The crowd at Conway Hall was full of young men with pinched faces and gawky enthusiasm, displaying a full gamut of unfortunate sartorial choices: some of them in cravats, some with chinos and navy-blue blazers, some with dragon T-shirts and scraggly beards, at least one person pairing a tweed jacket with cargo shorts.
But, that year, with my schedule stuffed full of Don Giovannis, and unfortunate struggles with fitness, I realised that William Tell was to be my beach companion at least for part of the holiday.
Julie Andrews's memoir is full of crisp locutions like "poor unfortunate" and "banished to the scullery" and "trivet," a characteristically precise term that the dictionary defines as "an iron tripod placed over a fire for a cooking pot or kettle to stand on".
This cycle, though unfortunate and full of challenges, poses opportunities for all of us to face those challenges, and to demonstrate our will and determination. Louis Pasteur wrote of this in 1888, following decades of wars, but prior to one of the most violent centuries of all time.
Netflix released the first full trailer for its upcoming series "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" Thursday morning, giving fans their first real look at what's to come.
She presents herself as a battle-hardened veteran, having weathered whole books full of smears, innuendo, half-truths and unfortunate facts.
The unfortunate thing about being full of mistakes is that we sometimes get attached to our mistakes and free will can foul us up at every step.
Just a series of unfortunate slips?
His biography really is a series of unfortunate events.
