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Buying things is something I’ve got out of the habit of doing. I make an exception for essentials like food, of course, and for books (though really books are just as essential for the mind as food is for the…
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St Illtud’s Walk, day 3: Pontarddulais to Penlle’r Castell
The excellent X13 bus runs all the way from Swansea to Llandeilo, but today C. and I take it just as far as Pontarddulais. We aim to climb Graig Fawr and explore the hills beyond, as far as Penlle’r Castell,…
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Laurence Sterne in the printer’s shop
Any reader of Tristram Shandy soon appreciates that its author had an unusually strong interest in the physical appearance of his books, and specifically in playing with the conventions of the printed word. The ‘star witnesses’ are the Black Page,…
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Early archaeology in Wales: the ‘Precambrian’ era
The Cambrian Archaeological Association, established in 1847, was the first society devoted to the study of archaeology of Wales. This piece aims to tell the story of archaeology before that date. Archaeology, in the sense of the systematic study of…
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Ar hunangofiannau
Y dydd o’r blaen ces i lyfr ar fenthyg gan gyfaill, sef hunangofiant newydd yn Saesneg gan un o hoelion wyth y byd Cymreig cyhoeddus – cyfrol drwchus, gyda dros bedwar cant o dudalennau, a phrint mân. Mae’r llyfr yn…
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The Cambrian Archaeological Association in the 19th century
The first society in Wales devoted to the study of archaeology, the Cambrian Archaeological Association, was founded in 1847, largely through the efforts of two Welsh clergymen, Rev. Harry Longueville Jones (1806-1870) and Rev. John Williams, ‘Ab Ithel’ (1811-1862). Longueville…
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Getting angry about politics
I’m not sure what other people think, but on the whole I’d say I was a person of fairly equable temper. But recently I’ve begun to realise that I’ve started having angry conversations about contemporary politics, especially politics as practised…
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‘Exhabiting that corricatore of a harss’: Anselm Kiefer and James Joyce
No one could accuse Anselm Kiefer of being a miniaturist. The White Cube in Bermondsey is a large space and it’s packed full with the huge displays of his new exhibition, a response to his long-time admiration for James Joyce’s…
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Jim Ede and Kettle’s Yard
Walking across the river and up the hill to Kettle’s Yard became a regular habit when I was a student. The afternoon was the time to go. After you the tugged the bell pull, a lean man of elderly years…
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A black hole in green transport?
An anecdote is a dangerous base for an argument, I know, but today that’s not going to stop me from a grouse about public transport. Yesterday I needed to get from Mumbles to Cardiff Bay. These days I try to…