James Bond is on the chase in Switzerland. Behind the wheel of his new Aston Martin DB5, begrudgingly modified with enumerable gadgets supplied by Q, Bond follows Mr. Goldfinger, transported in a vintage Rolls Royce driven by OddJob. Not too many frames into the scene, Bond’s car is overtaken by a white Mustang convertible driven … Read more
I am a murder mystery fan. I like the books and watch a lot of movies in that genre. I began with the Hardy Boys as a kid, soon graduating to Agatha Christy’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. These days the list includes traditional writers like Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, Daschiell Hammett’s Sam Spade and … Read more
In nearly every Bond film and book you will find at least one casino, one instance of gambling. Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, was a consummate gambler albeit not a particularly successful one. In Casino Royale, the very first Bond book, Fleming sets the tone and describes a key component in the nature and personality of … Read more
Most of us with Irish surnames likely thought that our ancestors immigrated to the Americas as a result of the famines in Ireland, the most infamous of them being the potato famine of the 1840’s. From 1845 to 1852 Ireland’s population fell by 20%-25% as a million or so made the journey to the States. … Read more