I can’t help feeling rather proud of this photo, taken yesterday, of the first tadpole I’ve seen this spring. He/she/it was resting on a lily leaf under the surface of the water. There was an item on the radio this morning about the big increase in the number of people in the UK who live [...]

I’ve been trying to prepare my mind for tomorrow’s BBC recording of a discussion between me and fellow pianist James Rhodes for Radio 4′s Between Ourselves programme (to be broadcast on April 26 at 9.00 and again at 21.30). James has found a way to bring classical piano music to large numbers of new listeners, [...]

Suddenly the weather is good, and for the first time this year we were able to have lunch outside. Here I am, out for a treat at the Covent Garden branch of Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain, about to enjoy my antipasto plate of delicious Italian cured hams, pumpkin, peppers, mozzarella cheese and nice bread to dip [...]

I woke up early and went downstairs in my dressing-gown to bake a cake, but when I got to the stage of adding eggs, I found there were no eggs in the house. So I had to get dressed and run round the corner to a shop I knew would be open at that early [...]

Here I am standing outside Jane Austen’s house in Chawton, Hampshire. It was touching to see the quiet village in which Jane lived with her sister Cassandra and her mother, and to read about the circumstances which left the three of them dependent on the kindness of male relatives. It was also, of course, infuriating [...]