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gregnasmyth
I don’t know why they have bothered building a big bang machine at Cern, a friend of mine remarked shortly after the Large Hadron Collider blew a majorly expensive electrical circuit, if they want to watch things moving at the speed of light, they should come around my house and watch the gas meter. Admittedly,…
One doesn’t need much of an excuse to visit Monaco at the best of times, but the Gilded Jewel has just added another reason to take a flight from City Airport; an evening of operatic entertainment aboard Aristotle Onassis’ yacht, the Christina O. During the month of October the ‘O’ is hosting a series of…
The Luxury Super Car Event & Concours d’Elégance revs its V8s and wheel-spins into the stately, gravel drives of Syon Park. Debutantes to the manicured lawn this year include the new Lamborghini Aventador, promising a ‘time-travelling’ acceleration of 0-62 mph in a shade under three seconds, and the 268mph Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, although LUSSO’s…
In John Carpenters 1981 Sci-fi classic, Escape from New York, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) has to save the US President and then break out of Manhattan which, circa 1997, has been turned into a lawless penitentiary. Anyone who has ever attempted to leave London on a Bank Holiday weekend will know exactly how Snake felt.…
Fourteen years in development, the Hawker 4000 claims to be the world’s most advanced business jet, and with a range of 3,200 nautical miles becomes the first super mid-size jet to break the transcontinental barrier. Boasting an industry-first fully composite airframe, although the wings remain aluminium, the Hawker 4000’s fuselage is constructed entirely of a…
170 Galleries will again be battling it out to flog contemporary works of art by living artists (if you’re not breathing, you don’t get in) to a host of collectors, curators and celebrities all hell-bent on trying to predict Saatchi’s next move. From humble beginnings the show has grown into the art world’s foremost international…
It has been a while since I last returned to my old stomping grounds in Notting Hill. I have a long and insalubrious history with the place. Starting at the tender age of 14, the Moscow Pub, long since departed, on the Moscow Road, when the last days of Punk were slowly ebbing away and…
It was at this point, having dismounted the gondola at Roc d’Orsay and assumed something approaching a jog to give the cheering crowds a semblance of my racing intent, I mounted my skis and began slaloming down the upper reaches of the course, with a certain panache, I like to think. The snow here was…
Not usually renowned as a hotbed of artistic talent, Birmingham appears to be on the point of adding to its artistic heritage and surpassing such notable sons as, er Ozzy Osbourne and Nigel Mansell, with the emergence of the artist Paul Normansell. Unlike the ex-Formula One Champion and self-promoting heavy metal enthusiast, Normansell appears to…
The Cinnamon Club First up, the House of Commons’ best kept secret. You suspect when all those right honorables were trying to cover up their expenses claims, the most blacked out phrase was, The Cinnamon Club. Tucked away around the back of Westminster Cathedral, 30 Great Smith Street, the presence of The Cinnamon Club is…