Nicholas Pegg
@nicholaspegg.bsky.social
Actor, writer, director, gardener. Author of The Complete David Bowie. Probably the only Equity member to have played Hamlet, a Dalek and an otter.
It’s hardly the most important thing about this story, but could the entire news media please stop getting ‘letters patent’ wrong? It’s a plural noun. The king has issued letters patent. Saying he has issued ‘a letters patent’ is like saying that Wordsworth and Tennyson were ‘a poets laureate’. Bah.
November 6, 2025 at 5:59 PM
It’s hardly the most important thing about this story, but could the entire news media please stop getting ‘letters patent’ wrong? It’s a plural noun. The king has issued letters patent. Saying he has issued ‘a letters patent’ is like saying that Wordsworth and Tennyson were ‘a poets laureate’. Bah.
I’ve just learned that Patrick Troughton’s farewell words* to Jamie* and the Brigadier* in the last episode of The Tenth Planet* were “It’s the kindest person I’ve ever met,”* and this is “a classic moment in Doctor Who lore, cherished by fans.”* That should silence those pesky AI haters.
*wrong
*wrong
October 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I’ve just learned that Patrick Troughton’s farewell words* to Jamie* and the Brigadier* in the last episode of The Tenth Planet* were “It’s the kindest person I’ve ever met,”* and this is “a classic moment in Doctor Who lore, cherished by fans.”* That should silence those pesky AI haters.
*wrong
*wrong
Together with Marc, Dave Ball brought pleasure, power and positivity to countless young lives, my own included. Raising a glass to one of the greats.
October 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Together with Marc, Dave Ball brought pleasure, power and positivity to countless young lives, my own included. Raising a glass to one of the greats.
Beginning to wonder if headline writers are deliberately trying to get that Day Today Chris Morris meme treatment.
October 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Beginning to wonder if headline writers are deliberately trying to get that Day Today Chris Morris meme treatment.
(26 Christmases later, by which time the pantomime season was a little shorter and the posters a little smarter, I found myself back at the same theatre…)
October 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
(26 Christmases later, by which time the pantomime season was a little shorter and the posters a little smarter, I found myself back at the same theatre…)
Mid-February? Pah. For the 1981-82 season, Nottingham Theatre Royal rolled out a glorious Aladdin starring Barbara Windsor, Keith Harris and Billy Dainty, which just kept on selling and being extended. It finally closed on 10th April and made the Guinness Book of Records. I saw it three times.
October 21, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Mid-February? Pah. For the 1981-82 season, Nottingham Theatre Royal rolled out a glorious Aladdin starring Barbara Windsor, Keith Harris and Billy Dainty, which just kept on selling and being extended. It finally closed on 10th April and made the Guinness Book of Records. I saw it three times.
In the garden today: it’s October, but the gorgeous honeyed fragrance of sweet alyssum is still filling the patio with perfume. The scent was once believed to cure mental anguish: the name ‘alyssum’ comes from the Greek, literally meaning ‘free of madness’. Would that we were.
October 1, 2025 at 5:42 PM
In the garden today: it’s October, but the gorgeous honeyed fragrance of sweet alyssum is still filling the patio with perfume. The scent was once believed to cure mental anguish: the name ‘alyssum’ comes from the Greek, literally meaning ‘free of madness’. Would that we were.
In the garden today: Snapdragons basking in September’s final sunset.
September 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
In the garden today: Snapdragons basking in September’s final sunset.
‘Watched Attack of the Cybermen.’
September 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM
‘Watched Attack of the Cybermen.’
I knew I recognised them from somewhere.
September 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I knew I recognised them from somewhere.
Devotees of Michael Sarrazin might like a word.
September 3, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Devotees of Michael Sarrazin might like a word.
Tomorrow’s the day! Monday 1st September sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse until 2nd November. Do come along!
August 31, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Tomorrow’s the day! Monday 1st September sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse until 2nd November. Do come along!
18th August 1944: as the German army flees Paris, the codebreakers at Bletchley Park decrypt a message from Heinrich Himmler: just one of the extraordinary close shaves that the Bayeux Tapestry has survived over the centuries. This is from the prologue of Carola Hicks’s superb book on the Tapestry.
August 31, 2025 at 1:08 PM
18th August 1944: as the German army flees Paris, the codebreakers at Bletchley Park decrypt a message from Heinrich Himmler: just one of the extraordinary close shaves that the Bayeux Tapestry has survived over the centuries. This is from the prologue of Carola Hicks’s superb book on the Tapestry.
Of course there had to be a Dalek one. And isn’t it a beauty? Monday sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the preposterously talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
August 30, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Of course there had to be a Dalek one. And isn’t it a beauty? Monday sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the preposterously talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
‘Like tears in the rain…’ Love this one. Monday sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the ludicrously talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September to 2nd November. Do come along!
August 29, 2025 at 8:46 PM
‘Like tears in the rain…’ Love this one. Monday sees the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the ludicrously talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September to 2nd November. Do come along!
Just a few days to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
August 28, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Just a few days to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
In the garden today: I shall resist the obvious ‘While shepherds watched their phlox’ joke (narrator: he didn’t resist it). Phlox is Greek for ‘flame’, and this particular phlox is a flaming lovely recent gift from David and Alex. Thank you, chaps!
August 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM
In the garden today: I shall resist the obvious ‘While shepherds watched their phlox’ joke (narrator: he didn’t resist it). Phlox is Greek for ‘flame’, and this particular phlox is a flaming lovely recent gift from David and Alex. Thank you, chaps!
Less than a week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. The ‘Nope’ painting is one of my favourites. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
August 26, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Less than a week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. The ‘Nope’ painting is one of my favourites. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
In the garden today: Rudbeckia was named by Carl Linnaeus in honour of his patron and fellow botanist, Olof Rudbeck. In his dedication, Linnaeus wrote: ‘So long as the earth shall survive and as each spring shall see it covered with flowers, the Rudbeckia will preserve your glorious name.’
August 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
In the garden today: Rudbeckia was named by Carl Linnaeus in honour of his patron and fellow botanist, Olof Rudbeck. In his dedication, Linnaeus wrote: ‘So long as the earth shall survive and as each spring shall see it covered with flowers, the Rudbeckia will preserve your glorious name.’
One week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. Feast your eyes on his amazing Tron piece! It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from Monday 1st September. Do come along!
August 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
One week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a new exhibition of paintings by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. Feast your eyes on his amazing Tron piece! It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from Monday 1st September. Do come along!
Not long to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September - 2nd November. Do come along!
August 23, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Not long to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the absurdly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September - 2nd November. Do come along!
Just over a week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September - 2nd November. Do come along!
August 23, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Just over a week to go until the opening of ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’, a fabulous new exhibition of paintings by the implausibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September - 2nd November. Do come along!
I believe it was Rembrandt who once remarked that no exhibition is complete without a Metaluna Mutant. Fear not, @barnabyedwards.bsky.social has it covered in his fabulous new show ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
August 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I believe it was Rembrandt who once remarked that no exhibition is complete without a Metaluna Mutant. Fear not, @barnabyedwards.bsky.social has it covered in his fabulous new show ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’. It’s at Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September. Do come along!
Two weeks to go until the opening of this fabulous new exhibition by the unfeasibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s called ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’ - so yes of COURSE there’s a Bowie painting. And isn’t it a beauty? Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September.
August 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Two weeks to go until the opening of this fabulous new exhibition by the unfeasibly talented @barnabyedwards.bsky.social. It’s called ‘Brave New Worlds: A Century of Science Fiction Cinema’ - so yes of COURSE there’s a Bowie painting. And isn’t it a beauty? Exeter Picturehouse from 1st September.