The latest review of my new book “Everyone Has A Story” available on Amazon
April 16th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
“I love this book and found it to be a page turner. An excellent storyteller, Roger knows how to transform the triumphs and losses of life into gripping tales. The author throughout his life has turned chance encounters into lifelong friendships, uncovering the unique gifts of people. Brilliant little cameos of some ordinary/extraordinary people.
Who will forget the story of 3 seats on a plane, Roger, his then wife and a young unknown Chinese student, now 25 years later, a ground breaking world scientist and Professor at Oxford, seeing her own son off to University? Just one of over 30 people, breaking new ground, bringing discoveries to light, often stepping into uncharted territory, quietly creating a better world.
This is the story of how friendship creates a rich and inspiring life and how each person has a story worth sharing. A great and very enjoyable read from an author who creates friendship wherever he goes.”
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A review of the novel “Crooked Cross” by Sally Carson
April 15th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
The provenance of this novel is particularly interesting. Sally Carson was a young English woman (she was 32 in 1933) who spent holidays in Munich during the early 1930s and her book was first published in 1934. The work was acclaimed at the time and indeed staged as a play in 1935 and 1937 as Germany became a Nazi state (the title is a reference to the swastika). Carson died of breast cancer in 1941 and her book was later forgotten. It was only in 2024 that it was reprinted by Persephone Books which reprints neglected fiction and non-fiction, mostly by women writers and mostly dating from the mid-twentieth century.
“Crooked Cross” is the fictional story of a working-class German family set over only six months, from Christmas Eve 1932 to Midsummer’s Eve 1933, a period when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor, his party effectively took control of the Reichstag, Dachau was opened, and Nazi repression of Jews and political opponents intensified.
The Kluger family consists of the two parents and three off-spring in their early 20s, Helmy and Erich who join the Nazi Party and Lexa who plans to marry her Jewish boyfriend. The novel subtly and fluently explores why young Germans flocked to the Party, how the net tightened on the Jewish community, and the power of love when all around hate is on the rise. It must have been a chilling read at the time and now it is a opportune reminder of how totalitarianism can appeal to the disaffected.
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Wedding programme for Tess & Roger
April 8th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Saturday 11 April 2026
Ventnor Botanic Garden,
Isle of Wight
Timetable (we hope!)
At VBG:
2.30 Arrival of guests
2.30 Arrival of Roger: Canna Room
2.45 Arrival of Tess: Canna Room
In the Olive Grove:
2.45 Arrival of Roger
3.00 Arrival of Tess
3.00 Legal ceremony and then hand fasting
In Fountain Courtyard:
3.30 Group photographs
In the Echium Room:
4.00 Toast to the bride & groom and responses
4.30 Cutting of the cake and light refreshments
6.00 Farewell
Roles
Registrars: Katie Green & Mike Ackrill
Giver away: Monica Edwards
Witnesses: Gail Mathie & Silvia Holden
Hand fasting: Emily Darlington
Bride’s dress: Julie Sharp
Car for bride: Andy & Sue Richards
Ring bearer: Catrin Darlington
Chief bridesmaid: Kara Darlington assisted by Doreen Hippsley & Penny Smith
Best man: Ralph Darlington
Chief usher: David Waller assisted by Nigel Hartley & Peter Martin
Flowers: Tom Travitsky
Cake: Gail Mathie
Photographs: Richard Darlington
Video: Francesca Mongelli
VBG wedding coordinator: Lera Cooke
Weather: Mark Czuchnecki
Rings
Engagement ring for bride: Sophie Honeybourne
Wedding ring for bride: wedding ring of Tess’s mother
Wedding ring for groom: Sophie Honeybourne
Tartan theme:
Weathered hunting Fraser
Music
Arrival: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (Second Movement)
Signing: “Magic Still Exists” by Agnes (Carlsson)
Leaving: Faure’s Pavane (piano version)
Provider: Saskia Darlington
Refreshments
Fish: island brown crab mayonnaise sandwich with lobster and ‘caviar’
Meat: fillet of island beef wrapped in cucumber with carrot, watercress and wasabi
Vegetarian: gallybagger shortbread with whipped rosary goats cheese and vegetable crisp
Sweets: baby meringues with raspberries and cream plus dark chocolate and rum truffles
Notices
Ventnor Botanic Garden is set in a unique microclimate that is around 5°C warmer than the rest of the UK. Spread across 22 stunning acres, the garden is home to over 30,000 rare and exotic plants from around the world, thriving in natural outdoor settings.
There is free parking.
The gardens are open to all the guests all day – enjoy.
The Botanic has a cafe and shop which can be visited before the ceremony.
No confetti please.
No gifts please – if you wish, we advise a donation to:
Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight through their website
https://www.mountbatten.org.uk/donate/donate-to-mountbatten/30/credit-card
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Twenty first century problems
April 6th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
What’s the world coming to? The $23M toilet on the Artemis II is not functioning properly. And, on Easter Monday, my local bakery has stopping selling their delicious hot cross buns. Never mind, I’m getting married at the weekend.
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The fifth five-star review of my book “Everyone Has A Story” available on Amazon
April 5th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
“Roger Darlington is prodigious, his latest book is a collection of 33 tales of people he knows, told by them. He captures the truth that everyone is interesting and worth a listen. Much of of our world is on transmission, he has received and retold.
Should be a TV or radio show . Everyone is a unique combination of universal circumstances. A unique and universal book. Worth reading to discover yourself.”
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A review of the new thought-provoking film “The Drama”
April 5th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
The weekend before my wedding, I went to see the most intriguing new release which ironically features a couple in the final stages of planning their wedding who are shocked by a ‘great reveal’.
Written and directed by the Norwegian Kristoffer Borgli, this is not the traditional Hollywood fare, although it is set in Boston. Instead it is part romantic comedy and (a larger) part a psychological drama (I guess the clue is in the title). Balancing these two genres is a tricky business which doesn’t always work, but the film holds the attention throughout and provokes thought which lingers afterwards.
What really sells the movie is its stars. Robert Pattinson and Zendaya are excellent, as respectively British art historian Charlie and American bookstore clerk Emma. It is a tale of honesty, forgiveness and empathy and the balance between them.
It is wordy and watchable and could be turned into a play. If perhaps a drama is too easily turned into a crisis, that might have something to do with the relative wealth of all concerned. If they had more pressing worries, perhaps they would have a greater sense of perspective. But you decide.
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A review of the 2001 French film “Amélie” which is back in cinemas now
April 2nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This utterly delightful Gallic rom-com has an eventual romance and considerable humour, but something more: a sense of magic, as it explores how providing happiness to others secretly and unselfishly can transform one’s own sense of well-being.
The location is the Parisian quarter of Montmartre, but it a digitally-enhanced and lusciously-coloured version of this tourist haunt. The titular character is a young woman who has had an isolated upbringing, which has led to her being shy and inhibited and very much living in a world of her imagination. The large cast of supporting characters are invariably eccentric but in endlessly variable ways. There is even a travelling garden gnome.
The creator of this marvellous concoction is director and co-writer Jean-Pierre Jeunet who uses a huge array of inventive techniques to engage and entertain the viewer: lots of narration, some frenetic camerawork, variable camera angles, close-ups, long takes, and digital effects such as Amélie dissolving into water. The story and the camera are always on the move. The director’s muse is the adorable Audrey Tatou, playing the bobbed-haired gamine, who literally changes lives and ultimately her own.
The film was a huge success on its release and there was a 25th anniversary re-release. I was at the cinema to see it on both occasions.
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”Everyone Has A Story” – over 30 fascinating tales
March 31st, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This is the latest review of my new book “Everyone Has A Story” available from Amazon. Have you bought your copy yet? Don’t forget family and friends.
“The breadth of experiences that the author ‘reports’ from 33 interviews with accomplished, but humble and low key people, is gripping. His interviewees go from tech entrepreneurs to trade unionists to social justice campaigners to academics to athletes to survivors of serious crime to lawyers championing consumers to historians to extensive to travellers to carers including at end of life.
An overarching conclusion I took from the book is that there is simply no such thing as an ‘ordinary’ person. That sounds trite and something that we all know, but, too often, we are lumped together under various labels and deprived a distinction that is uniquely ours. It is also a testament to the resilience of the human spirit as well as its capacity for imagination and creativity.
None of the interviewees recount perfect lives untouched by bad circumstance. Many have endured tragedy, yet, all reflect a strength of character that not just saw them emerge from crisis but stronger for it.
This is one of those books that is not alone profoundly interesting for its content, but provides in a subtle, unforced, and clear way, some wisdoms about the human spirit that will stay with the reader.”
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A review of the new science fiction blockbuster “Project Hail Mary”
March 28th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I love a good science fiction movie and novelist Andy Weir and scriptwriter Drew Goddard have done it again. A decade ago, Weir’s first book “The Martian” was turned into a script by Goddard to produce a most enjoyable film with Matt Damon in the eponymous role as the left-behind astronaut. This time, Weir’s third novel has been crafted by Goddard into a hugely entertaining feature, on this trip with the immensely-watchable Ryan Gosling in the main role as a junior high science teacher.
The stakes are higher this time, much higher – not just one life at stake, but ultimately the whole of humankind. And, on this occasion our reluctant hero is not alone: a charming alien is around to show that friendship can cross life forms. It’s a exciting drama but leavened with humour.
Visually the film is stunning and the sound is wonderful, so I was delighted to be able to see a 70 mm IMAX version of the movie on the biggest screen in Britain. Plot-wise, however, the film is a bit of a stretch both subject-wise and time-wise, but you just need to go with it. The problem is the dimming of our sun, caused by a microorganism known as an astrophage (Greek for ‘star-eater’) which will cause Earth to suffer global cooling (and you thought that global warming was our problem). There might be a solution in a star system some 12 light years away (that’s about 70 trillion miles).
You’re wondering how humans could possible make such a journey and how one could persuade a mere school teacher to go on such a suicide mission (did I mention that the fuel that they’ll use will only be enough for a one-way expedition?). Go see this fun movie.
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A huge protest against the far Right in Britain
March 28th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Today’s Together Alliance March in London was a huge demonstration and there were similar events all around the country. The official website of the organisers stated the aim as “Together for love, hope and unity against the far right”.
So there was a massive protest against racism and support for immigrants. But there was also a great deal of pro Gaza/anti Israel sentiment plus opposition to the bombing of Iran and some people remembered Ukraine. A whole variety of other causes, from environmentalism to trans rights and even anti-Brexit, were on show.
Trade unions were the backbone to the event with the only political parties in evidence being the Socialist Workers Party (as always lots of placards), the Socialist Party (the former Militant) and even the Communist Party (shouting for revolution).
I met a number of people I know.
Organisers of the march said that as many as 500,000 people had attended, although the Metropolitan Police estimated the figure to be closer to 50,000, adding that precise figures were hard to determine due to the spread of the crowds.
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