Authors Electric

Last week I attended the Anne Frank Trust’s Annual Lunch for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 . Candle-lighters at the Anne Frank Trust Holocaust Memorial Day lunch, 2026. If you haven’t heard of this excellent charity before, the first thing you should know is that while it’s inspired by one of the most well-known victims of the Jewish holocaust, it aims to educate and empower young people to challenge all forms of prejudice, not just antisemitism. In a moving candle-lighting ceremony, we heard the stories of a survivor of the Cambodian genocide and a young Ukrainian refugee, as well as a holocaust survivor and – perhaps most poignantly, because so immediate – the widow of one of the two men who died in the recent Manchester synagogue attack. Anne Frank photographed at school, Joods Lyceum, December 1941, six months before going into hiding with her family, July 1942. By Anonymous - http://www.annefrank.org/nl/ Anne-Frank/De-nazis-bezetten-Nederland/Naar-het-Joods-Lyceum/, Public...

The winner of the nationwide school magazine competition, 1960 I have just read Let’s do It: The authorised biography of Victoria Wood , by Jasper Rees. This is a long book, because it details just about everything she ever wrote and performed. And even though I’d heard and seen so much of it before, I still found myself laughing out loud at her extraordinary inventiveness and wit. Her work ethic was phenomenal – she often wrote all night to fulfil a deadline, but she also expected everyone else to be just as dedicated. Her dialogue had to be spoken exactly as she wrote it, no improvising, and she had a go at most forms of writing. She was a terrific musician, and played the trumpet as well as the piano. I think the most autobiographical sketch of all was the one about Chrissy, the 14-year-old schoolgirl who sets out to swim the channel. Her parents are interviewed about the forthcoming ordeal, and it is assumed they will be in the support boat – however, they’re planning on a day out,...