Brian Viner

Brian Viner swapped London for the Herefordshire countryside, and his column ‘Country Life’ documents his attempts to chase the rural idyll. Chiefly a sports writer, he pens a weekly sports column and interview for the paper. He is the author of Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me: A Personal Odyssey Through the Sporting Seventies.

This July it will be 30 years since Bjorn Borg won his last Wimbledon title

Brian Viner: Turning back clock to Borg’s five-star show is irresistible

The Last Word

Recently by Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Smoked in deepest Shropshire, butter for the royal slice of bread

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Our bedroom habits, revealed in this space a week ago, continue unabated and unashamed. I still keep my electric blanket turned up to gas-mark nine every night, and lie there gently sizzling while Jane reads recipes from Florence White's remarkable collection, Good Things In England.

Brian Viner: Golden Bear's not too old to score a handsome 70

Saturday, 9 January 2010

The Last Word

Brian Viner: Sledging by the pig farm beats going to school

Thursday, 7 January 2010

The view from the country

Brian Viner: 'We listen to the weather forecast to get an idea of conditions in the corridor'

Thursday, 7 January 2010

It's all very well living in a big old house in the country, high enough to see for 60 miles on a clear day, but wintry weather can be a challenge. We sometimes had to cope with blizzards and snow drifts before we moved to Herefordshire, but not on the journey from the bedroom to the bathroom. And I exaggerate only slightly. There have been several mornings in the past fortnight when Jane and I have woken up to find frozen condensation about half an inch thick on the inside of our bedroom window, although it at least acts as a kind of double-glazing, keeping the wind out. The last time gales brought the power cables down, and we were without electricity for 24 hours, a force eight from the general direction of the chest of drawers kept extinguishing the candle on my bedside table. It's not everyone who listens to the weather forecast to get some idea of conditions not so much out of doors as out of bed.