People sometimes ask me (well, occasionally, enough to flatter my vanity)  about articles etc. that I have written and which are not easily available, or, indeed, are unpublished.  This website will try and make some of them available to anyone interested.  I have also added some ephemeral items which may be of mild historical interest. Thanks to the internet, this material is now like Blake’s Bible of Hell, “which the world shall have whether they will or no”.

Note that texts will often be as originally submitted rather than the copy-edited versions that were published. Other than correcting obvious typographical errors, I have kept the versions as originally written. Politically acceptable language has varied over my lifetime; I have not attempted to alter my writings so as to pass myself off as a precursor of political correctness. I trust readers will forgive the occasional references to “girls” and “coloured people”.

I shall continue to add to this website over a period of time; items of particular interest will be announced on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GrimandDim).

Thanks to Oliver Kamm for providing the very apt title for this website (adapted from Christina Rossetti), and to my son Danny Birchall for his assistance in constructing and designing it.

I welcome any comments or queries about material on this site.  Please contact me using the contact form.