Robin Benn
@bennrobin.bsky.social
Read this!
I loved BB’s self-deprecating description of her distinctive topknot as ‘choucroute’ / Sauerkraut - a wonderful article bringing back many happy boyhood screen daydreams ⚜️🇫🇷
I loved BB’s self-deprecating description of her distinctive topknot as ‘choucroute’ / Sauerkraut - a wonderful article bringing back many happy boyhood screen daydreams ⚜️🇫🇷
For the admirable @engelsbergideas.bsky.social I wrote about Brigitte Bardot, the French myth 🇫🇷
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
@garlicandpearls.bsky.social
@bennrobin.bsky.social
@drmatthewsweet.bsky.social
@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/bri...
@suzanneraine.bsky.social
@garlicandpearls.bsky.social
@bennrobin.bsky.social
@drmatthewsweet.bsky.social
@rwilliamsparis.bsky.social
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/bri...
Brigitte Bardot was the face of France
She was a cultural icon who channelled the electric power of French femininity and, by extension, Frenchness itself.
engelsbergideas.com
December 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Read this!
I loved BB’s self-deprecating description of her distinctive topknot as ‘choucroute’ / Sauerkraut - a wonderful article bringing back many happy boyhood screen daydreams ⚜️🇫🇷
I loved BB’s self-deprecating description of her distinctive topknot as ‘choucroute’ / Sauerkraut - a wonderful article bringing back many happy boyhood screen daydreams ⚜️🇫🇷
Reposted by Robin Benn
December 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Robin Benn
"A commercial for Carte D’Or ice cream I would have been very pleased to have written." - Alan Bennett
"He's not your dad. We never knew who your dad was."
I thought of this old television commercial a while ago, but I've only just found it because I had convinced myself it was advertising Vienn...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
July 3, 2025 at 8:54 PM
"A commercial for Carte D’Or ice cream I would have been very pleased to have written." - Alan Bennett
Reposted by Robin Benn
We're all set for our Midsummer Concert this evening at Canongate
Kirk.
It was sounding fantastic this morning.
Tickets are still available at
TicketSource until 5pm and any remaining will be available on the door
£15 (£13) U18Free
www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/edi...
Kirk.
It was sounding fantastic this morning.
Tickets are still available at
TicketSource until 5pm and any remaining will be available on the door
£15 (£13) U18Free
www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/edi...
June 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM
We're all set for our Midsummer Concert this evening at Canongate
Kirk.
It was sounding fantastic this morning.
Tickets are still available at
TicketSource until 5pm and any remaining will be available on the door
£15 (£13) U18Free
www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/edi...
Kirk.
It was sounding fantastic this morning.
Tickets are still available at
TicketSource until 5pm and any remaining will be available on the door
£15 (£13) U18Free
www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/edi...
Reposted by Robin Benn
This is part of a thing called "The Last Picnic", which didn't make it into The Usual Apologies, but is part of a series of hybrid splurges of consciousness tentatively entitled Postcards From An Edge. Buy TUA, show me, and I will send you a hand drawn postcard from an edge. #Poetry #BribeOrThreat
April 12, 2025 at 12:19 PM
This is part of a thing called "The Last Picnic", which didn't make it into The Usual Apologies, but is part of a series of hybrid splurges of consciousness tentatively entitled Postcards From An Edge. Buy TUA, show me, and I will send you a hand drawn postcard from an edge. #Poetry #BribeOrThreat
Do read this! From Robert Louis Stevenson to Numberwang, via Croydon, Slough and Hackney, to the emergence of a new, and gentle, seam of English pastoral comedy (Mackenzie Crook’s The Detectorists and Will Sharpe’s Flowers) that helps glimpse life’s mysteriousness:
March 6, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Do read this! From Robert Louis Stevenson to Numberwang, via Croydon, Slough and Hackney, to the emergence of a new, and gentle, seam of English pastoral comedy (Mackenzie Crook’s The Detectorists and Will Sharpe’s Flowers) that helps glimpse life’s mysteriousness:
A really great podcast. Listen out for Tallis, Mozart, Wagner, Ted Heath(!) +reflections on the sad sidelining of <élitist> classics, compared with the real joys of music making for all: playing the cello, singing in choirs, conducting youth orchestras, playing Solti’s Ring Cycle on a 60s phonogram…
What makes Classical music special among the arts?
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by Richard Bratby and @amwilson.bsky.social to discuss the inexhaustible complexity of the western musical tradition.
🎙️The case for Classical music | EI Podcasts
engelsbergideas.com/podcast/ei-t...
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by Richard Bratby and @amwilson.bsky.social to discuss the inexhaustible complexity of the western musical tradition.
🎙️The case for Classical music | EI Podcasts
engelsbergideas.com/podcast/ei-t...
The case for Classical music
What makes Classical music special among the arts? And where did it come from?To reckon with the inexhaustible complexity of the western musical tradition, its long history and the roots of its contem...
engelsbergideas.com
February 28, 2025 at 5:10 PM
A really great podcast. Listen out for Tallis, Mozart, Wagner, Ted Heath(!) +reflections on the sad sidelining of <élitist> classics, compared with the real joys of music making for all: playing the cello, singing in choirs, conducting youth orchestras, playing Solti’s Ring Cycle on a 60s phonogram…
Is George Smiley the still-abiding spirit of the post-war era, and does spy fiction help us to parse our new/old world and its actors?
Your conclusions will be thoroughly enlivened by this podcast, with both David Omand (not C, but nearly) and Pauline Blistène:
Your conclusions will be thoroughly enlivened by this podcast, with both David Omand (not C, but nearly) and Pauline Blistène:
Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama?
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by David Omand, Pauline Blistène and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss the enduring popularity of the spy in fiction.
🎙️The myth and magic of spy fiction | EI Podcasts
audioboom.com/posts/865349...
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by David Omand, Pauline Blistène and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss the enduring popularity of the spy in fiction.
🎙️The myth and magic of spy fiction | EI Podcasts
audioboom.com/posts/865349...
EI Talks... the myth and magic of spy fiction
Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world?
audioboom.com
February 15, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Is George Smiley the still-abiding spirit of the post-war era, and does spy fiction help us to parse our new/old world and its actors?
Your conclusions will be thoroughly enlivened by this podcast, with both David Omand (not C, but nearly) and Pauline Blistène:
Your conclusions will be thoroughly enlivened by this podcast, with both David Omand (not C, but nearly) and Pauline Blistène:
Reposted by Robin Benn
Thank you, @bennrobin.bsky.social! Goodness knows how much we all need re-enchantment. And chant/chanson too.
As @murielzagha.bsky.social writes, it is often (especially on Mondays) “as though the medium of chanson is used to disrupt and re-enchant the ordinariness of everyday life and its tiresome repetitiveness”.
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
For @engelsbergideas.bsky.social I wrote about the appeal of the Great French Songbook: a deeply rooted shared identity for the French; myriad windows on to France for the rest of the world. Many links to catchy songs in the piece - sing your life!
engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...
engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...
February 10, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Thank you, @bennrobin.bsky.social! Goodness knows how much we all need re-enchantment. And chant/chanson too.
As @murielzagha.bsky.social writes, it is often (especially on Mondays) “as though the medium of chanson is used to disrupt and re-enchant the ordinariness of everyday life and its tiresome repetitiveness”.
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
For @engelsbergideas.bsky.social I wrote about the appeal of the Great French Songbook: a deeply rooted shared identity for the French; myriad windows on to France for the rest of the world. Many links to catchy songs in the piece - sing your life!
engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...
engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...
The Great French Songbook
Why do people the world over enjoy listening to songs sung in French?
engelsbergideas.com
February 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
As @murielzagha.bsky.social writes, it is often (especially on Mondays) “as though the medium of chanson is used to disrupt and re-enchant the ordinariness of everyday life and its tiresome repetitiveness”.
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
Happy reading (& listening - some wonderful links):
The ‘note of civet is evaporating from our cultural life’ remarks Jenny McCartney - catch it (if that’s the right word) while you can in this fascinating essay, along with pungent doses of Hogarth, Zola and Sickert:
February 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The ‘note of civet is evaporating from our cultural life’ remarks Jenny McCartney - catch it (if that’s the right word) while you can in this fascinating essay, along with pungent doses of Hogarth, Zola and Sickert:
A most literate (& elegantly alarming) exposition of the post- or even anti-literate era we appear to be entering: do listen (and/or watch!):
Is the era of mass literacy over? And what might a post-literate society look like?
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by James Marriott
and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss literacy and its uses.
🎙️The dawn of the post-literate society | EI Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...
🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by James Marriott
and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss literacy and its uses.
🎙️The dawn of the post-literate society | EI Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...
January 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
A most literate (& elegantly alarming) exposition of the post- or even anti-literate era we appear to be entering: do listen (and/or watch!):
The great Andrew Wilton’s tour d’horizon of a century of printmaking and his insights into the abiding and dynamic influence of Turner himself on the course of this mechanical art are very much worth reading:
JMW Turner lived in an age of extraordinary mechanical advances. He was ever alive to the opportunities that new technologies afforded the arts.
Turner’s genius for technology | Andrew Wilton
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tur...
Turner’s genius for technology | Andrew Wilton
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tur...
Turner's genius for technology
J.M.W Turner lived in an age of extraordinary mechanical advances. He was ever alive to the opportunities new technologies afforded the arts.
engelsbergideas.com
January 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The great Andrew Wilton’s tour d’horizon of a century of printmaking and his insights into the abiding and dynamic influence of Turner himself on the course of this mechanical art are very much worth reading:
Reposted by Robin Benn
Wonderful story. Deservedly on the front page.
January 24, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Wonderful story. Deservedly on the front page.
This is a picture of Dylan as Goethe’s greatest wanderer, Chaucer’s man in the crowd, who sees everything and sets out to tell us all the condition of each one of us.
Do read this (before seeing the excellent film) by @alastairbenn.bsky.social at the ever-more-essential @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Do read this (before seeing the excellent film) by @alastairbenn.bsky.social at the ever-more-essential @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
No other living artist has so successfully and for so long lit up the vastness of the American experiment as Bob Dylan, as an ambitious, knowing biopic reveals.
Bob Dylan, the last of the best | @alastairbenn.bsky.social
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
Bob Dylan, the last of the best | @alastairbenn.bsky.social
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
Bob Dylan, the last of the best
No other living artist has so successfully and for so long lit up the vastness of the American experiment as Bob Dylan, as an ambitious, knowing biopic reveals.
engelsbergideas.com
January 22, 2025 at 12:56 PM
This is a picture of Dylan as Goethe’s greatest wanderer, Chaucer’s man in the crowd, who sees everything and sets out to tell us all the condition of each one of us.
Do read this (before seeing the excellent film) by @alastairbenn.bsky.social at the ever-more-essential @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Do read this (before seeing the excellent film) by @alastairbenn.bsky.social at the ever-more-essential @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Reposted by Robin Benn
No other living artist has so successfully and for so long lit up the vastness of the American experiment as Bob Dylan, as an ambitious, knowing biopic reveals.
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
Bob Dylan, the last of the best
No other living artist has so successfully and for so long lit up the vastness of the American experiment as Bob Dylan, as an ambitious, knowing biopic reveals.
engelsbergideas.com
January 22, 2025 at 7:36 AM
No other living artist has so successfully and for so long lit up the vastness of the American experiment as Bob Dylan, as an ambitious, knowing biopic reveals.
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/bob-...
Reposted by Robin Benn
The public's appetite for intellectual stimulation is now being met by podcasts. The risks to the written word may prove existential.
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pod...
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pod...
Podcasts v the written word
The public's appetite for intellectual stimulation is now being met by podcasts. The risks to the written word may prove existential.
engelsbergideas.com
January 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The public's appetite for intellectual stimulation is now being met by podcasts. The risks to the written word may prove existential.
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pod...
My latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pod...
Reposted by Robin Benn
December 19, 2024 at 11:15 AM
Do come on 14th December (this Saturday already!).
Also, do like the choir’s page for news of lots more choral delights in the New Year:
Also, do like the choir’s page for news of lots more choral delights in the New Year:
Hello BlueSky!
#edinburgh #choral #livemusic #christmas #advent #carols #renaissance #newmusic #candlelit
#edinburgh #choral #livemusic #christmas #advent #carols #renaissance #newmusic #candlelit
December 9, 2024 at 10:36 PM
Do come on 14th December (this Saturday already!).
Also, do like the choir’s page for news of lots more choral delights in the New Year:
Also, do like the choir’s page for news of lots more choral delights in the New Year:
This is a brilliant article - typical of the excellent (& paywall free) content at @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Britain's railways are more than just machines. They are a miniature civilisation in their own right, teeming with human experience and bound together by shining ribbons of steel.
The restless brilliance of Britain’s railways | Richard Bratby
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...
The restless brilliance of Britain’s railways | Richard Bratby
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...
The restless brilliance of Britain's railways
Britain's railways are more than just machines. They are a miniature civilisation in their own right, teeming with human experience and bound together by shining ribbons of steel.
engelsbergideas.com
November 21, 2024 at 4:13 PM
This is a brilliant article - typical of the excellent (& paywall free) content at @engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Reposted by Robin Benn
A picture taken seven years ago. A merchant's and shipper's office in Leith, Edinburgh. Gone now.
November 12, 2024 at 11:04 AM
A picture taken seven years ago. A merchant's and shipper's office in Leith, Edinburgh. Gone now.