Philip Spires commonplace book

I have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Friday, August 7, 2026

Ars Alta announces the fourth Denia International Piano Festival - 19 Sept to 3 Dec 2026

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Piano Duo Kos–Gašparović invites you to experience music at its highest level, where two exceptional artists perform with remarkable unit...

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

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This Side Of Paradise is a very famous novel and justly so. Its author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been something of a blind spot for me. I re...

Friday, July 31, 2026

Writers and their work - David Storey by John Russell Taylor

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A difficulty with writing a critical assessment of the work of a living writer is that an author has to gamble with time. John Tussell Tay...

Saturday, July 25, 2026

3 TV Plays by David Mercer

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In 3 TV Plays David Mercer published the scripts of A Suitable Case For Treatment, For Tea On Sunday and And Did Those Feet. All were prod...

Friday, July 24, 2026

Days of Vision : working with David Mercer : television drama then and now 1990 by Don Taylor

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Coming from Wakefield, I have a particular interest in the work of playwright David Mercer. So it was with some excitement that I started Do...

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Everything turns out in the end - Turandot in Valencia with Semenchuk, Kunde and López Moreno - Sir Mark Elder conducts, Alex Ollé directs

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Turandot is an operatic masterpiece. But it’s staging remains highly problematic. The two main characters, Calaf and Turandot, who does not ...

Saturday, June 13, 2026

When superlatives are not enough – Josep Vicent and Anna Federova with ADDA Simfónica in Rachmaninov and Mahler

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Last night the 2025-2026 season of ADDA concerts was brought to close. On paper, for a seasoned concert goer, there was nothing particular...

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About Me

philipspires: I was born in Wakefield and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Kenya. I spent sixteen years in London, in Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. I currently live in La Nucia, near Benidorm in Spain. I am interested in the relationship between nature and nurture, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic and social roles underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control. What others do, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. I was President of Alfas del Pi Music Society for twelve years.

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