The action to emphasise a word with a hint of irony – beloved of nerdy boss David Brent from the Office – beat the “talk to the hand” gesture as the most aggravating part of daily communication. Other non-obscene gestures which make people’s blood boil are putting a finger to the nose to say “none [...]

?I?d play one of my own compositions,? he says in the study of his tumbledown thatched cottage in Selsey, West Sussex. ?I loved playing my own work.? Alas at the age of 89, wheelchair bound and immobile, his musical performances ? especially the lively renditions on his trademark xylophone ? are consigned to history. ?My [...]

I can only imagine how her fingers trembled when she opened the mailbox and found a hand- written letter from halfway around the world. It was during the war years when my father was fighting his way across Europe and my mother was back home nursing my older brother. I have copies of those letters, [...]