To the London launch...

...of a new book on Shakespeare by Nicholas Fogg. He's a native of Stratford-on-Avon and so grew up with the the folklore of Bard. The London launch was at St Mary Moorfields - Nick is a member of The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, which meets there - and followed the usual pattern of such events, with much talk and wine and agreeable conviviality....Nick's book is warmly recommended: more info here.... I was at the launch with a journalist friend who worked for some years at the BBC World Service - which incidentally has now moved from its time-honoured home at Bush House in the Strand. I had always thought that the World Service owned that building, which has the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto nation" carved into its stonework...but apparently they only leased it, and the carving was a mere piece of coincidental providence.It was from that building that the BBC provided news from freedom to occupied Europe during WWII, and to Eastern Europe during the long years of the Cold War that followed. It always had a special atmosphere, and went on using those big square microphones on green-baize-covered tables long after they had disappeared from other radio stations.