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The world’s first civilizations, in 3500 BC, were often called riverine cultures. Mesopotamia, ‘the land between the rivers’ and those on the Nile typify these. Riverine [...]

The post arrived today, reminding me that bulb catalogue fever is a seasonal ailment. Impulse buying is not my weakness, except when it comes to plants. I look at the gleaming catalogue photos [...]

Perhaps, like me, you occasionally think you are falling apart. Then you read a report in the paper and you suddenly realise you are okay; everybody else is nuts! The report that an MP has called [...]

I just love growing lilies. The blousiness, the exotic odour, the haughty demeanor, all the things that I am not. Perhaps this contrast between a gardener and his favourite flowers has a deep [...]

We writers, when we are planning to write a book, keep an ear to the ground. A few years ago, the pundits told us to avoid misery memoirs like the plague, no publisher wants or is interested in [...]

I have to admit I include a dog joke in my forthcoming book about prehistory. Zuri, my pagan ancestor, aware of all these dogs on our beaches, asks me when they are ready to eat. In truth, [...]

Flint powered the first industrial age might be a slight exaggeration. Yet, this amazing mineral was a vital commodity to early peoples. It was used to make tools like axes, arrow and spear [...]