I post another separate article this month, ‘Emily Davison’s Wig’, which contains some typical socio-historical musings touched with some personal interest. Through the magic of electronic publication, I am able to make a minor clarification to ‘September Spooks‘, and add two freshly mined anecdotes to ‘Reflections on the North Downs‘. The normal updates to the Commonplace book appear, as well as a few other sundry items added to the files of Rolls-Royce Quotations and Hyperbolic Contrast Examples. (November 30, 2013)
My October report ended up being so long that I made it a separate document, at ‘September Spooks‘, suitable for Halloween. The normal Commonplace updates appear. (October 31, 2013)
A premature posting for September, as I am leaving for the UK on September 18, not returning until October 8. I shall be visiting the National Archives at Kew, the Bodleian and Balliol Libraries in Oxford, and the archive of Churchill College, Cambridge, with my seminar on Sir Isaiah Berlin at Buckingham in between (seehttp://www.buckingham.ac.uk/research/prebend-seminars). I also hope to see several old friends. This month also saw my latest Listener crossword puzzle offering, titled ‘Lassoed’, published in the Times on September 7. The Commonplace entries posted this month are few in number. (September 17, 2013)
Another month goes by. I am preparing for my seminar at the University of Buckingham on October 3. A varied set of Commonplace items, with several quotations on Jewry from Isaac Deutscher and Arthur Koestler. (August 31, 2013)
Little news this month. I have been intensely involved with my research into Walter Krivitsky. Just a few new Commonplace items. (July 31, 2013)
June was a joyful month: our daughter-in-law, Lien, gave birth to identical twin girls, Alexis and Alyssa, sisters to Ashley, on June 17. (Those devotees of social media can find James and his family at www.facebook.com/james.percy.186. ) All are doing well. The nature of this birth has been known to us for months: I was reminded of how far we have come when I picked up the new biography of Margaret Thatcher by Charles Moore in the Wilmington bookshop, and read that, when the Iron Lady’s twins were born, her husband, Denis, was watching cricket at the Oval, and did not even know that twins were expected. (June 30, 2013)