The Duke

a film by Roger Michell

I only paid for TV licence in the UK for about 18 months, in 1995 and 1996, and that was for an old black and white telly that my professor lent me. (I’ll never get this money back.) During and after that time, the TV Licensing folk kept harassing me by sending threatening letters: first, by implying I might well have acquired a colour TV set and should pay more, and then, when we moved far away, by asking why don’t we pay if, in all probability, we already have TV in our household. Which we didn’t.

So Kempton Bunton should have been my hero, except I never heard about him until I watched this film. Starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, it’s a charming, very English comedy.

Two museums and two films in Valencia, February 2026

What I saw during my week in Valencia:

• Six exhibitions at Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC), Carrer del Museu, 2, Valencia:
  • 12 December 2025 — 22 February 2026: La transformación de Valencia 1866—2026
    Transformation of Valencia as documented by the newspaper Las Provincias and in works of Marta Torres, Ada Sinache, Jaume Mora, Alba García, Laura Pérez, Mario Barrachina, José Miguel Guillén, Virginia Lorente, Juanma Martínez, Ángela Salerno, Raúl Salazar, Fran Parreño, Anneta Santacreu, Dakota Hernández, Ivan Mata, Daniel García, Mario Dubla, Pau Valls, Núria Tamarit, Pablo Caracol, Tomás Ferrer-Dibujador, Jordi Ferrándiz, Sr. García, Elga Lamas, Luna Pan, Laura Castelló, Mar Hernández, Enric Ejarque, Martín Forés and Felip Ariza.

    

  • 21 January — 5 April 2026: El ritual del respawn by Ana Esteve Reig
    Videoinstallations by Ana Esteve Reig (Agres, 1986).

    

  • 21 January — 12 April: Circuito Cerrado (“Closed Circuit”)
    Works and installations by Marta Azparren, Ana Esteve Reig, EXONEMO, Takahiko Iimura, Inma Femenía, Jean Genet, Almudena Lobera, Aya Momose, Arata Mori, Laura Ramírez Palacio, Manuel Saiz, Kentaro Taki and Kei Uruno.

    

  • 5 February — 19 April: Pepe Beas. Los Margenes de lo Real
    Retrospective of works by Pepe Beas (Córdoba, Argentina, 1955). Depressing as hell, apart from the red room.

    

  • 6 February — 17 May: Chema Madoz. Letra y Compás
    Works by Chema Madoz.

    

  • 13 February — 26 April: Paco Camallonga
    Works by Valencian designer, illustrator and sculptor Paco Camallonga.

    

• 6 February — 15 March: Exposición del Ninot 2026, Museu de les Ciències, la Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències
  According to the blurb, “this exciting exhibition showcases over 700 ninots carefully selected by the Falla commissions, each competing for your vote to escape the flames. The two most popular ninots, both in the infant and adult categories, will have the honor of joining the prestigious collection of the Fallero Museum.”

  

I also went to see two films at La Filmoteca Valenciana (Plaça de l’Ajuntament, 17): pretty soporific 1933 silent movie Japanese Girls at the Harbor by Hiroshi Shimizu, somewhat redeemed by the live piano accompaniment (Arcadi Valiente), and A Dry White Season, of which later.

Танго и вальс

by Various Artists

Here’s another LP that my mum often asked “to put on”. I don’t know who and when bought it. By all accounts, it was a weird compilation. Only on five (of 16) tracks the performers were credited, one of them incorrectly; the rest of the songs was played by an anonymous “orchestra”. Some of the titles were translated in a funny way (how A media luz even can be «Твоё имя»?) and some not translated at all (El Choclo = «Эль чокло»). But my mum loved this album and, re-listening it now, I realise that I liked it too. What not to like? After all, it delivers what is says: a waltz after a tango and a tango after a waltz, and comes with a psychedelic cover artwork.

Side A Mama, yo quiero un novio (Ramón Collazo) Angelica (Rolf Zimmermann) Il pleut sur la route (Henry Himmel) — Yoichi Sugawara Květ Aloe (Vlastimil Kloc) La Paloma (Sebastián Iradier) La Valse à mille temps (Jacques Brel) — Jacques Brel A media luz (Edgardo Donato) It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie (Billy Mayhew)	1 сторона Мама, я люблю (Коллацо) Анжелика (Р. Циммерман) Дождь идёт (Ц. Биксио*) — Еити Сугавара Цветок алоэ (Клоц) Голубка (Ирадье) Всё о вальсе (Ж. Брель) — Жак Брель Твоё имя (Донато) Скажи мне правду (Мейхью)
Side B Gruß aus Paris (Ralph Stüwe) Tango Italiano (Walter Malgoni, Bruno Pallesi, Luciano Beretta) — Marino Marini Song of the Islands (Na Lei O Hawaii) (Charles E. King) Confesión (Enrique Santos Discépolo) Sous le vieux Pont des Soupirs (Marguerite Monnot, Jean Broussolle) — Lucienne Delyle El paso (Jürgen Hermann) Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (Les Reed, Barry Mason) El Choclo (Ángel Villoldo)	2 сторона Привет издалека (Р. Штюве) Танго итальяно (Мальгони) — Марино Марини На далёких островах (Кинг) Признание (Дисцеполо) Всюду звучит вальс (М. Моно) — Люсьена Делиль Шаг за шагом (Ю. Герман) Тандем (Л. Рид) — Том Джонс† Эль чокло (Вилольдо)

*	I’ve no idea who it is but it’s not the composer of the song.
†	Definitely not Tom Jones. The song was recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck but on this compilation it’s somebody else.

Entrevista

This is the Spanish version of Interview, a short story that appears in our new book, The Thread. Available in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.

Yo no pregunto ningunos acertijos. ¿Para qué? Me entretiene charlar con hombres en su idioma, nada más. O sus idiomas. Todas las lenguas humanas son parecidas: sujeto, objeto, verbo. Una vez que domines una, puedes hablar la otra.

Los dioses no nos dicen nada en ningún idioma hablado. Nos dan señales. Si no sabemos interpretarlos correctamente, es decir, en nuestro beneficio, ¡peor para nosotras!

Además, los dioses nos dieron cerebro para que pudiéramos pensar por nosotras mismas. La devoción no sustituye al cerebro.

Para que lo sepas: corro más rápido que cualquier hombre y cualquier caballo. Sólo lo menciono para que no te desgastes en vano. No es que tenga que retenerte aquí. Por mucho que disfrute de tu compañía, si quieres ir pa’ casa ahora, no hace falta correr, no me moveré. Pero no intentes colarte.

Por última vez: no matamos a seres humanos. Tenemos instrucciones muy claras al respecto: «No hacer daño a los humanos».

Песня о старом доме на Новом Арбате

a song by Vladimir Vysotsky
music by Mikael Tariverdiev

After spending two weeks living in an old and very cold house, this song came to mind, just in time for its author’s 88^th birthday. A song about an old house on New Arbat appeared in the 1966 Soviet comedy Саша-Сашенька, of which Vysotsky said that it was “a really bad movie” and that he contributed his song “due to a misunderstanding”. I never watched it. According to Wikipedia, in the film the song was performed by an “unknown actor”. Elsewhere, it is said that the song was ‘written for Tariverdiev’s opera “Who are you?”’ («Кто ты?»). This version on YouTube is that I knew and loved since the 1970s from magnetic tape recordings. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a decent English translation of it.

Владимир Высоцкий Музыка Микаэла Таривердиева Песня о старом доме на Новом Арбате

Стоял тот дом, всем жителям знакомый, Его ещё Наполеон застал, Но вот его назначили для слома, Жильцы давно уехали из дома, Но дом пока стоял... Холодно, холодно, холодно в доме. Парадное давно не открывалось, Мальчишки окна выбили уже, И штукатурка всюду осыпалась, Но что-то в этом доме оставалось На третьем этаже... Ахало, охало, ухало в доме. И дети часто жаловались маме И обходили дом тот стороной. Объединясь с соседними дворами, Вооружась лопатами, ломами, Вошли туда гурьбой Дворники, дворники, дворники тихо. Они стоят и недоумевают, Назад спешат, боязни не тая, Вдруг там Наполеонов дух витает, А может, это просто слуховая Галлюцинация? Боязно, боязно, боязно дворникам. Но наконец приказ о доме вышел, И вот рабочий, тот, что дом ломал, Ударил с маху гирею по крыше, А после клялся, будто бы услышал, Как кто-то застонал Жалобно, жалобно, жалобно в доме. От страха дети больше не трясутся: Нет дома, что два века простоял, И скоро здесь по плану реконструкций Ввысь этажей десятки вознесутся — Бетон, стекло, металл... Весело, здорово, красочно будет.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

a film by Marielle Heller
based on an article by Tom Junod

If not for this film, watched quite by chance, I would never know who Fred Rogers was. For his portrayal of Rogers, Tom Hanks earned a score of nominations for best supporting actor — whoa, wait a minute. Best supporting actor? Isn’t it Mister Rogers who is the main character here, so shouldn’t it have been “best actor”? Apparently not. Matthew Rhys as Lloyd (ostensibly the protagonist), like the whole Lloyd’s family story, didn’t convince me at all. Still, well worth watching, especially when it’s cold and miserable as it is in the Peninsula now.

Éiru

a film by Giovanna Ferrari

From Cartoon Saloon, the creators of The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, comes this charming hand-drawn short. Once again, recommended to me by Timur.