Tag Archives: Taj Mahal

Peter Aspden & Bettany Hughes debate luxury & culture at the V&A Museum

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 Thursday 6th September, 3.45pm
 V&A Museum
What does it take to create something of note? 

That is what Frost went to find out.  Arts & culture commentator Peter Aspden and award-winning historian Bettany Hughes were a great match together. The bounced off each other perfectly. Peter noted iconic moments in history – Elvis Presley singing Hound-dog to an actual hound dog, Michael Jackson – and Bettany, just back from a trip to Albania funded by Lord Rothschild,  certainly knows her stuff. Things I found out from her during the debate: it took 18 years to build the pyramids and they were made not by slaves as is popularly thought, but by citizens of Egypt for the gods.

While Peter said we should not be beholden to the past, Bettany said: “we live with the past, it is in everything we think and do”.

It was a lively debate with lots of good questions being asked. Chivas Brothers hosted the event at the beautiful Victoria & Albert museum. Chivas Brothers certainly know about good things taking time. Their whiskey takes 20 odd years to make. I saw one bottle which was thirty years old. They started making whiskey in the 1800s. They are now in the top 3 whiskey makers in the world.

The debate also raised the point that one of the reasons a 21-year-old whiskey is such a luxury is that the moment you drink it 21-years is gone.

If whiskey does not have an age statement then it is three years old, as whiskey has to be at least three years old.

Other things I learnt:

“Did you know that most of us only live for 800 months?” A.C Grayling.

The Taj Mahal took 25 years to build

Alcohol is an Arabic word.

Symposium  means “drinking together”.

What do you think?

Travel discounts with every Jameson Dublin International Film Festival ticket

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Film enthusiasts attending The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012 could soon be starring in their very own season of discovery off the big screen.

Adventure travel specialist Intrepid Travel is offering a discount to anyone who buys Festival tickets at the box office, worth €100 off their next holiday*. One lucky film fan will also win a free 15 day-trip to India**, where they’ll experience the spice markets of Delhi, the beauty of the Taj Mahal, and the marble palaces of Udaipur.

Now in its tenth year, The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012 is Ireland’s largest film festival and will include over 130 feature films, documentaries, shorts and events, and will showcase the best film-making from right across the globe, with films from a wide range of countries including Indonesia, Mexico and Cuba. There is also a ‘discovery programme’ of unexpected gems.

“Intrepid Travel has been helping people with a sense of adventure to get off-the-beaten-track and discover the world for more than 20 years,” said Daniel Pawlyn, Intrepid Travel’s Sales & Marketing Manager UK & Ireland. “We’re proud to be supporting The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival as it invites the Irish public to ‘celebrate the story and share the adventure’.”

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival takes place from 16 – 26 February 2012, and the Intrepid Travel discount can be redeemed at www.intrepidtravel.com, by calling 01 524 0071, or at a local travel agent.