Tag: Family

Beware the Ides of March

My family: Mum, Dad, Eddie, Jenni and me.
My family in healthier times
Back row: Rosalie and Keith
Front row: Eddie, Jenni and Gareth

Today, Sunday 15 March 2026 (the Ides of March) marks the 43rd anniversary of my late father’s first (of three) subarachnoid brain haemorrhages, shortly after he delivered the IEE Faraday Lecture, entitled “The Photon Connection“, in his hometown of Nottingham.

It was an event that overwhelmed us at the time and defined almost every aspect of our lives afterwards, up to and beyond his death in January 1998.

It marks the moment that we effectively lost our father. I often used to describe that a man who looked like our father returned from England, but he was never the same. Over the next fifteen years his health declined, the brain damage and subsequent dementia slowly picked away at his memories and personality and he eventually succumbed to kidney failure.

I often wish I’d had more time with him, learned more about who he was, listened to more stories about his childhood and his adventures in India, where he met our mum.

I often wonder what the other ‘sliding doors’ life would have looked like. The one where he didn’t collapse during a post-lecture interview with the BBC. The one where he returned home healthy after the lecture tour.

But today, I will hold on to the good memories, remember his hugs and the happy tears of joy in his eyes whenever I returned home from university.

Family eyewitness account of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbour, view from Japanese plane.
Source: Imperial Japanese Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I wanted to share a remarkable first-hand account from my mum’s cousin, Charlotte Anderson, who witnessed the bombing as a child living in Wahiawa Heights, O’ahu, Hawai’i.

I found this account quite by accident recently while searching through some family tree papers in my filing cabinet.

Charlotte wrote these memories later in life, reflecting on what she saw that morning, the days that followed, and how the war reshaped her family’s life. Her story is vivid, personal and deeply human, offering a window into history as it was experienced by one girl watching events unfold from her own home.

Continue reading Family eyewitness account of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Negative Space

This beautiful short film was featured in Documentally‘s last newsletter. It’s definitely worth subscribing to.

I showed this video to my three children a few days ago; they were captivated, laughed at the end and we discussed it over breakfast the following morning. I love little moments like that.

I think about my dad a lot. He taught me a lot about being ordered and considerate in how I do things, the importance of finding a home for everything and putting it back after using it—something that was more important to him once his brain damage dug deeper and dementia started robbing him of his memories. Not surprisingly, he was an engineer. I often wonder what he could teach me now.

Return to Childhood

Misplaced Childhood by Marillion
Misplaced Childhood by Marillion

Yesterday the prog rock concept album Misplaced Childhood by Marillion (then fronted by Fish) turned 30.

Thirty?! How old does that make me feel?

I remember the summer that it came out. My cousins Alan and Colin were into Marillion, I recall, which is what put them on my radar.

During the summer of 1985 my family went on holiday to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It was an extravagance and looking back my favourite get-right-away holidays while I was a kid: it was a fabulous experience. We were, I recall, in part celebrating that my dad had survived three brain haemorrhages in the spring of 1983 (“Beware the Ides of March!”).

I remember standing outside the John Menzies in St Peter Port gazing at a window display that included a large cardboard cut-out of the boy from the cover. The whole thing captured my imagination: the artwork, the title, even the name of the band (Marillion is a shortening of the Tolkien collection The Silmarillion).

It wasn’t until a few years later before I actually listened to the album. It’s still one of my all-time favourite albums, and by a long margin my favourite Marillion album.

Happy birthday.