John Young explores the social ‘season’ of London’s cricket crowds. This article first appeared in The Weekender, 2008. There is a small patch of grass in west London that on one day of the year assumes an importance vastly disproportionate to its size. This is the Coronation Garden in the Lord’s cricket ground. On the
There’s really no way of getting consolation for missing out on a game of golf on one of South Africa’s finest courses. Even when no-one else on the sub-continent is playing. I was in St Francis Bay hoping to play St Francis Links on the weekend that snow was seen on Table Mountain and coastal
John Young discovered in Copenhagen earlier this year that although Danes appreciate good design of all kinds, they can’t stop loving the chair. First published in Sunday Times, 17 August 2014. Denmark has a well-deserved reputation as the home of seriously good design. Modern Danish architects such as Bjarke Ingels have earned high praise for
A town high in the mountains between Florence and Bologna has not forgotten how South African soldiers saved its citizens from murderous Gestapo troops. First published in Business Day, 21 September 2017. South Africans get a special welcome in Castiglione dei Pepoli, a town high in the Apennine mountains half-way between Bologna and Florence. There
First published in Travel & Food, Sunday Times, 27 April 2008. Golfing in Wales separates the men from the boys, and the sheep from the sheepish, writes John Young. Dr Johnson said that when a man is tired of London he is tired of life. He also said, “By seeing London, I have seen as
First published in Business Day 25 January 2019. Country is a world leader with its take on Scandinavian design ethic. Lovers of Paul Gauguin’s art love visiting Copenhagen, which is ironic because he lasted barely a year in the city before heading back to France. Gaugin returned once to visit his Danish wife, just before
First published in Wisden Cricket Monthly, May 2015. There is a C.L.R. James Institute in New York and a library in the London borough of Hackney but it’s hard to find signs of the author of cricket’s greatest book in his home town. John Young searched high and low. “Tunapuna at the beginning of this
Airports Company South Africa is on a massive spending drive. More than twice as many foreign tourists will visit South Africa in 2030 than is currently the case. President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly announced that a target of 21-million foreign tourists per year is attainable. What might seem like a lofty goal is given credence
John Young meanders through Mandela and finds somewhere closed for lunch. This article first appeared in The Weekender, 23-24 August 2008. In this Mandela birthday month, it occurs to me that many people have had lunch with Mandela, many more have had lunch for Mandela (at fundraisers for his charities) and there has even been
John Young heads to Greyton and finds a cosmopolitan morning cuisine
