THE SONG THAT SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES

They were all written by Alice Hawthorne, one of the pseudonyms used by the 19th-century songwriter Septimus Winner. The famous poet, composer and violinist, born in 1827 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the seventh child of Joseph Eastburn Winner and Mary Ann Hawthorne, a relative of Nathanial Hawthorne.

CHRISTMAS WITH YOU

CHRISTMAS WITH YOU . When time and distance separate us, Then you will find the spirit of our togetherness, In a glass of wine. My darling, Make it a long-stemmed glass, To remind you that even the minute apart is the longest one. . Fill it to its […]

THREE MONTHS’ THE OLD SALT LAUGHED

It would take us two weeks to voyage to the Portuguese African colony of Mozambique. From Beira, King Arthur voyaged to Durban in Verwoerd’s South Africa where we experienced apartheid first-hand. No problem but there was much mirth at the predicament this posed to our West Indian engine room rating.

DEATHBED BLUES

A man is on his deathbed, and he asks his wife, ‘Martha, soon I will be gone forever, and there’s something I have to know. In all these 50 years of marriage, have you ever been unfaithful to me?’ Martha replied, ‘Well, Henry, I have to be honest […]