The Leopard Red His Spots

The Date Trail

The little fishing port of Sinus on the Sorrento coast still retains its Roman roots, but as no one has ever found any ruins there, it has never earned the mark of a tourist destination. Up a winding track, some several kilometres from Sinus is the Rustico. The Rustico is an old converted farmhouse, shaded …

Read more…

Punch Cartoon No. 7

Gentlemen, Players & Chokers

(A naughty homage to E. W. Hornung[1]) Raffles was playing a game at Lord’s for the Gentlemen of Essex when he was approached, at the lunch table, by a young cricketer by the name of Crowley. Like everyone else, Crowley was dressed in creamy whites, but Raffles noted at his neck a cravat with a …

Read more…

The Joker

Mrs. Wilson’s Necklace

The impresario, Tony di Curtis was sitting in his office with a cigar in his hand when he turned to Katarina and anyone else who cared to listen to him (since the door was half open and an act was pacing outside) trumpeting his desire to learn English from a real Englishman. “By the way,” …

Read more…

The Joker

Cofi and the Lion

Leaning against the wall of the old university building, Daniel took a joint from the pocket of his wide pants. Cofi went wide-eyed: “You smoking that here?” Even though it was broad daylight and people were milling about, Daniel had no compulsion about lighting the joint. Cofi kept looking up and down the street to …

Read more…

Killing an Arab

King Bill or Bull or Rum or Junk or whatever name the sailors happened to give him. It was around 87 when we got our business going. We started with Dad’s steps and a toolbox purchased from a DIY shop on the woodwork in the Hallam’s conservatory. I knew Paul from school and Dez he …

Read more…