I’m Tasmanian (despite not having lived there for nearly 40 years) and was recently reading Neil Kearney’s marvellous book, Longford: The Legend of a Little Town with a Big Motor, when I spied a surprising passing note on the legendary Grand Prix driver, Jim Clark. It seems that the sun-seeking Clark, while visiting to compete in 1967, “… went surfing on Tasmania’s east coast.” (p. 166). I followed up with Neil, who’d been told that “he went to the beaches with a couple of local drivers”. That finding prompted me to try a stock-take of famous people who’ve caught the bug. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Mark Twain
When Kipling met Twain
Blessed is the man who finds no disillusion when he is brought face to face with a revered writer.
Rudyard Kipling interviewed Mark Twain in 1889. This surprising fact was revealed to me as I perused one of the books which emerged when I recently successfully ‘downsized’, moving across the road from a house to a townhouse. It was an opportunity to take stock of my motley collection of books, discarding a few (not as many as I should have), reminding myself to re-read some favourites and planning to read a few unread titles. Continue reading