Parkinsons UK is now a regular gig. It had a farcical element this year. The (Jewish) Secretary, Rene, asked for the talk on Chopin. To pull her leg, Ken pointed out that Chopin was so anti-semitic, he would not play if there was a Jew in the room. Ken gave the talk on Edvard Grieg instead!

At London (Hampstead) U3A Ken was still running the “Topical Topics” group, despite saying he was giving up. Sufficient speakers appeared to fill the first 2 terms & for the 3rd, he, Shafeeq & members bodged up a programme. Then, calamity. Ralph Blumenau, who had been running 3 classes found himself, aged 94, in the role of carer for his wife & dropped all his programmes. Ken was asked at 17 hours notice, to fill in the large class that fills the Peter Samuel Hall at the hospital we use on a Monday morning, firstly for an outside speaker, usually very eminent (we have had the Speaker of the House of Commons), then for Ralph's History series. On the assumption that Ralph would be back soon, Ken gave a talk on “The North-West Passage”, then one on “The 30 Years War”. After that, with no sign of Ralph reappearing, he started his “proper” History series back from 9,500BC in Britain. Just in case, Ken has been working on a History series for about 18 months & now has 59 talks, so far.

Meanwhile, at the U3A, Ken had padded Topical Topics with some of his talks & Avis had repeated some of her popular favorites. In the Summer Programme, Avis gave 2 talks on Picasso, while Suzi Kwok cherry-picked Ken's new history talks list for 4 talks. He gave a weepy called “World War One - Visual Arts & Music” to help Ralph out. In the Autumn, Ken gave a talk on Caspar David Friedrich, a painter from before Avis’s period. The Topical Topics programme has been much helped by series of talks by Jim Eardley & Shafeeq Siddiqui plus talks by members Stephen Barry & Lady Catherine Osborn. All Ken & Avis' talks are available to any club in London that wants them.

Plays:- “Albion” by Mike Bartlett Operas:- “Aida” by Verdi

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

“Passchendaele, a new history” by Nick Lloyd. New book agreeing my gut reaction that this battle was a victory of sorts.
“Mother’s Milk” by Edward St.Aubyn. Ferocious witty satire on family life, very well written.
“East West Street” by Phillipe Sands. Red letter book of the year. Involving & moving. Xmas cruise reading.
“Maigret, Lognon & the Gangsters” by Georges Simenon. Americans, both gangsters & FBI, treating Paris as a suburb of St. Louis, with contempt for the local cops.
“And the Weak Suffer what they must?” by Yanis Varoufakis. Excellent economic history.
“Cross Channel” by Julian Barnes. Charming short stories about the English in France.
“The snow was dirty” by Georges Simenon. Non-Maigret psychological study of a young villain.
“Talking it Over” by Julian Barnes. Best friend steals his wife. Unexpected denouement.
“Fall Out” by Tim Shipman. Worthy sequal to "All out War". One wonders what the sequal to this will be.
“The Lemon Table” by Julian Barnes. Very good short stories.
“Maigret and the Minister” by Georges Simenon. Simenon = Maigret does not like politicians.
“The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes. Worthy Booker winner in 2011. Like others of his, you have to work out the actual ending.
“Ma’am, Darling” by Craig Brown. Wicked biography of the awful Princess Margaret. Very funny and exasperating. Why did she have to be so rude?
“Maigret's Secret” by Georges Simenon. Timothy Evans type story.
“Outline” by Rachel Cusk. Remarkable.
“Maigret and the Old People” by Georges Simenon. Unexpected turn of events. Intergenerational & class misunderstanding.
“Conversations with Friends” by Sally Rooney. Remarkable on relationships in modern Ireland.
“Transit” by Rachel Cusk. Builds on Outline.
“Maigret's Failure” by Georges Simenon. Nasty man murdered. Everybody pleased. Perp caught years later by accident.
“Maigret's Doubts” by Georges Simenon. Ghastly family drama. Murder foretold but had to happen before Maigret could act.

Apparently not much read but much re-reading in our History library & on Wikipaedia for the U3A talks