I never knew my mother's birthplace was so strange! Written by a journalist from neighbouring Poland, these are snappy, true and anecdotally sort-of-true tales from the Czech half of the Czech Republic. The introductory timeline is essential. Czechoslovakia went from being a mittel-europa kingdom to a Hitlerite state in 1939 then a Stalinist state from the 50's until the Velvet Revolution in 1968.(this is not to be confused with the Velvet...

I thought the idea of half a yellow sun, a poetic idea, a trope with no real meaning. I knew nothing of Nigeria. Ignorance is not an excuse, but it is an alibi. However unfeasible I associated Biafra with tearstained and potbellied children starving to death. I wasn’t far wrong. Half a Yellow Son was the emblem worn on the sleeves of Biafran soldiers during the Nigeria-Biafar war, when the latter fought for independence, to become a separate...

Here are a few markers of decrepitude. Going baldy. There’s literally a big stamp on your forehead that screams baldy old fart. Your gums are white and receding and what teeth you have are yellow. The left hand that doesn't grip as well as it should and the right hand isn't what it was. Try opening a jar. Your balance is that of a two-year old child. You trip over things. Literally a five-year old could push you over. When you trip, you fall...

Asweh! This book is hutious. Stephen's lively crossover tale takes us inside the world of Harrison Opuka. Recently from Ghana, now in towerblock land East London, 11 year old Harri is a fast runner and a fast learner. Apart from the odd event, such as the murder of a young neighbour, watching the theft of a tray of chickens from the market and the public deportation of a trader, Church, the local carnival and trading banter insults with big sis...

Congratulations this week, (for the second time in a row!) to Old Jack is Back for his excellent Janus in a Dinner Jacket, and also to Sean McNulty for Christmas Game Over using a format borrowed from the Fighting Fantasy books. It's set at a Christmas party and works surprisingly well! http://www.abctales.com/story/old-jack-back/janus-dinner-jacket http://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/christmas-game-over Here's this week's Inspiration...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04vkcgz/tony-bennett-lady-gaga-cheek-to-cheek-live I don’t listen to music much. The radio in my van turns on automatically. I turn it off automatically. I prefer listening to the engine whining and failing instead. Elvis was on BBC 4 last night, it was the young Elvis, not the bloated star he later became. Elvis live at, probably, Las Vegas. I listened for two minutes during the adverts. He was terrible...

Kris Commons, Scottish footballer of the year with 32 goals last season, described by Chris Sutton as the nearest Celtic have got to a Lubo Moravcik and voted as the best player in Scottish football by his fellow professionals is leaving Celtic –why? He’s 31. Lubo Moravcik was 49 (well 33) when he came to Celtic, or so it seemed as the time. He scores on his debut against Dundee and a fortnight later against Rangers and let’s face it, there’s no...

Remember the internet in December 1983? Morphing about the place with floppy-disk hair talking about equality, freedom and changing the world. How we laughed loading up computers like washing machines. We’d go to bed, get up in the morning and it would be making that strange noise as it dry humped data, trying to get its insides out. We’d explain comparing a computer to an electrical typewriter was the wrong analogy. One worked by electricity...

Note: nobody in Hollywood has a normal sounding name, the screenplay was by Joss Whedon with help from Zak Penn. I’m not sure why dear old Joss needed any help with his screenplay but when Walt Disney Studios is paying out (a declared) $220 you can be sure they want bang, bang, bang for their buck. And boy do they get it. There’s a fight every ten seconds involving Loki, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Scarlett Johansson (I can’t...

Minette's whodunnits are sick and dirty. I find them real page-turners. I read this one in a 3 hour gulp last night and will probably re-read it today. In fact, bad confession here, it will probably be a re-reread as I got to around the middle and recognised one of the nicer characters. I only get this with whodunnits, anything else I know by around page 5 if it is a re-read. Some of her books have villains and victims who are from the bottom of...