Here you will find some biographical information about me
I was born in London in 1950. I still live there, but I spent six years at Leeds University.
I am fortunate enough to live near Hampstead Heath. Here is a Spring scene from the Heath to delight your eyes!
My greatest love in life is OPERA.
I have started to rebuild my Opera page - please visit it! Perhaps you might also like to sign the guest book.
And you can now see my Wagner page, and (the most recent addition) my Edinburgh Festival 1998 diary.
Unfortunately,these vanished from cyberspace a year ago due to an inexplicable (and non-operatic!) phenomenon! (Otherwise known as idiots at Geocities!) I have now reconstructed them.
I wrote my Ph.D on Wagner in the German Department at the University of Leeds.
Click on the image below to link to the University's Home Page
The title of my thesis was "A Comparison of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and William Morris's "Sigurd the Volsung"
Chapter 2 of this thesis can be read by visiting Wagner's Sources
Before this, I did two degrees at Birkbeck College, University of London.
M.A. MEDIEVAL STUDIES
B.A. GERMAN
Click on the image below to visit the Home Page of the College.
Some of the groups to which I belong refer to my interest in WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY I have found these WebSites particularly helpful in pursuing my interest. Yes, the list is rather eclectic - or ecumenical! - but that is the point. And, since it is an INTEREST and not a positive committment, this section starts with a link to the
(I did just say it was eclectic.....!!! What I really believe in, more than any one religion, is RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE.)
Click HERE to see the lovely cards and gifts I received from my friends at Harmony of Souls for my birthday (July 24th).
Having come this far, it will probably not surprise you to discover that I am a vegetarian! Unfortunately, the page with my favourite recipes was also deleted, and not all the lentils in the world could save it......
HOWEVER, I have finally started a new one!! Click HERE to see it.
I love to relax by doing YOGA, or alternatively (the pun is intentional - sorry!) relaxing in a lavender-scented bath, inhaling the aroma of lavender-scented candles!
I recently found this website devoted to the practice of TORAH YOGA, a linking between Jewish spirituality and Yoga disciplines.
Take this quiz to see which Greek Goddess YOU are!
You are Maat, the goddess of truth, justice and
order. You are wife of Thot, the god of wisdom.You are also very wise and intelligent and your
main goal in life is to gain as much knowledge
as you can. And that makes you interesting,
colourful person and there is also little
sceptic lurking inside you. Its impossible to
cheat you.
You are a Sceptic.Philosophical skepticism originated in ancient
Greek philosophy. One of its first proponents
was Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-275 B.C.), who
travelled and studied as far as India, and
propounded the adoption of 'practical'
skepticism. Subsequently, in the 'New Academy'
Arcesilaos (c. 315-241 B.C.) and Carneades (c.
213-129 B.C.) developed more theoretical
perspectives, whereby conceptions of absolute
truth and falsity were refuted. Carneades
criticised the views of the Dogmatists,
especially supporters of Stoicism, asserting
that absolute certainty of knowledge is
impossible. Sextus Empiricus (c. A.D. 200), the
main authority for Greek skepticism, developed
the position further, incorporating aspects of
empiricism into the basis for asserting
knowledge.Greek skeptics criticised the Stoics, accusing them
of dogmatism. For the skeptics, the logical
mode of argument was untenable, as it relied on
propositions which could not be said to be
either true or false without relying on further
propositions. This was the argument of infinite
regress, whereby every proposition must rely on
other propositions in order to maintain its
validity. In addition, the skeptics argued that
two propositions could not rely on each other,
as this would create a circular argument (as p
implies q and q implies p). For the skeptics
logic was thus an inadequate measure of truth
which could create as many problems as it
claimed to have solved. Truth was not, however,
necessarily unobtainable, but rather an idea
which did not yet exist in a pure form.
Although skepticism was accused of denying the
possibility of truth, in actual fact it appears
to have mainly been a critical school which
merely claimed that logicians had not
discovered truth.
Discovered the
