozens of people sent messages, it’s a helpful aide-memoire of things that you posted on today’s date in years goneContinue reading “Mining The Past”

Women of Manx History

To mark International Women’s Day 2021, I’ve written a piece for Gef on interesting women from Manx history. There are loads, basically – far more than I could include in the space available, without doing them the injustice of being too brief. I’m hoping to get a chance to write about a few more remarkableContinue reading “Women of Manx History”