Adam’s blog ·
The beautiful game
Top-flight football is such an ugly spectacle, I can’t stand the sight of it. With all the hacking, diving, stamping, tripping, wrestling, nudging, shirt pulling, injury…
Adam’s blog
Latest blog posts
Adam Ruck on skiing and its history, cycling holidays, golf, France, Switzerland and life at the foot of the Lambourn Downs.
Latest posts
Adam’s blog ·
A day of reckoning
‘Just a piece of old tin,’ Aunt Sina famously observed, after my father misjudged his parking angle and cut a deep gouge down the side of…
Adam’s blog ·
Rumpole in La-La Land
As we near the conclusion of series 1 of The Lincoln Lawyer, no more than three years behind the televiewing curve, an idle thought that entered…
Skiing History ·
Roger Bushell – cross-country ski champion
Finally got around to reading Paul Brickhill’s account of The Great Escape, after watching the film umpteen times. The book is often described as a novel,…
Adam’s blog ·
BBC stunwatch. Fresh air strikes again
Now that much of the BBC’s output is read and not heard, the Corporation has had to beef up its backroom skills as required in the…
Skiing History ·
AI: Artificial Inaccuracy
Until recently, when a question came up for debate or dispute in our house, the cry went up: ‘Google it!’. Now that seems to have been…
2026
2025
- BBC stunwatch. Fresh air strikes again
- AI: Artificial Inaccuracy · Skiing History
- Jeremy Catto by David Vaiani. Unicorn £25 · Writing and editing
2022
- Travels with a Brompton · Cycling holidays
2021
- Let’s hear it for audible
- Women’s Day · Skiing
- A piste of history · Skiing
2020
- Le Carré: ‘far and away the best ski cartoonist in the business’ · Skiing
- An Everest in West Oxfordshire · Cycling holidays
- Gone for a swim · Golf
- Up the Downs · Cycling holidays
- Golf and covid: the new abnormal · France
- Time to rediscover old favourites · Travel journalism
- On the George Sand trail · France
2019
- Settling down · Dog training
- Practice makes Percy · Dog training
- Percy goes to school · Dog training
- The World in 2000 Pieces
- Golf rules, OK?
2018
2017
- Hello, yes, goodbye · Holidays
- PowdAir dreams: from Southend to Sion · Skiing
- Play it again George · France
2016
- coming soon – your currency surcharge · Skiing
- Araf! (Drive slowly in Wales)
- Save La Grave – join the crowd · France
- Je mange donc je suis
- I give up · The Archers
- Tour de Bretagne · Cycling holidays
- Just like Eddie · Skiing
- Dirty Thursday in Lucerne · Skiing
- A day in the life
2015
- ’ere ouigo – skiing the Disney way · France
- Brittany at half term: le golf de Morbihan · France
- “Is my friend in the bunker, or is the bastard on the green?” · Golf
- Wethered on the spoon · Golf
- Glacier meltdown? Stick a plaster on it · Skiing
- In praise of Tripadvisor. No, really · French hotels
- “Can you recommend a hotel?” · French hotels
- Gemma Bovery – low expectation exceeded · France
- On the trail of Madame Bovary · France
- Crime Scene Matterhorn: Trial by Tabloid TV · Mountaineering history
- To the source of the Dovey · Cycling holidays
- JT Holmes pulls it off · Skiing
- Who cut the rope? · Mountaineering history
- Race day at Crans Montana · Skiing
- Casper’s last stand · Golf
- Not so sure about snowsure · Austria
2014
- French men are obsessed by wardrobes · France
- On needles and haystacks
- It’s better to travel, hopefully … · Skiing
- Skiing by night – a darkmotif · Skiing
- Prize quiz · Skiing
- The Michael Buerk hotel · Switzerland
- St Moritz in winter: too good to be true? · Skiing
- dream suite
- a reader writes · Cycling holidays
- Oberland: a walk in Wales · Wales
- Chamonix by night · France
- In the Valley of the Kings · Cycling holidays
- A good walk soiled? · Golf
- If it’s April, this must be Augusta · Golf
- It’s the same old story · Travel journalism
- Dead duck. Fowl play?
- skiing by sat-nav – faster than you think? · Skiing
- to the top of Europe · Switzerland
- By train to Switzerland · Skiing
- Grimentz: good career prospects for traffic wardens · Skiing
- Calling Mag and Jock
- Never up, never in · Golf
- More on golf and cycling · Cycling holidays
- Ski helmets: a hard nut to crack · Skiing
2013
- e-bikes: why not? · Austria
- The travel editor’s lot is not a happy one · Writing and editing
- Golf and cycling · Cycling holidays
- Surfin’ Safari · Skiing
- Red kites. Why did we bother? · Oxfordshire
- Heidi’s getting hitched · Skiing
- Chamonix by train: transport update · France
- A new Tesco · Oxfordshire
- Where to ski at half term · Skiing
- A lifetime lift pass for the world, anyone? · Skiing
- Mr Smith’s Olympics · Skiing
- Peter Lunn and the psychology of ski racing · Skiing
- James Bond, skier · Skiing
- Ski hosting – no end to hostilities · France
- Lithuania by bike · Cycling holidays
- To the Alps by uber-jeep · Skiing
- How long is a piste of string · Skiing
- to the summer of 2013, in honour of its splendour · Wales
- The only way is ethics · Cycling holidays
- childhood holidays in France … and adverbs · France
- To Italy by bike mostly with Eric Newby · Cycling holidays
- It’s a crackdown!
- Salzburg – the hills are a lie · Austria
- Annecy – deep fishing and steep skiing · France
- La Croix-Fry: honeymoon sweet · Cycling holidays
- Alpe d’Huez: la montée mythique · Cycling holidays
- Embrun Solaire · Cycling holidays
- Crocophile years · Cycling holidays
- Watching the Tour de France, or not · Cycling holidays
- Airport security. A slightly odd request
- Ferayola – a victory for the thin red line · Corsica
- Scouring the White Horse · Oxfordshire
- Le Peugeot est mort! Vive le Rolex? · Golf
- On CMJ, and stickling · Writing and editing
- Skiing’s Literary Locations · Skiing
- I love Grimentz, but …. · Skiing
- Les Grands Montets is fifty today · France
- Bernard Darwin’s Introductions · Golf
- A new course for Vietnam · Golf
- Ten years old today
- PS: afterthoughts in Brittany · France
- More thoughts on ski hosting · Austria
- Notre Dame des Cyclistes · Cycling holidays
- Attention: chien méchant · France
- Richard, Duke of Gloucester (and other names)
- London City Airport. The ski goggles have landed. · Austria
- Peter Barnes. Diamond Devil · Skiing
- Erna Low: Aiming High by Mark Frary · Austria
- Bellecote, North Face. Never on Monday · France
- Thoughts on French ski hosting · France
- Murder in the Swiss Alps: Daillon shooting is ammo for the gun control lobby · Switzerland
2012
- 100 years of Swiss winter sports · Skiing
- Skiing and The Archers · Skiing
- Lord Knebworth · Skiing
- White Horse Hill · Oxfordshire
- The Last London Ski Show? · Skiing
- Ski Show Blues · Skiing
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