Parkinsons UK is now a regular gig. Ken gave them a brand new talk on Mozart, reinforced by photos from the Haydn Trip on this link.
He also made a new show about Sir Arthur Sullivan, complete, not just with Gilbert.

At London (Hampstead) U3A Ken is still running the “Topical Topics” group & is currently putting together his eighth term for next Spring but this has to be the last, as getting a speaker every week in Term Time has exhausted his contacts list. He gave talks himself on: Tchaikovsky; Life after Reuters; Cruising to St. Petersburg; the Chamonix-Zermatt Walk; Mozart; Beethoven; The Lake District for Beginners & Arthur Sullivan, with Edvard Grieg to come before Xmas. He did Charles Ives in the Summer Programme, with Avis doing The Bauhaus & Paul Klee: Modernism can be Fun in the regular talks. Ken walks to the U3A & his routes this year have been radically altered by the work on the dams to ensure that the River Fleet does not end up in the basement of the British Library. Now, one would not know that any works had taken place, except the Boating Lake (below) is larger.

Royal Academy & Tate. As usual, we went to all the shows.

Plays:-

“They drink it in the Congo” by Adam Bruce
“Oil” by Ella Hickson

Operas:-

“Lulu” by Alban Berg

Ken's reading list of books for the year Essential reading marked in red:-

“1980” by David Peace. Similar in style to the previous two, with what seems like a sad ending for the straight cop.
“Félicie” By Simenon. Maigret with a difficult witness.
“The Establishment & how they get away with it” by the inestimable Owen Jones. A useful catalogue of stuff one knows but forgets the details.
“Schubert's Winter Journey” by Ian Bostridge. Astonishing survey of the song cycle, with a huge number of references.
“1918 year of Victory” by Malcolm Brown. Re-read & none the wiser about post 8-8-1918 events.
“Constance” by Tarquin de la Force. 18th century romp by a family member.
“1983” by David Peace. Unclear end to a staggering saga.
“Home” by Francis Pryor. Virtuoso history from the last ice-age, based on insights into family behaviour.
“Maigret gets Angry” by Georges Simenon. Dirty posh family secrets saga.
“Pre Diary” by me. I finished reading & revising it, adding more photos as well.
“Signed, Picpus” by Georges Simenon. 2nd grade arch-villain gets away with it.
“To Hell & Back” by Ian Kershaw. Added lots of detail to my knowledge of the period 1914-1949.
“The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox” by Maggie O'Farrell. Touching story about the ghastly pre-war habit of putting 'difficult' girls into loony bins.
“1946 The making of the Modern World“ by Victor Sebastyen. Good detailed survey of what happened.
“Maigret in New York” By Simenon. After his retirement.
“Corridors of Power” by C P Snow. Reread. Useful reminder as to how things get done or not.
“The Sleep of Reason” by C P Snow. Reread. All in one volume.
“Last Things” by C P Snow. Reread.
“Becoming Steve Jobs” by Brent Schlender & Rick Tetzeli. Considered the better Jobs biography.
“Maigret's Holiday” by Georges Simenon. One where he uses psychological pressure to break down a killer.
“A Mislaid Magic” by Joyce Windsor. Up-dated Nancy Mitford, though set in the 20s & 30s.
“Rimbaud” by Edward White. Good brief survey of his life.
“Call me Your Ladyship” by Catherine Osborn. Autobiography by a U3A member. Would not have been very interesting if I had not known her. It is a bit rushed towards the end. Not exactly an easy life.
“The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James. Never read before. A masterpiece.
“Maigret's Dead Man” by Georges Simenon.
“The Red Pavilion” by Robert van Gulik. Re-read.
“Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys. Re-read of a classic.
“Maigret's First Case” by Georges Simenon. Everything goes wrong & right.
“Arthur Sullivan” by Arthur Jacobs. Comprehensive biography. Read to prepare a talk.
“Maigret sets a Trap” by Georges Simenon. Psychodrama.
“The Monkey” by Robert van Gulik. Re-read.
“Sir Arthur Sullivan” by Percy Young. Supplemental reading after the Jacobs book.
“ Postcapitalism” by Paul Mason. Inspiring. Been telling everyone to read it.
“The Spoils of Poynton” by Henry James. A parable of stuff vs. humanity.
“Where my heart used to beat” by Sebastian Faulks. Very sad but a brilliant story.
“The Cambridge Guide to Gilbert & Sullivan” ed.David Eden & Meinhard Saremba. Learned symposium.
“Career of Evil” by "Robert Galbraith". J K Rowling at her most gruesome & plot-twisted.
“At the Existentialist Café” by Sarah Bakewell. Unputdownable history/philosophical masterpiece.
“Granta 72” Short stories
“The Modern Spymasters” by Stephen Grey. Succinct book by a Reuter colleague.
“Maigret at the Coroner's” by Georges Simenon. Maigret in the USA. Not involved but works it out.
“Purple Hibiscus” by Chimanamanda Ngozi Adichie. Excellent Nigerian coming-of-age novel.