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Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week (x2) – Tommies, and Home Front

BBC Radio 4’s World War One drama series are back on air this week, with 45-minute episodes of Tommies on both Friday and Saturday, and Home Front returning to the lads and lasses in Tynemouth. The characters in both series continue to develop as a result of the ongoing conflict. In Tommies, Captain Mickey Bliss is … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week (x2) – Tommies, and Home Front

Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Velvet Blackout by Vincent O’Connell

Vincent O’Connell’s Velvet Blackout, directed by Marc Beeby, is an unusual drama set during World War Two London. In 1942 a young woman with amnesia is pulled from a bombed building. A doctor and a policeman think she may know something vital to the British war effort – and they use some unorthodox techniques to … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Velvet Blackout by Vincent O’Connell

Trans-Europe Express: A Break in Bruges

My wife and I recently took a short break in Bruges. (It’s in Belgium.) A wedding anniversary treat. We travelled on the Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels. This was partly because Mrs S is a nervous flyer, and partly for reasons of cost. We both had reservations about the subaquatic rail tunnel, but the … Continue reading Trans-Europe Express: A Break in Bruges

Mart’s Radio Highlight of (last) Week: Home Front, September 15th 1917 – Ivy Layton

If you’re not a regular listener to Home Front this may not mean a lot to you, but the burgeoning romance between Ivy Layton and disfigured soldier Dennis Monk has been bubbling for a while. Wonderful writing and acting, and the delicate pacing of this story, made the final lines of this episode a real … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of (last) Week: Home Front, September 15th 1917 – Ivy Layton

Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Moving to the Red Planet

Although this programme was originally broadcast on 7 March 2017, I only got around to listening to it this week, so… In Moving to the Red Planet, Claudia Hammond discusses the psychological challenges facing human travellers to Earth’s nearest neighbour, such as isolation, lack of privacy, and clashes among crew members. While the physical challenges … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Moving to the Red Planet

Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Dr John Cooper Clarke

Brilliant punk poet Dr John Cooper Clarke is interviewed and drawn by Martin Rowson on Radio 4’s Life Drawing. Dr JCC: a unique combination of insight, entertainment and art. What lasts longer than a pop song? You’ll forget about any book. You’ll have to read a book again. But a song. A popular song. That’s there … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Dr John Cooper Clarke

Scrivener tip: Lickety-Split

To quickly split the screen without leaving the keyboard simply hit: SHIFT+CMD+” This makes it particularly easy to compare two Binder documents, or refer to one pane – say something you have in your Research folder – while writing in another. When working with text documents the zoom can be set independently in each. For … Continue reading Scrivener tip: Lickety-Split

Scissors & Glue – top tips for writers

Over the years I’ve been given some great advice on writing by people I’ve met, and I thought I’d share a few examples in case they might help you along the way too. 1: Easing off received from David Garnett, writer and editor I met Dave at the first SF convention I attended in 1997. … Continue reading Scissors & Glue – top tips for writers