Wine quiz

12:00pm Friday 16th May 2008

I know we're not quite at the final May Bank Holiday but as this coincides with English Wine Week, I've decided to run the May Bank Holiday Wine Quiz a little early. So, whether you whiz through it now or decide to keep it until the holiday, good luck!

	A pyramid, Milton and the North Sea
	11:37am Thu 15 May 08
	Wheatley has curious connections with the past, from John Milton to making bobbins for fishermen's nets, writes CHRIS KOENIG Here is a poignant little fact about Wheatley, that village on the outskirts of Oxford. For centuries it had a curious connection to the North Sea. It had a cottage industry making the trawl bobbins for the nets of fishermen in such ports as Grimsby. The wooden bobbins were made from elms cut in the former Royal forest of Shotover, which were said to be the best for the job.

	Time to plan for autumn splendour
	11:29am Thu 15 May 08
	VAL BOURNE says autumn-flowering perennials are ideal for this time of year I called in at Waterperry Gardens, near Wheatley, to see the nursery is bulging with good plants and I'm delighted to say that not many of them were in flower. Go to most garden centres and most things are. For it seems that many will not buy a plant unless it's bedecked with a bloom.

	'Early birds' beat the climate
	11:20am Thu 15 May 08
	Research carried out by Oxford scientists shows that great tits breeding in Wytham Woods have adapted their breeding to fit warmer springs, writes ANDREW FFRENCH Great tits in woods near Oxford have adapted their breeding patterns to fit warmer springs brought on by climate change, an Oxford University study has revealed.

	Renoir's lasting impression
	11:11am Thu 15 May 08
	The Courtauld Institute selects the Impressionist artist to help mark its 75th anniversary, writes THERESA THOMPSON La Loge, Renoir's picture of an elegant couple in their box at the theatre, was his major contribution to the first Impressionist exhibition, held in Paris in 1874. The painting attracted a lot of attention and helped establish Renoir's reputation as a key figure in a radical new art movement that set out to capture fleeting impressions of contemporary life.

	Hamlet on an emotional and dark journey
	10:58am Thu 15 May 08
	Next week Northern Ballet Theatre bring David Nixon's startling new version of Hamlet, set in 0ccupied Paris, to Milton Keynes Theatre. He talked about the production to DAVID BELLAN David Nixon is a highly talented choreographer, and also a wonderful storyteller, usually choosing highly dramatic works such as Wuthering Heights, Dracula and Madame Butterfly. He's also done two very successful Shakespeares . . . Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

	Springboard to a bright future
	10:49am Thu 15 May 08
	As Music at Oxford launches a festival for young musicians, NICOLA LISLE talks to one of the hosts, the renowned pianist Melvyn Tan A whole day of classical music, with food, drink, lawn games and an art exhibition thrown in for good measure. It sounds idyllic. Add in a glorious riverside setting, with the majestic tower of Magdalen College visible through the trees, and all it needs is for the weather to oblige with some well-timed sunshine.
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	The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas
	10:10am Thu 15 May 08
	The morning after seeing The Rat Pack this week, I turned on Radio 2 to find Aled Jones playing Frank Sinatra and marvelling that it was now ten years since this wonderful entertainer died. "I can't believe he's not still with us." Well, Aled, you would certainly have thought he was had you joined me the night before in the packed house at Milton Keynes Theatre where Stephen Triffitt was supplying his astonishing impersonation of Ol' Blue Eyes.

	Educating Agnes
	10:04am Thu 15 May 08
	Liz Lochhead is one of Scotland's finest contemporary playwrights, while the 17th-century writer Molière is a legend of the French theatre. So it's no wonder that the combination of these talents has created a play that will leave you grinning from ear to ear. Coming together in Lochhead's sparky adaptation of L'Ecole des Femmes (School for Wives), it is a great classic romp with a super modern edge to the dialogue.

	Quod Restaurant, the Old Bank Hotel, High Street, Oxford
	3:05pm Wed 14 May 08
	Eager to celebrate Rosemarie's birthday in style, we chose the place in Oxford where style comes in bucketloads. Quod, at the Old Bank Hotel in High Street, has become such a part of city life over the past eight years or so that I wonder how we ever managed without it. Its success arises from the combination of its perfect position - the view from its windows is one to die for - its tasteful, cool interior, its eclectic, well-chosen menu and wine list, and the cheery bustle created by its eager, youthful staff.

	Perfect pints after beating the bound
	3:02pm Wed 14 May 08
	'It's obviously another of those quaint old Oxford traditions," remarked one delighted tourist to another as they joined the entourage who, armed with willow rods, were watching the Rev Hugh Lee chalk a cross on a boundary stone in Broad Street.

	Rhubarb wine recipe
	3:00pm Wed 14 May 08
	In 1983 the late Mollie Harris, whose delightful books about the countryside made such an impact on us all, wrote A Drop O'Wine. My copy is now brown with age, but I still count it as a kitchen Bible as it provides me with recipes for a superb collection of delicious home-made wines that can be made easily from fruits and vegetables.

	Terror's Advocate, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? and RFK Must Die,
	2:57pm Wed 14 May 08
	Jacques Vergés is an enigma shrouded by mystery inside a conspiracy. An anti-colonialist since his childhood, Vergés was a student friend of Pol Pot, the future dictator of Cambodia. He made his name defending Algerian heroine (and future wife) Djamila Bouhired and earned instant notoriety for agreeing to represent the Nazi Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie. Then, having disappeared for eight years that have still to be satisfactorily accounted for, he returned to take on such insalubrious clients as Carlos the Jackal, whose wife, Magdalena Kopp, became a close personal friend.

La Antena, XXY, Caramel and Heartbeat Detector

2:54pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

The continuing strength of New Argentine Cinema is demonstrated by two films on release this week. Dazzlingly inventive throughout, Esteban Sapir's La Antena is a noirish fantasy set in the Year XX in the City Without a Voice, whose population has been struck dumb by the TV broadcasts of the sinisterly omnipresent Alejandro Urdapilleta.

Abingdon and District Camera Club: Artweeks

2:51pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

A visit to view the Artweeks photographic exhibition by members of the Abingdon and District's Camera Club was not for the faint hearted - only those capable of climbing six flights of stairs and live to tell the tale would have been able to enjoy this excellent collection of photographs. The exhibition was tucked away on the second-floor gallery of Abingdon's County Hall Museum. It deserved a more accessible space, particularly as the club is now actively involved in creating and publicising exhibitions at the museum. Added to which, this exhibition was by way of celebrating the club's 30th anniversary, which is why many of the images displayed were taken 30 years ago.

	Sue and Alan Mynell: Artweeks show
	2:49pm Wed 14 May 08
	This was the first time that husband and wife Sue and Alan Mynall had exhibited together. Sue's work was shown in the comfortable surroundings of their home and Alan's in his business-like studio, where there is also an opportunity to see him working. Their partnership has produced substantially different bodies of work. Sue describes her delicate and lively paintings, drawings and illustrations as having "a flavour of a bygone age". In addition to producing her own originals, Sue has helped others less talented to do the same. She designed the Lollipop Stamps, sold in aid of Douglas and Helen House. These rubber stamps each have an outline image of a child or friendly, old-fashioned adult, and the resulting imprints are ready for people to add their own colour and detail.

Andrew Walker: West Oxford Community Centre

2:44pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

Watercolourist and potter Andrew Walker is also a professional framer and has mounted and framed all the pictures he has in this exhibition (until May 26). The 15 paintings on show have a strong Oxford and Oxfordshire bias, as Andrew is Oxford-based, a great walker and paints what he sees around him. He is drawn to views and buildings with, for example, scaffolding or cleaners working on them, as this provides a specific perspective and marks a particular point in time.

	Balanescu Quartet, North Wall
	2:42pm Wed 14 May 08
	This was an unusual multi-media event as the music, specially composed by Romanian virtuoso violinist Alexander Balanescu for two very different films by Gillian Lacey, was actually played live as they were shown. Balanescu's quartet seemed very at home playing in front of the screen and with using electronica and played superbly throughout an evening that had a strong emotional charge.

	Henry VI, Royal Shakespeare Company, Roundhouse, London
	2:38pm Wed 14 May 08
	Reflecting on unexpected camaraderie born from the experience of seeing the three parts of Henry VI, the late Bernard Levin observed: "By the end of the day, complete strangers were offering each other wine gums." Thirty years on, the Royal Shakespeare Company is again offering audiences the chance to relish an orgy of theatre-going stretching over 12 hours, as the RSC's history cycle marches triumphantly on to London. The Henry VI trilogy forms the centrepiece of this great ensemble effort, which has won back so much lost ground for the RSC. And, if anything, the history cycle looks even more impressive in the Roundhouse than it did in Stratford.

	Born in a Barn preview: Oxford Contemporary Music
	2:31pm Wed 14 May 08
	Reaffirming music's roots outside the concert hall, the last two events in Oxford Contemporary Music's present programme, entitled Born in a Barn, take place in rural venues and involve in different ways an interaction between the music and the immediate environment.

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