Blog
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How are things down Maggie Burleigh way?
The Tamar Belle nosed out of its moorings at the Barbican, Plymouth, with my wife and me aboard, bound for Cotehele Quay. Our skipper told us about Drake's Island, Plymouth Breakwater, German frigates and atomic submarines berthed in the Hamoaze...
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From the hedgerows of Devon to the Foreign Office
The earliest known photograph of Ernest Bevin shows him as a little boy of three wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and sailor suit at a Sunday-school treat in 1884. He was born in Winsford, Somerset, on 7 March 1881. His...
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What Edward taught me the hard way
On 26 July 1972, as a young man of 27, I walked into the old Warwick Lane headquarters of Hodder and Stoughton in the shadow of St Paul’s cathedral. I had fallen in love with the story of George Müller,...
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20 Secrets of Good Writing
Here's one example of a piece of writing: Ecclesiastes 9:11: I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to...
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How to be a great writer
'How can I be a great writer?' I asked. 'Write what is new, you and true,' the wise man replied. 'How can fiction be true?' I asked. 'Make it believable,' he said. 'Sounds easy,' I said. 'It will take a lifetime,' he said. 'And it...
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Benedictine and Presbyterian: a shared delight
Friday 16 September 2011 I am just leaving for a meeting of Christian writers at Buckfast Abbey. Since time immemorial, deer have been drawn to graze in the sheltered meadows which line the banks of the river Dart in this...
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Stott on fundamentalist, liberal, evangelical
Friday 29 July 2011 In his debate with the distinguished liberal thinker, David Edwards, John Stott developed a little parable. It used flight as a picture of freedom and sought to characterise (but not he hoped caricature) the essential difference between...
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A N Wilson´s return to faith
Friday 15 May 2009 I used to read A N Wilson with profit in his Christian years, was sad when he appeared to abandon faith, but am delighted that he has returned to such a strong and articulate faith. Do take...
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