Wop-pob-a-loo-bop Pizza … That’s Crazy Pizza’s luxury lunchtime extravaganza. Pizza is probably the world’s most popular food. It’s certainly one of the most enduring. First mentions date from the Stone Age, though it wasn’t until the late 18th century that pizza as we know it appeared…in Naples. Baked as a flatbread with a scarce topping, it was eaten fresh and warm by working people such as porters, soldiers and sailors who wanted cheap and quick food. The first pizza restaurant opened in Naples in 1831. It is still there. The rest, as the say, is history; which brings us right…
Does Father Time drink whisky? He may as whisky is nearly as old as Father Time himself. The first references to the distillation of fermented grains – the whisky basics – can be found in records dating from around 2000 BC. Between 500 and 1000 AD, knowledge of distillation spread to Europe where Christians used it for medicines and in religious ceremonies. Around 1100 AD, travelling monks from Europe settled in Scotland had discovered how to ferment grain mash, resulting in the first distillations of what we call whisky. By 1494, whisky had become established in Scotland. Mass consumption was…
A Rum Business for adventurous Imbibers opens the door to the luxurious exotic world of Don Papa, a high end rum maker from The Philippines When I was a lad, Rum was something to be had with lashings of coke and most probably it’d be white and possibly not something to savour on its own merits. Dark rums seemed to be for rough and tough old seafarer types and taken as a navy ration, or patched and parroted pirates to warm their cockles. However, thankfully, things are rather different now and we are lucky enough to have access to refined…
Balvenie’s Whisky at The Lanesborough Hotel, London; a private tasting by Balvenie’s Brand Ambassador showed if you thought maturing whisky was as simple as filling barrels and waiting for them to age then think again…. I made my way to the refined and elegant surroundings of Knightsbridge’s Lanesborough Hotel for a most enjoyable hour or so sampling some really wonderful whisky from the Scottish distillers Balvenie . I was lucky to be given a private tasting by the charming Alwynne Gwilt, The Balvenie Brand Ambassador, who led me through five whiskies from the latest compendium released at the end…
The Shining was screened across 100 UK cinemas to celebrate Halloween. Park Circus celebrates this with the release of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, being screened over 100 cinemas – for one night only, on 31 October. Audiences can enjoy this remarkable thriller on the big screen once again at cinemas throughout the UK. The Shining When Jack Torrance, played by Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson, lands the job of overwintering the remote Overlook Hotel he, his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) have no idea the horrors that are to come. At his interview he’s told of…
Taxi Driver returns to the cinema after 40 years in 2017 with a 4K restoration. This was done with guidance from its director Martin Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman, and the reissue of the film is one of the highlights of the BFI Martin Scorsese season, running through January and February. I was lucky enough to see this in the wonderfully sumptuous surroundings of the cinema room at Soho House, so much thanks to them and all at Park Circus. See films at the BFI For those unfamiliar with the film, a youthful Robert DeNiro plays ex-Vietnam vet and insomniac,…
Paul Strand-Photographer and Film-maker at the V&A is the first UK retrospective on the American photographer Paul Strand in over 40 years, with the V&A’s own recent acquisition of nine rare photographs from the pioneering photographer’s only UK-based series included in the exhibition. www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-paul-strand-photography-and-film-for-the-20th-century/ On until 3rd July 2016 These pictures were taken in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland and document the threat to traditional Gaelic life during the Cold War years. These exquisite black and white vintage prints were originally made for Strand’s photo-book Tir A’Mhurain (Land of Bent Grass). The V&A is home to the oldest museum photography collection…
The 25th of October 2015 marked the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt, Henry V’s victory over the French in 1415. The exhibition commemorates this event at the Tower of London, presented by The Royal Armouries in the White Tower. www.royalarmouries.org/events/calendar/2015-10-23/agincourt You have 10 days left to see this fine exhibition The exhibition brings together, for the first time, rare and iconic objects from the Royal Armouries and elsewhere to retell the moving story of this deadly encounter. As well as all the details of the battle itself, it examines its aftermath and also sets it in the context…