Sorry Britain – there’s no such thing as spaghetti bolognese . . . not in Italy, as I discovered on a recent visit to Bologna.

It is, like chicken tikka masala, entirely an English invention and, according to any Italian cook, not a good one.

Nonetheless it is a compulsory item on the menu in any one of Britain’s 4700+ Italian restaurants.

The Lady Driver and I specifically stopped off in Bologna to have spag bog in what we assumed was its native habitat.

On the dinner-time taxi ride into the old city, our driver realigned our gastronomical thinking.

In Bologna, one of Italy’s best food havens, “bolognese” sauce is more correctly called a ragu – a meat sauce.

It is all about how the sauce sticks to the pasta.

A ragu does not go well with spaghetti, which is too thin to hold the heavy sauce. That’s why, when … Read more

Liverpool’s Strawberry Field is to be opened to the public.

Made famous by the John Lennon song “Strawberry Fields Forever”, the real Strawberry Field was, in fact, a Salvation Army children’s home near where he lived with his Aunt Mimi.

It was an important part of Lennon’s early life. Each year the home held a garden party for locals and Lennon loved to go there.

He also used to climb over the surrounding wall to play with the children and to listen to the Sally Alley’s band. . . to the chagrin and disapproval of the home’s managers. When complaints to his school and Aunt Mimi went unheeded, one of the officials threatened to hang him if it happened again.

Thus the line in the song “Nothing to get hung about”.

Listen to the Strawberry Fields Forever video

Eventually the school buildings were demolished because they were riddled with dry … Read more

Driving in the UK – it ain’t easy. But if you are schooled up on a few basics it ain’t hard either. The  towns and cities pose the greater challenge. Out on the open road it’s fairly easy going.

Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time driving in Britain and here are 8 things I learned the hard way that will make driving in the UK a lot easier.

1: Remember – they drive on the left

First things first. For Americans and others who drive on the right hand side of the road you had better quickly get your head around the new world order: From now on the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side.

In many places you will see arrows painted on the road surface to remind you to get on the correct side.

By and large … Read more