Wales Antiques

This blog will from time to time complement my Wales Antiques Web Site and its printed companion. The guide is a developing listing of general suppliers of antiques and collectables in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Powys and beyond; it now including auctions and in the future specialist heritage related attractions. Over 23 years it has become an essential resource for anyone with an interest in buying and selling antiques and collectables in West Wales and Beyond. If you would like to know more visit the site here.

Famous Welsh

Visit the fascinating world of FamousWelsh...

You Heard It Here

  • The Flying Burrito Brothers The Flying Burrito Brothers
    1 Plays

  • Vanilla Fudge Vanilla Fudge
    1 Plays

  • Steeleye Span Steeleye Span
    1 Plays

  • The Music Machine The Music Machine
    1 Plays

  • The Litter The Litter
    1 Plays

Recent Images

wpid833-DSC_0368 wpid799-DSC_0319

Sponsors

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

  • Turbulence

    Turbulence by Giles Foden

  • The Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and Barbarism

    The Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and Barbarism by Neal Ascherson

Recent books:

View full Library

Subscribe! Now! Juice! Fresh! Here! Free!

Fill out the form below to sign up to my newsletter and I'll drop you a line when new articles are posted.

Our strict privacy policy keeps your email address 100% safe and secure.

The Longest Crawl Christmas Promotion

As far as I’m aware I appear in three books pseudonymously. In Mr Ian Marchant’s The Longest Crawl and Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams I appear under my ‘punk’ name, as photographer Perry Venus (a not very funny spoonerism) and in Real Aberystwyth I get to be the even less imaginative ‘Steve’.

For the Longest Crawl we were privileged to be guided around Lampeter’s Pubs by the then Mayor, Mr Hag Harris; and although this is not a picture of himself it does remind me of a rather jolly evening.

A Satisfied Customer; the Ivy Bush Lampeter 2004

Mythologised, if not immortalised, in print, and now digitalised by Whole Story Audio Books on the CD reading of The Longest Crawl.

As their Press Release so succinctly puts it;

Whole Story Audio Books – publishers of unabridged audio books – are offering The Longest Crawl for under £20 as part of their special Christmas promotion. Visit www.wholestoryaudio.co.uk for details.
The Longest Crawl

31AfoqeYd5L. SL160  The Longest Crawl Christmas Promotion41P4GQ98HWL. SL160  The Longest Crawl Christmas Promotion51wgj6vJTvL. SL160  The Longest Crawl Christmas Promotion

  • Share/Bookmark

Monique Roffey: Reviews

I’ve no idea what happened to Monique Roffey’s  Not the Booker Prize nomination; after the Guardian-style man-bags at ten paces hoo-haa there in the summer I daren’t go back.*

That aside The White Woman on the Green Bicycle has gathered some excellent reviews and I recently updated her web pages with some choice quotes from them, so if you are inclined you can go and see what people are saying here.

51ZEh47jGlL. SL160  Monique Roffey: Reviews

*Well I have had a peek now and she got a very creditable 30 nominations but sadly not enough for the final six.

  • Share/Bookmark

Photo: Niall Griffiths and the Druid's Inn Goginan

Most weeks I vow to organise my photo archive. And most weeks I abjure that vow. But while engaged in the preliminaries I usually come across images I’ve made that excite me still.

This one from 2006 works very well as a photograph. It’s a black and white conversion from a RAW file and it captures something of a moment. The image depicts two writers; in the foreground Niall Griffiths and in the mirror Ian Marchant who was interviewing Niall in his favourite Mid Wales boozer, the Druids Inn , at Goginan, Ceredigion.

I like particularly the soft diffused evening light through the window.

Niall Griffiths

I include a link here to Niall’s excellent non-fiction book Real Aberystwyth; the pub, though not the photograph, is featured therein.

51wgj6vJTvL. SL160  Photo: Niall Griffiths and the Druids Inn Goginan

  • Share/Bookmark

Monique Roffey and Mariella Frostrup: Open Book

Friend and writer Monique Roffey’s new book White Woman on a Green Bicycle is out now and gathers some good reviews. Despite this, she didn’t make the Man-Booker Long List and there’s me thinking it would be a shoe-in. Still there there’s a good chance of getting it on the Not the Booker Prize list that the Guardian is running. Follow the the link and nominate if you are inclined.

51vrbv6O0jL. SL160  Monique Roffey and Mariella Frostrup: Open Book

Of further note you can hear Monique on the BBC Radio 4’s Open Book show hosted by Mariella Frostrup, the thinking man’s pickled herring.

There’s also Fans of Monique Roffey’s New Book ‘The White Woman on The Green Bicycle on Facebook and you might enjoy The Indie’s One Minute with Monique Roffey

If that’s not enough try her Monique’s Web Pages and Blog.

  • Share/Bookmark

Richard Beard Has a Blog

Richard Beard by Martyn Symons

Richard Beard by Martyn Symons




Handsome devil isn’t he? It’s been a pleasure to re-grout Mr Richard Beard’s new web pages. While we wait for the dust to settle why not take look at www.richardbeard.info?. It’s full of excellent stuff he’s wriitten for the papers and what not as well as reviews of and introductions to his fabulous books…


  • Share/Bookmark