J.G. Bartholemew

As the world around us changes ever constantly; we speed our way along the server that is modern life and I personally move on from the reasonably controlled chaos that is university, the need for a bit of peace and quiet, calmness and tranquillity is needed before moving into the parallel turbine that is adult life. Life has been quite hectic over the last 3 years; inner city living generally does that to you. From the testing early morning studies, the traffic on the streets, the throngs of people and the late night antics whether on the streets, in the clubs and bars or in the university library, swatting up on all things that will aid me in my future. It all rushes by in a haze. It seems like only yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my parents at the start of my university adventure; and now it’s over. As life has unfolded over the last 3 years and experiences, challenges and adventures have sped around me, I have increasingly looked for areas to seek calm, solitude and peac...

If you’ve had the misfortune to have found yourself living under a rock for the past 25 years then you will probably not have heard of Liam Gallagher. But otherwise, pretty much everyone else has! It’s hard to have missed him, having been at the forefront of British culture over the last three decades. Having had a small period, post Oasis, where he stayed relatively out of the public eye, it is a delight to say that the poster boy for Britpop, the nineties and Cool Britannia has made a resounding resurgence with his solo music career.  He recently recorded an MTV Unplugged session at Hull City Hall and this recording further confirms the singers’ resurgence, whilst reminding his fans of just why we adored him in the first place. The set itself is a mix of new solo stuff and the classics from the Oasis days, along with a few surprises that you never realised were originally meant for the younger brother. As is the nature of the show the set has been recorded for, all the song...

With many struggling to fill up their time during lockdown, turning to television has been an obvious way to fill up time. We have been blessed with some excellent viewing across the board. From the BBC’s Normal People to Netflix’ latest original series Space Force we have been well equipped with a smorgasbord of viewing delights. However, one such programme that has enticed me over the last couple of months is Italian detective series Inspector Montalbano for which all 36 episodes, filmed over a 20 year period, are freely available on BBC iPlayer . The premise of the show is simple, a stylish Sicilian detective and his motley crew of assistants battle the mafia, murderers and curmudgeonly locals to keep the fictional towns of Vigata, Marinella and Montelusa clean and free of crime. Unlike many other TV detective series, Inspector Montalbano doesn’t conform to the formulaic setup and structure of so many other detective series such as Death in Paradise , where one of the shows end...

Robert Baden-Powell was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people of the late 19 th and early 20 th century. He first came to the attention of the nation in 1899 when he led the defence of the small town of Mafeking during the Boer War. It was Britain's only success of that war and it made Baden-Powell a national hero. After a 30 year military career, Baden-Powell returned to Britain and re-wrote some of his earlier published military movement works to suit youthful readership and as a result Scouting for Boys was published in 1908. It went on to sell approximately 150 million copies worldwide and was the fourth best-selling book of the 20 th century.  As I am sure you are aware, out of these books came the Scouting Movement, probably the finest youth movement the world has ever seen. And it all started on Brownsea Island in the middle of Poole Harbour, where Baden-Powell lead the first camp.  Across the bay on Poole Quay, a statue of Baden-Powell stands looking out ...

Having recently completed my studies at Sheffield Hallam University, I thought I’d reflect on why moving away matters, what makes Sheffield a popular destination for young people, the influences on my first three years in the city and why I'm here to stay. They say that your school years are the best years of your life! Well…that certainly wasn’t the case for me. Apart from in a sporting context, I floated through school in such a way that deep down I always knew that the consequences of my actions would come back to bite me before I could leave. Sure enough they did. Furthermore, like many, I was bullied throughout my school years for being even so slightly different to the popular kids and as a result often shut myself away, focusing instead on achieving calm and acceptance through my sporting endeavours, not that it really helped. Without a shadow of doubt, in my experience, my university years have been the best years of my life. And they have been in Sheffield. I don’t q...

This is quite simply the tale of how an uninspired 18 year old saw the light and everything changed. I don’t recall what kind of music I particularly liked or listened to before I was 18. Mostly, I listened to my parent’s music because I had too; it was what was on the radio. This was in no way a bad thing I must say. Most of my parent’s music still influences my listening to this day, in some cases obsessively. That's what makes music magical, how it can transcend the generations. Talk to me of Oasis when I was aged sixteen or younger and I would probably have said ‘don’t really care, not interested, don’t know any of their stuff’. In fact, it took a prolonged period of pain and anguish to open my eyes to the music that I could profoundly call the music that’s made me. In a way, it was the resemblance of my own personal situation to the situation that Noel Gallagher found himself in, a quarter of a century earlier. I was unemployed, unenthused and on auto-pilot, not helped...