WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Eras end and begin together
Treading common ground at a time of loss and gain
ALT-COUNTRY EXCELLENCE: Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
Sorry to miss my last column. It was my brother’s funeral. He was 29 years older than me, elder son of our father, who was born in 1899. I wrote this poem for his funeral and decided to share it with you.
My Brother, Uncle Don
End of an era. Goodbye ‘Uncle Don’.
I’ve known you all my life, and now you’re gone.
My parents said that’s what I should call you
When I was three and you were thirty-two
But soon I said, ‘Mum, “Uncle’s” just polite.
Don’s not my uncle. He’s my brother, right?’
So this precocious kid just called you Don —
For over fifty years, and now you’re gone.
More from this author
Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Given the global plague of Agent Orange, the bard channels his energy into community self-help
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
The bard ditches an unspecial relationship, encounters a new subdivision of metal, and discovers the cure for a stiff neck
