In early 2013, while still in Johannesburg, I was contacted by Harry Lyons the author of the definitive book on my ancestor Dr. Christopher Dresser, The People’s Designer. As the head of the Dresser family that originated in England in 1352 with the arrival of Christopher Dresser, a Danish sea captain, Harry invited me to […]
Obituary As one grows older, it’s fact of life that more and more of one’s friends and relatives succumb to death. I read about old school friends or people I have met from later periods in my life who have passed away. However, when a current close friend, a person I would normally see a […]
Yesterday, Hero and I celebrated our 56th Anniversary and it just so happened that it was also Mother’s day in the UK, so my beloved wife enjoyed a double whammy! We celebrated, within our extended bubbles, of course, lunch with our good friends Gisela and Karl-Heinz Guenter Vogel and dinner with another lovely friend Hannah […]
How did I learn how to write feature screenplays? Living in South Africa in the 1970s, apart from books on the subject, there was virtually no one in the country who I could look to as a successful international screenwriter. There was a political decision by the Apartheid regime to not allow television broadcasts until […]
In 1945, John Steinbeck wrote one of his best-known novels, Cannery Row, which was set in and around a street in Monterey, California. The cold but nutrient-rich waters, with abundant plankton along the California coast, attracted millions of pilchards (a larger form of sardine), and a huge fishing industry flourished. Anyway, in the mid-1940s, due […]
Why did I decide to write a separate blog for my last visit to France? For two reasons: firstly, there wasn’t enough space on the previous blog, but more importantly, because visiting Cannes for the Film Festival was like a visit to the United States superimposed over this delightful French city. Fortunately, little pieces of […]
Rattling around in my head, looking for a new blog, I came up with an unexpected idea. Since the age of nine I have visited France no more than four times, but there’s something about France and its people that has always fascinated me. So, today I’ve decided to revisit, in my head at least, […]
Writing about my wife Hero in my last blog, sparked off memories of the times we visited Mozambique, where her parents lived. It was and is a very different place from anywhere in South Africa and is located on the northern border of South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province on the East coast. Its climate, its […]
From time to time with these blogs, I’ve mentioned my wife Hero but have not really written anything about her. It’s about time I did; so, here we go! Hero Falas was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, of Greek Cypriot parents. Her father Dr. Zacharias Falas was born in the village of Rizokarpaso, Cyprus. He […]
Over the years, I have been bombarded by others with so many wonderful and some not so wonderful stories that I was assured would make great movies. For some time, my stock answer had been, “I have an endless fund of my own ideas, I really don’t need to be given any more.” I think […]