Snooker

With almost 600,000 residents, Sheffield is one of the north of England's biggest cities. It was built upon steel and other metal industries - including the manufacture of fine cutlery. However, nowadays, in other parts of the country, people are more likely to say the word "snooker" when asked what Sheffield is famous for.

At this time of year and every year the World Championship Snooker Tournament is held in the city's "Crucible" theatre. In the space where plays and musicals happen during the rest of the year, you will see snooker tables and men with wooden cues potting snooker balls into pockets or sometimes failing to pot them.

It can be just as dramatic as the plays that are performed upon that stage.

Snooker evolved in British India  in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was largely connected with another table top game called billiards that was also played by Army officers.

To play snooker you need a large heavy table with a flat surface over which a green baize cloth is tightly spread. The table, measuring twelve feet by six feet, has pockets in each corner as well as two further pockets at the sides. The purpose of these pockets is to catch coloured balls made from a heavy duty plastic resin - though in the past they were made from either clay or ivory.

There are fifteen red balls, and individual yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black balls. Also there's a white ball or cue ball - it is the only one that you are allowed to hit with a long, slender and wooden snooker cue.

As a spectator sport, snooker can be very absorbing and audiences are always hushed in The Crucible - only cheering or applauding after good shots are made. BBC television covers every game played over the two week period of the tournament.

The hotbed of the sport is The British Isles but snooker is also played in Canada, Australia, China and some other European countries. Last year's world champion was from Belgium but there have also been champions from Canada, Australia and Ireland. There have never been any American winners. However, currently one of the best players in England is called Trump - and I am not kidding! It is surprising that he hasn't yet applied for a name change. Judd Dung sounds infinitely better than Judd Trump.

The unfortunately named Judd Trump

Most years, the TV coverage just drifts past me but this year I have been watching a few games including today's quarter finals. The phenomenal Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan was knocked out by Stuart Bingham who won thirteen frames to Ronnie's ten frames. It was very tense. One small error and a frame can be lost. 

Magnificence

Walker resting at Great Tor with Ladybower Reservoir in the valley

Today, Tuesday April 30th, it felt as though the last vestiges of winter had been stored away till late autumn. I woke to a blue sky and a deliveryman hammering on our front door with a large cardboard box under his arm. It was some framing that Shirley had ordered for our vegetable plot.

Breakfast, tea, computer time and a shower and soon I was tootling off to Bamford Edge some five miles west of here. Clint had a belly full of petrol (American: gas) and he was in a racing mood. "Whoaa boy!" I exclaimed, reining him in as we reached the 30mph zone at Ringinglow.

I was pleased to find a space at the roadside pull-in where the path to Bamford Edge commences. There was no rush. Apart from anything else, I was again testing out my left heel that continues to give me occasional  gyp. Before setting off I smeared sun cream on my face for the first time this year,

Bamford Edge looks down upon the valley of The River Derwent and the village of Bamford. Across that valley is the distinctive shape of Win Hill that in ancient times was used as a hill fort. The valley itself contains three big reservoirs that save water mostly for the English Midlands - Derby, Nottingham and Leicester for example.

There were quite a few people out and about on the rocky edge - including two groups of young Asians. That was nice to witness as rambling and exploring the countryside have tended to be the preserve of white members of what is often called "the host community". Most days you tend to see no brown or black faces in "the great outdoors". I was also aware of a Dutch family walking along - no doubt on holiday.

After almost three hours Clint carried me back to Sheffield and I confess that I had an urge for a late lunch at McDonalds on Archer Road so that's what I did - Big Mac with medium fries and a latte. As John Gray would say about mischievous snacks - Bloody Lovely!

 

Looking down on Bamford

View across the valley to Win Hill

Another view of Ladybower Reservoir

Finally, heading back to New Road where Clint was parked. He is second from the left 

and beyond him there's  High Leas Farm and the green fields of The Hope Valley.

Presenters

David Attenborough - a national treasure

When I say "presenters", I am thinking specifically about television presenters - from news programmes to documentaries and quizzes. Perhaps it is just me but what I find is that some regular presenters are very likeable and others make me bristle with annoyance. 

Of course the presenters I am about to comment upon all appear on British TV channels but visitors who dwell in other lands may be able to relate to this issue as they reflect upon the presenters that are familiar to them.

One of Britain's best known presenters is David Attenborough who generally narrates nature programmes. He will be 98 years old next Monday so I suppose that his presenting days are almost over. What he brings to his work is an enduring passion for wildlife, curiosity, authenticity and humility too. Like most British TV viewers  I greatly respect him and I completely trust his accounts  and the views he occasionally espouses. He is one of the best.

On the other hand there's slimy Michael Portillo, a former Tory Member of Parliament, who has carved himself a very comfortable niche as a presenter of programmes about railways all over the world. This is a subject that greatly appeals to me but because Portillo presents them I have never watched one of them from beginning to end. Snake-like, vain and insincere, Portillo's ego is like a puffed up balloon. 

Victoria Derbyshire

One of my favourite current affairs programmes is "Newsnight". Recruited in the last few months, there is a presenter called Victoria Derbyshire who I like very much. She seems so genuine as she explains situations and quizzes politicians and others. She listens but she also challenges, sometimes quite insistently. Any ego she has is suppressed as she just gets on with the job of nailing the truth on behalf on the watching public.

This very evening I was watching a documentary series that takes viewers to some far flung corners of The Pacific Ocean.. It is called "Islands of the Pacfic" and its presenter is an actor called Martin Clunes. He seems so supercilious and his curiosity about most things is rather luke warm. I find him pretty irritating which is a shame because the film footage is excellent Tonight he was in Guam and Palau in Micronesia. I wonder who picked him for this role when there are so many potential presenters who could have done a far better job.

Perhaps it is impossible to pick presenters that will please everybody but in my view a presenter can make or break a programme. In general, I  think presenters should be honest, bright and rather unpretentious people you feel comfortable with whose presenting styles do not detract from the subject matter but enhance it. And if there are conversations to be had they should show keen listening skills - not ignoring or talking over others.

What do you look for in a presenter and are there any that you especially like or dislike and why?

Quiztime

 

PLACES

Today's quiz is all about places. You are going to see five pictures of cities followed by five pictures of countries but where are they? As usual, the answers may be found in the "Comments" attached to this blogpost.

Cities...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Countries...

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Confucius

We have all heard of Confucius but that wasn't his real name. His proper name was Kong Qiu. The Latinized version of his name was coined in the sixteenth century - long after Kong Qiu lived in this world. He was born in 551 BC and died in 479 BC. If you want to learn more about him, visit his page on Wikipedia.

Most people only know the name Confucius and we are also aware that he had some wise things to say as he reflected on life. Here are three of his typical sayings...

The three above are pretty well-known sayings but here are three recently discovered and unfamiliar quotes by the great man:-

Okay, I admit - I was just jesting. Why not have a go at making up your own amusing Confucius meme and leaving it in the Comments section. Remember, Confucius he say:- "Folk who do not leave funny Confucius quotes are boring old farts!"

Fatherhood

Zachary on the left and our son Ian on the right. The photograph was taken just yesterday afternoon. Zach was six months old this week. He's coming on nicely. If you look closely you can see that his first tooth has come through. He's a pretty physical little fellow, rolling and threatening to crawl. Naturally he is the apple of his parents' eyes. 

Ian will be forty years old this summer and Sarah, Zach's mother, is not far behind. I am sure that it crossed their minds, just a couple of years ago, that they might never be parents so having Zach has been a great blessing. He is much loved and well provided for.

I was thirty when Ian was born. Witnessing his birth in the delivery room at Nether Edge Hospital was perhaps the most joyous moment of my life. To see another human being coming into the world was so overwhelming that his gender meant nothing to me and I only realised he was male when the midwife in attendance announced, "You have got a beautiful baby boy!"

For almost forty years, I believe I have been a good father to Ian. There's no guidebook. You just have to go with your instincts. Of course it helped that I have a lovely wife who  has always been a devoted, caring and capable mother. Nursing is essentially a practical job in which panicking should be avoided and Shirley brought a lot of that practicality and common sense to her mothering role.

We won't get to see Zach again  until the middle of May when my whole family will descend upon a rather luxurious Portuguese villa just a stone's throw from the sea. Of course Zach will get to see his girl cousins again - including happy Margot who was born just nine days after him.

Sleepy

Poor Mr Trump. Spotted sleeping several times during his current trial in New York City. There he is above, faithfully captured by the court artist. Of course Mr Trump denies that he ever drifted off into dreamland and with typical infantile spite he has derided the work of the court artist who he claims has sought to ridicule him.

Ironically, Mr Trump has frequently referred to President Biden as "Sleepy Joe" but now the boot appears to be on the other foot. Dozy Donald will have to think of another name to call the president - for that is how it works with playground bullies.

I have a smidgen of sympathy for Mr Trump with regard to nodding off. There was a time when I never napped. The only time I slept was in bed - usually for an unbroken seven hours. However, now I frequently and reluctantly nod off  when I am sitting comfortably on one of our sofas in the evening. Before I know it, twenty minutes has just disappeared. I guess it's a sign of growing old.

When I sleep I dream of angels and acts of kindness, swimming towards sinking suns with a pod of dolphins or reliving childhood scenes. But what does Mr Trump dream about?  He's possibly a Roman emperor in a toga or a mega-rich business leader with a spotless record or Adolf Hitler stirring the masses from a balcony in Berlin: "Das ist ein vitch-hunt!"

Anyway, if you also refute the work of the court artist, here's another image of Mr Trump having forty winks during his trial.  This time it's a photograph and as we all know - the camera never lies. Does it? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!