Paul Simpson
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dutchpaul.bsky.social
Paul Simpson
@dutchpaul.bsky.social
350 followers 350 following 75 posts
Lecturer, Uni of Greenwich + LCC/University of the Arts, London. Retired early thanks to #Chiari. Was PR head @ BBC Radio 1; PR @ Kiss FM, Shazam + in Westminster. ♥ #radio #lufc #genealogy | RSA Fellow | http://www.dutchHQ.com
● Yateley, Hampshire
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dutchpaul.bsky.social
First book purchase arrived today from @foxlanebooks.bsky.social Beautiful attention to detail in packaging from Kirstie. Will definitely become rpt. customer. ❤️ my signed independent bookshop edition of "The Art of a Lie" by @laurasrobinson.bsky.social Big fan of her other work to date.
Green cover of book with a pineapple on the front, and a sprayed red page edge with pineapples running down it - called The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
July 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
We're coming up to the 47th anniversary of when he played a gig on the runways of the aerodrome on the common backing on to my home village where you & I met. I was just 8 years old, it was my first concert, and there were over 200,000 other people in the crowd! Bob Dylan at Blackbushe, 1978.
Artwork for the cover of Bob Dylan's Picnic concert at Blackbushe in 1978, featuring cartoon artwork centred on an aerodrome runway.
July 10, 2025 at 8:52 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Morning walk destination with Poppy dog. Pond on Yateley Green. Eyes begin with the lilypads and water and work out. #green #Yateley #Hampshire #BlackwaterValley #fridayfeeling
Looking across the pond, small wooden jetty on bottom left corner. Lilypads and reeds in the distance. Trees and cottages on far side. Bright blue sky with small amount of fluffy white clouds.
July 4, 2025 at 12:04 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Trees of Quarry Lane. Out walking the dog this morning. #thicktrunktuesday
Looking up the trunk and into the branches of what appears to be a monterey cypress tree. Looking up the trunk and into the branches of what appears to be an oak tree, covered with ivy and rhododendron flowers below. Sunshine streams in from top left. Look up the trunk of what appears to be an oak tree into the dark green canopy above.
May 20, 2025 at 10:22 AM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Thinking of the likely smile on the face of former club president Arthur English as he looks down on Aldershot Town's achievement today, winning the FA Trophy 3-0 against Spennymoor Town. My affiliations lie elsewhere, but this is local.
Black and white photo of now departed actor, entertainer, comedian and Aldershot Town club president in his final years, Arthur English.
May 11, 2025 at 10:16 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Lost my head - and those of a few dolls - starting to restore my special succulents rockery in the front garden this weekend.
Wooden garden planter full of soil with dolls heads and succulents planted along it. Metal bowl in front containing planted succulents and moss. Large dolls head in soil with two arms emerging from soil in front, cradling a green succulent. Surrounded by smaller dolls heads in the soil.
May 11, 2025 at 9:59 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
As if by magic, Poppy and I emerged from the shade of the trees in the Royal Oak Valley to find this little spot bathed in sunshine. Perfect walk with the dog this morning. 🐾
Clearing appears ahead in the wood, bathed in sunshine. Viewed from the beginning of the path in the foreground in the shade of the trees.
May 2, 2025 at 4:45 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Democracy, out the back with the bins, hanging by a thread? Or just a poorly positioned Polling Station sign? Vote! #LocalElections2025
A service road at the back of a parade of shops where there are bins on the pavement directly behind the shops, and a folded Polling Station sign hanging from a yellow metal boulder by a piece of string. Sunshine on that side of the street, shade on the shop side.
May 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Central government unlikely to listen to the case for a Blackwater Valley unitary. Council by-election a chance to lobby. Must recognise reality of area incl. Aldershot/Farnborough/Fleet/Yateley (Hants); Ash/Camberley/Farnham (Surrey); Sandhurst/Crowthorne (Berks) if devolution ever to work. 3/3
Map showing the border area where the counties of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire meet along the banks of the River Blackwater. Known as the Blackwater Valley, it includes towns like Aldershot, Ash, Camberley, Farnborough, Farnham, Fleet, Sandhurst and Yateley. Map thanks to the Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust.
April 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Elections in Hampshire were cancelled, but the retirement of our Lib Dem county councillor Adrian Collett after over 40 years amazing public service means fellow residents in Yateley East & Blackwater get a by-election vote. Adrian was one of first to help politicise me back in 1987. 1/3
Some of the leaflets we've had through our door for the local county council by-election campaign in this North East corner of Hampshire in Yateley East and Blackwater. Left to right, leaflets from local Conservatives; Stuart Bailey and the Lib Dems, and Reform.
April 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
We were all cleared off the bus this afternoon due to on board 🤮 incident. Necessary procedures in place. Mess stopped play until another vehicle arrived but a good bonding experience. Thankfully, street lined with blossom against blue sky to lift spirits round corner from my destination bus stop. 🚌
Residential street lined with pinky white blossom trees against backdrop of a blue sky with hardly a cloud in the sky. Close up of the pinky white blossom of a tree with the back drop of a blue sky peeking through.
April 3, 2025 at 7:09 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Hanging out over the River Whitewater. Loving the North East Hampshire countryside today at Newlyns Farm, North Warnborough. Perfect Sunday.
Looking out over a flowing chalkstream river, with variety of rolling green countryside into the distance, and the odd telegraph pole and pylon dotted in the distance. Above, bright blue sky, with little fluffy white clouds rolling across it in bands.
March 16, 2025 at 7:32 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Doubted I would finish reading "National Provincial" by Lettice Cooper, published by Persephone Books, but an epic set pre WWII, & many parallels for today. 1st book read in 2025. Slow start. Big one > 600 pgs.

More 📚: persephonebooks.co.uk/products/nat...

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Paperback book, "National Provincial" by Lettice Cooper, published by Persephone Books. Trademark silver cover. An early 1930s design by John Churton for the Silver Studio, a kind of art deco style in an aqua marine or blue colour intended for production as a woven cloth but used as the end paper inside the cover of the book National Provincial, published by Persephone. © MODA, Middlesex University.
February 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Ooh! Just right for my collection of tins of royal talcum powders! ;)
A lilac coloured tin with gold trim and a photo of Princess Diana on the front. Looks like it could very well contain talcum powder. A lilac coloured tin with gold trim and a photo of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the front. Looks like it could very well contain talcum powder.
February 27, 2025 at 5:23 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
George Backhouse (1845-1893) - my 2x great grandfather - had been a Gas Stoker at Leeds City Gas Works. By the 1890s, he'd switched to what he must have thought was a much safer role as gatekeeper at the works. That was until a set of iron gates weighing two tons fell on him, killing him instantly.
Press cutting from what appears to be the Yorkshire Evening Post on 29 November 1893. Main headline reads, Fatal Fall Of A Door. Sub headline reads, Leeds Corporation Workman Killed. Main text reads, Information was received at the Leeds Town Hall, this afternoon, of a fatal accident which had befallen one of the men employed at the Leeds Corporation Gasworks in Meadow Lane. Thomas Backhouse (49), who was employed as a gatekeeper at the works, was engaged in opening a large iron gate, the weight of which is about two tons, when it fell upon him and killed him instantly. Another workman, John Frankham, Bessbrook Place, Hunslet, was assisting the deceased at the time of the accident, but escaped uninjured.
January 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
There is a corner of the Doll's Graveyard at Rookwood with its own particular micro-climate, where succulents grow and dolls' heads appear exposed by soil erosion. No queues here to pay respects. Thanks for the memories.
Porcelain doll's head buried in soil amongst succulent plants and small white stones. Three porcelain doll's head buried in soil amongst succulent plants and small white stones. Two porcelain doll's head buried in soil amongst succulent plants and small white stones.
December 4, 2024 at 11:32 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Second version of the #sixgenerations chart, thanks to the inspiration of the lovely #genealogy community. As well as getting some perspective on my #familyhistory and the idea of 'home', it tries to break down some of the movements within counties, particulalrly #Hampshire and #Yorkshire 2/2
A chart laid out by six generations across the top, gradually splitting from one name in the first column to thirty two names in the sixth, with the surnames of the ancestors listed alongside the final sixth column. Each block is colour coded and displays the birth place of the particular ancestor.
November 29, 2024 at 12:06 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Inspired by the lively #genealogy community, have pulled together two versions of the #sixgenerations chart helping me stand back and get perspective on the idea of 'home'. The first is the standard one, the second is more for me and breaks down movements particularly within county areas. 1/2
A chart laid out by six generations across the top, gradually splitting from one name in the first column to thirty two names in the sixth, with the surnames of the ancestors listed alongside the final sixth column. Each block is colour coded and displays the birth place of the particular ancestor.
November 29, 2024 at 12:06 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
"The Green Hat" by Michael Arlen was located in large part in Shepherd Market, Mayfair in the 1920s. My 3x great grand aunt Fanny Varndell was in service in much the same area behind Park Lane in the 1880s having moved up from Hampshire. Her story:> dutchhq.wordpress.com/2023/10/17/5... #genealogy
A photo of the apparently five storey, white masonry fronted address at 21, Hertford Street, London, Mayfair (taken in October 2022). Three windows across each floor, plus the front door with white pillars on the right side of the terraced property. This was the site of the Hertford Club casino. Now the home of the Qatar Defence Attache of the Emabassy of Qatar, London. Cars and a motorbike parked on the street in front, plus black iron railings and a window box in front of the property. Accreditation detail: © No Swan So Fine. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
November 26, 2024 at 6:34 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Just finished reading "The Green Hat". Book written by Michael Arlen in 1924. Lived up to everything I'd seen in reviews about its style and the set it portrays. Just the distraction I needed.
One of the many book covers for The Green Hat by Michael Arlen. Shows a painting of a glamorous woman looking to the right of the page, eyes hidden under a green hat, with red painted lips, a brown scarf and orange coat, with the front of a long yellow vintage car parked in the distance on the right, pointing to the left. Text of my book review from the Good Reads website. I gave the book called The Green Hat by Michael Arlen three stars. Text as follows: My appetite for The Green Hat was whetted by reviews which had flagged a difficult, even jaunty style of a book written in 1924. It certainly delivers, and evokes the lives of a particularly privileged set whose lives are centred around the streets (and clubs) of a certain part of 1920s Mayfair, not to mention similar locations in Paris, plus a whiff of the south of France. There is some difficult language too, but that is more to do with a reflection of more often, less enlightened times in which the book was written. Despite this, and some disconcertingly uneven displays of pace, there are some delightful evocations of the era, and beautifully rich, sometimes cheeky pieces of writing. Loved the experience of reading this, although do prepare for the ride.
November 26, 2024 at 3:45 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Would be 103rd birthday of the original 'Dutch', my Gramps (Mum's Dad), Frank Stephen Francis Holland (1921-2014). Here he is with daughter Mary (my Mum), his Aunt Lil (+ glass of stout), and his with Joyce (my Nan), pictured in Embassy Ballroom, on holiday at Selsey Bill in 1950s. #genealogy 1/3
Black and white family photo. In foreground, a young child is holding back a laugh. Behind her in what looks like a bar, three adult family members look on. To the left, what looks like her father with a similar expression. In the centre, behind her left shoulder, an older lady with spectacles has a big smile revealing a toothless expression, and toasts the photo with a pint glass full of stout. On the right sits a woman with dark hair, no smile, and remains in a heavy coat.
November 23, 2024 at 11:31 AM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Rise & Fall of the Political Fixer. On BBC Radio 4's "Start The Week" Peter Kosminsky, Lucy Hughes-Hallett + Stephen Bush on Thomas Cromwell; King James I favourite, the Duke of Buckingham; & special advisers today. Plus a whiff of witchcraft & poisoned custard tarts!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Fictional scene from BBC's Wolf Hall series with Mark Rylance on left playing Thomas Cromwell in Tudor finery including a black hat, plus Damian Lewis on the right behind him playing King Henry the 8th, looking directly at him.
November 18, 2024 at 12:17 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
So very sad to hear the news about Annie Nightingale. Loved working with her at BBC Radio 1. Complete inspiration. Would regularly join us at our desks & talk about everything. She did me the honour of DJing @ my leaving do from press team in 2001. RIP new music trailblazer. x
DJ Annie Nightingale at the decks, DJing at my leaving do from BBC Radio 1.
January 12, 2024 at 2:34 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Final week 52ancestors genealogy project for 2023. Theme: "Me, Myself & I" but want to sneak in one more ancestor who had most influence on me. Mum's Mum, my Nan, Joyce Hale (1930-1999). Loved weekly writing challenge. Not sure what's next. More> Wk52 blog post: dutchhq.wordpress.com/2023/12/26/5...
My Nan crouches behind me on the path in her slippers, giving me as a toddler all the support I need to learn to ride my red bicycle. To the left, behind a wire fence is the rough terrain of the neighbour's garden. To the right is the even rougher terrain of my grandparent's vegetable patch. In the background is the mirror image of their own council house, over the back fence. A bright colourful family photo at Christmas from the early 1970s. I'm sat on the floor with my Grandad in the foreground. Left to right on the sofa behind, my Mum holding my baby sister, my Dad obscured, and my Nan Joyce. Wallpaper of light orange dominates. Colour photo of the sun streaming onto the front of a council house in the seventies, my Nan in her early forties holding each of her first two grandsons in one arm for the camera. The borders in the garden are full of white flowers. Black and white photo of my Nan, sat with her three daughters in front of her, all sat in front of the bullrushes on a holiday. The girls will be in their early teens.
December 26, 2023 at 10:54 PM
dutchpaul.bsky.social
Dad's cousin Arthur Taylor (1926-1984). Leeds coal merchant was apparently assisted in delivering coal to home of crooner, 'Mr Moonlight' Frankie Vaughan by my grandad. True or not, cause to reflect on #52ancestors genealogy project Wk51 theme, 'Cousins': dutchhq.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/5...
Black and white photo from the sixties shows crooning singer Frankie Vaughan just after he has come down the steps from a plane. He is wearing a sheepskin jacket and has been handed a bouquet of tulips and daffodils. An air stewardess looks on smiling behind him. He is smiling directly at the camera. Black and white photo of my Dad's cousin's coal merchant lorry, parked up outside a terrace of houses on a cobbled street. The name A Taylor and the words Coal and Coke are written on a board above the cab. In this instance, an old car is being carried on the back of the lorry. The photo was clearly taken many decades ago. Black and white photo of a couple, woman on the left in a dark raincoat, and man on the right, her husband, my Dad's cousin, wearing a jacket over a shirt with very large colours. Photo taken in front of an entrance to an old shopping arcade, the word Arcade clearly written on the glass behind and above the woman's head.
December 17, 2023 at 8:41 PM