Kenya holiday reading

One of my more childish habits is to take books on holiday that vaguely relate to the location – so I read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin on a Greek island and Death on the Nile while cruising along the Nile in a paddle steamer very similar to the one in the film.

We’ve just got back from a couple of weeks in Kenya, where the obvious book to take was Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father.

Apart from being a fascinating and well-written story, it had the unexpected bonus of prompting staff in the game lodges to engage me in conversation about the new president. The pride of Kenyans in Obama’s success is palpable and I can’t imagine that I'd have learnt about this or about how the Luo, his father’s tribe, are regarded by those from other tribes, if I’d been reading something else.

Nor would I have learnt from one of my hosts which nationality of visitors he regarded as the most difficult - where 'difficulty' was defined as their insisting on getting out of his Land Rover to be photographed with (highly dangerous) buffalo. When he told them they were breaking the most important rule of all and asked them to get back into the vehicle for their own safety, they refused by saying "we've come here to see the animals, not you."

News of their misconduct quickly reached the game wardens, who came to the guide's rescue by rounding up the tourists and depositing them on the first plane back to Nairobi.

This has provided me with a new dinner party quiz game, which is to invite people to guess which country they came from. Visitors to the blog are welcome to join in by adding their own suggestions, though I haven't yet decided whether or not to make the answer available to a wider public!

INTERLUDE: Normal service will be resumed as soon as poissible

Diary commitments mean that there won't be many new postings for the next two weeks, but I very much hope that regular visitors will come back to see what's on offer in the second half of February.

The heading will strike a chord with anyone who remembers BBC TV in the 1950s, when there were no other television channels, and when management hadn't realised that gaps between programmes could be filled with endless trailers of forthcoming delights in store for viewers.

In those days, we were treated to INTERLUDES. This usually meant having to watch boring films of a repetitively revolving potter's wheel, rotating sails on a windmill or waves breaking on a beach - but one notable exception was the 51 mile train journey from London to Brighton in 4 minutes.

A selection of other less action-packed footage can be seen here.

BLOG INDEX: Sept 2008-Jan 2009

This is a list of everything posted since the Blog started in September 2008.

It's updated at the end of each month, and you can access direct links to each one by clicking on the title above or here.

JANUARY 2009
• Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose is the fairest democracy of all ?
• Rhetoric and imagery in President Obama’s inauguration speech
• The good news from the House of Lords
• Memorable lines in President Obama's inaugural speech?
• The great camcorder con-trick
• Obama’s inauguration rhetoric won approval for some uncomfortable messages
• Rhetoric and applause in Obama’s inaugural speech as a measure of what the audience liked best
• A line I don't want to hear in today's speech by President Obama
• The enduring challenge and importance of funeral orations
• Has talking the economy down become a dangerous self-fulfilling prophesy?
• Kate Winslet ignores Paul Hogan’s advice to award winners
• Slidomania epidemic contaminates another BBC channel
• How would Obama's rhetoric and oratory sound from a London back street?
• Clinton, Palin and the legacy of Margaret Thatcher
• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part III. The education of a female orator
• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part II. ‘ The Iron Lady’
• Margaret Thatcher and the evolution of charismatic woman: Part I. Cultural and vocal challenges
• “May we bring hope” – 30 years since Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister

DECEMBER 2008
• Ready made words for Mr Obama from a previous president’s inaugural speech
• Neutrality in the Queen’s Christmas speech
• What did Santa say before “Ho, ho ho!”
• You don’t have to be Barack Obama to use rhetoric and imagery
• High-risk practical joke for an office Christmas party speech
• End of year poll on PowerPoint presentations
• Obama’s rhetoric renews UK media interest in the ‘lost art’ of oratory
• Gordon’s gaffe explained
• The Office Christmas Party Speech: roads to failure and success
• The Queen's Speech, 2008
• Rhetoric, oratory and Barack Obama's 'The Speech', 2004
• "There's nothing wrong with PowerPoint - until there's an audience"
• What’s in a place name?

NOVEMBER 2008
• Content-free sermon by Alan Bennett
• 50 years since Peter Sellers recorded his memorable political speech
• Talking the economy up
• Talking the economy down
• Why lists of three: mystery, magic or reason?
• Tom Peters: High on rhetoric but low on content?
• Bobby Kennedy nearly got it right about Obama
• ‘Reliable sources' on where Obama’s 'Yes we can' came from
• Will there be any ‘rhetorical denial’ from the Obama camp?
• The Queen’s Speech: an exception that proves the ruler
• Rhetoric & imagery in Obama's victory speech
• Not Clinton, not McCain but Obama
• How the BBC handled one complaint about Ross

OCTOBER 2008:
• Another BBC News Slideshow
• Don't put the clocks back
• BBC Television News: produced for or by morons?
• Experience and inexperience in presidential campaigns
• Presidential debates – tedious television but better than commercials
• A secret of eternal youth?
• PowerPoint Peston
• Hair today, win tomorrow: baldness and charisma
• Pesky Peston?
• ConVincing Cable
• 'Mature, grown-up and statesmanlike' at the lectern

SEPTEMBER 2008:
• Cameron takes to the lectern in a crisis
• Objects as visual aids
• Powerpoint comes to church
• Mediated speeches -- whom do we really want to hear?
• Wisdom of forethought?
• Time for Cameron to surf applause?
• Did Gordon Brown take my advice?
• Eternity, eternity and eternity
• More tips for Gordon Brown
• Tips for Gordon Brown's conference speech