2456 days ago
Over the past few days I have written a couple of times about my grandfather, Sir John Winnifrith, a thoroughly respectable fellow who ran the National Trust and was a staunch Bennite opponent of the EU. He was intelligent, sober and obviously not what one might term glamorous. But his little sister Joan was rather different.
2787 days ago
My father's family are generally not a terribly glamorous lot. They are serious, often bookish and, very often, holding stern and sober convictions. But there is one branch that is totally different. My grandfather (Sir John Winnifrith) had a younger sister Joan who moved to Hollywood, took the stage name Anna Lee and became an actress.
2820 days ago
My father's family, in England at least, were a small c Conservative - if often hard left politically - lot. They still are on both counts. As such I guess I am a bit of a black sheep and so look to our American cousins, that is to say my grandather's young sister Joan Winnifrith and her family as being just that bit different. My grandfather, Sir John, was a respectable senior civil servant and after retirement head of the National Trust and War Graves Commission. His little sister was far less respectable. Google knows her as the actress Anna Lee.
2841 days ago
As the bodies are prepared for burial the war of words as to who is to blame for the outrage in Nice is underway. Fresh from calling for a ban on guns in America after Dallas, the liberals are now calling for a ban on lorries in Europe. Okay they are not. No-one ever accused the liberal left of being consistent in its prejudices or thought processes. But if you wander around the Internet you can see more or less everyone gets blamed somewhere.
At this point I'd just remind you of the words of two former Prime Minsters and I start with the war criminal Tony Blair.
4086 days ago
Ok, cut out the emails and stop pestering me. This report went out on onefreesharetip.com on Friday and it seems that stacks of punters could not be bothered to register (it costs nothing) and have now decided to plague me to send it to them. Okay, just to give my email in-box a break, here you all are. But this is the last time I shall be republishing a onefreesharetip.com tip or special report. If you want to make sure you get the next special report 8 explosive small cap stocks to buy now by ex t1ps senior writer Steve Moore – due out next Thursday) plus a free share tip every working day just go and sign up. It is free and you can do it HERE
Now, as I head off to watch recordings of the last two episides of Dallas ( I just cannot escape oil) here is that report from Sam:
Everyone should have some oil exposure in their portfolio. Long run supply demand patterns are impossible to predict but in the short to medium term there is always the risk of a Black Swan event that disrupts supply and sends the price of oil spiking sharply higher. I suppose that the odds on favourite for a 2013 Black Swan (if that is not a contradiction in terms) is Israel attacking Iran. The second obvious Black Swan event would be civil unrest in a major oil producing state. Might Saudi Arabia, for instance, have its own “Arab Spring?”
If oil spikes higher oil stocks, especially those with production, will – thanks to operational gearing see windfall net income gains and their shares will move sharply higher. But non oil stocks, facing sharply increased fuel bills and so reduced margins will head the other way. And it is for this reason that everyone should have some oil exposure within a balanced portfolio as a hedge.
4171 days ago
Dallas was part of my childhood. Who shot JR? The poison dwarf, Lusty Dusty. I remember it all. And JR Ewing was at the centre of it all. And, as you probably know, my cousin Jeff appeared in two episodes where he raped Lucy ( the poisoned dwarf). Not quite the highlight of his career ( I think that was giving Tatum O’Neill her first on screen kiss in International Velvet) but that made the Winnifrith family bond with the programme even stronger. We even had Dallas the board game. And so, today I really do mourn the death yesterday of Larry Hagman, the actor who played JR.
Hagman did actually hail from Texas and died there. He was, by all accounts, a bit of a character, downing five bottles of champagne a day as he filmed Dallas.
4189 days ago
Shares in AIM and TSX listed Caza Oil & Gas (CAZA) have spiked 28.6% higher today to 18p valuing the company at £29.61 million. Supporters of this Texan oil play, urge me to look at Caza claiming that it will hit 25p before Christmas. But I am always nervous about oil companies operating in the US but listed here. So buy as a red hot penny share or sell as the good news is already discounted – which is it? I had a long chat with the company this afternoon and came to a conclusion. What would JR Ewing say?
The news today came from the company’s Caza Ridge horizontal Bone Spring well on its Copperline Prospect in Lea County, New Mexico. The company states:
4191 days ago
I still have one episode of Dallas and one DCI Banks to catch up on. That treat can wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, my programme of trying to watch a film a week while watching only quality TV ( i.e. nothing made by the BBC) continues and – having watched every Bond film ever made – I troop along to see the latest offering: Skyfall. Half a day later I am still not quite sure what to make of it. It was very different to all the other recent Bond movies. It is worth watching but it is… different.
Daniel Craig’s Bond is exposed for the wreck that he has become. Drink has become a real issue and his personality flaws, driven perhaps from the childhood loss of his parents are laid bare. This is perhaps the most personal Bond film ever made. And that makes it different.
4198 days ago
Is this the last episode of Downton Abbey series three tonight? Maybe it is the penultimate one. But it is hard to see what shocks we could have left. After all it is 1920 so unless the IRA man takes time off from grieving to join the Irish Civil War or Lady Edith heads off to fight for Greece against Turkey it is hard to see what can go wrong. Bates is on his way out of prison. The ex prostitute is settling in well at the Crawley household. Predatory homosexual Thomas really must get his long awaited come uppance downstairs while simple but honest Mary the under-cook looks set to be handed the keys to a farm by the father of the man she married but did not love just before he died.
Non Downton lovers – in this show someone important has to die at least once a series. The pompous prig Matthew Crawley is trying to make himself more exciting by picking a fight with thicko Aristocrat the Earl of Grantham but he is failing. He and Lady Mary really need to emigrate.
In Dallas, the younger generation of John Ross, Chris, Elena and the mad wife of Chris are growing on me. News that Bobby/Patrick Duffy/The Man from Atlantis
4201 days ago
I am about to tuck into a bottle of wine and watch yesterday’s episode of Dallas. I bloody well deserve it. Book one of three due this Autumn has just gone to the publisher. Almost 70,000 words long “The wit and wisdom of Viagra Man” is now complete. I think my copy is exceptionally clean and so hopefully we shall see an e-book out fairly soon. I shall be pushing Harriman House hard.
A night off now. Tomorrow I start to get book two over the line to its publisher ADVFN. Book three is not far behind. All three should be ready for your e-stockings. Forgive me, but no more articles today. No more tweets. It is JR, Bobby, John Ross and South Fork and a bottle of plonk for me. I am knackered but elated.
4205 days ago
It seems as if there are only two more episodes of the current series of Downton Abbey to go. Sunday evenings will not be the same after next weekend. I shall have to make conversation or write more. What shall I do? Well for starters I will not be booking a P&O luxury cruise. The amount of adverts in Downton is infuriating and I have got the message a thousand times over that the series is sponsored by P&O Luxury Cruises. Why not jack up the ad rates and sell fewer adverts? The viewing experience is greatly diminished. Anyhow, P&O I have never been on one of your cruises and after this series, I never will.
The death of Lady Sybil is a blow
4212 days ago
It is less than one hour to Downton Abbey. Obviously the clock is ticking on what is the highlight of the week. Will the IRA man stay in England and stand by his wife for feel compelled to go back to fight for Independence? Will Bates get hope that he might be found innocent and released from prison? Will Thomas finally come a cropper downstairs as a result of his predatory sexual antics? Will Lady Edith become a high profile political agitator as a substitute for love? And will someone explain the point of the dull prig Matthew Crawley & annoying Lady Mary now that he has handed over the dosh? Surely they can have another whip round and encourage them to emigrate? 52 minutes and counting… I cannot wait.
Meanwhile, in my BBC free existence, I have this weekend got up to date with Dallas and am finding it compelling viewing. This is odd for a sequel. I suppose having Bobby and JR still dominating the show helps but John Ross Junior and whatever Bobby’s son is called, plus the succession of mad and criminal women they seem to shag adds to the spice. And we have a new series of DCI Banks as well. Being a quality programme it is naturally not on the BBC either and this series looks to be as gripping as the last.
Speaking of Lady Mary, I saw her cropping up in Anna Karenina today as I made a rare visit to the cinema.
4232 days ago
The weekly Tomograph Newsletter has just been sent out to those on our mailing list. If you are not on the mailing list you can register here.
The newsletter contains a new article on Downton, Dallas and Ewing oil vs Sefton Resources. Two oil companies. One is based on fiction and the other is (you complete the joke).
There is also a special money saving offer to celebrate the new extended wine list at Real Man Pizza Company where I am having lunch tomorrow with Ortac Resources. Then off to the stocks to write hard for a week.
You can download this edition of the Tomograph here.
You can download all previous editions here.
