Author: Leigh Banks

FROM THE ARCHIVES: AFTER THE INTEREST SHOWN IN OUR ‘CALL TO ARMS’ OVER HOUGH HALL, MOSTON, WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS ARTICLE ABOUT THE FASCINATING LIFE OF THE LAST MAN TO OWN IT… LAST YEAR, the sister of the missing artist who apparently changed the face of modern film, contacted us to… Continue reading The artist and the sadness behind the ‘Mary Celeste’ mansion

Bob Dylan is coming to Manchester as demand for his live shows remains never ending. His Rough and Rowdy world tour is being seen as a new pinnacle in his climb back to glory. At 81 Bob is painting, writing a book on top songs, welding iron art, creating artful stage performances, playing piano like… Continue reading Never ending – Bob chooses Manchester and Oxford town as demand rolls on like thunder

Volunteer medic in the Ukraine Craig Stanley Mackintosh, aged 48, has been killed in an ambush. Craig, a landscape gardener, from Thetford Norfolk, is said by witnesses to have been shot in the neck outside the  city of Kharkiv as he tried to save a Ukrainian fighter. He had been refused entry to the armed forces… Continue reading Brit gardener hero Craig dies trying to save Ukraine fighter

In an excerpt from his soon-to-be-published memoir, Boy in the Ravine, Leigh looks back on the horror, tragedy, mystery and confusion surrounding the death of Diana News was my lifeblood and because of stress I’d started taking it subliminally. I had the radio tuned to the World Service throughout the night taking it all in… Continue reading 5am and the radio told me Diana was dead…

OPINION: I have known the drunks, the cheats, the liars, the corrupt, the womanisers, the thugs, the racists and the downright dishonest. And I have known good coppers too. But good, bad or just plain ugly, these people are put on this earth to protect us. And in a real crisis they do it very… Continue reading Why are the police dogs attacking the newshounds?

OPINION, from Terry Kevin Charles This isn’t me right now but it has happened to me and many others since this whole thing began. Doctors won’t see you so what do you do? You call 111 or 999 only to be told, get yourself to A&E. You get to A&E and wait four hours only… Continue reading TERRY ASKS, ARE WE STUCK ON THE NHS TRAGIC ROUNDABOUT?

Russia launched a rocket attack on a Ukrainian railway station killing a number of people including an 11-year-old child. 50 others were injured. It happened six months to the day since Putin sent his invasion of the country. Independence Day was marking 31 years since the former Soviet country broke away from Moscow rule. Volodymyr… Continue reading MORE UKRAINIANS DIE AS RUSSIA BOMBS STATION ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

An introductory outline of an original outlaw motorcycle club … by Eric Lastick Intrigue and encounter, if so bold, with mayhap to that highway…southern California leather riders…Mojave hot sands—and rough baked-on tattoos shoulder vested to every hardened road…and pirate band accomplishments . Rides and riddles of the fine tokes of home-grown actions. Chains and ugly… Continue reading NOMAD OF THE SOLITARY SUNSET

As the start date for Bob’s return to UK stages in October gets closer, we take a look at how he is coping with the rigours of age … we also re-publish recent reviews of his dates, this time from Philadelphia… A while ago we met up with friends from Spain in Bratislava … we’d… Continue reading How Bob has become the rock of ages – yet stays forever young in his own wander land

Thomas O’Halloran, the elderly busker fatally stabbed as he drove his mobility scooter in west London was raising money for the Ukraine. The musician – locally famous for he played accordion in Greenford every day – was stabbed on Western Avenue in Greenford and managed to keep going for 75 yards on his scooter before… Continue reading Mobility-scooter Tom busked for Ukraine before fatal knifing