To the west of Bucharest, north of where the Danube carves it’s way through the Carpathian mountains (also known as the Transylvanian Alps), there is a small city by the name of Deva. I fly over it on a regular basis on the plane from Paris to Doha. In fact, I’ve flown over it eight times in the last nine weeks. When I see Deva come up, on the clever inflight map they use on Qatar Airways, I always have a little chuckle to myself, imaging myself walking the streets below, looking for the railway station. “Excuse me,” I say, “please could you direct me to Deva Station?” And I imagine the lo ..read more

Here’s the new Formula 1 calendar for 2025 Australia March 16  China March 23 Japan April 6 Bahrain April 13 Saudi April 20 Miami May 4 Imola May 18 Monaco May 25 Spain June 1 Canada June 15 Austria June 29 Britain July 6 Belgium July 27 Hungary August 3 Netherlands August 31 Italy September 7 Baku September 21 Singapore October 5 United States October 19 Mexico October 26 Brazil November 9  Las Vegas November 22 Qatar November 29 Abu Dhabi December 7 ..read more

The Japanese word for island is “jima” while kan (観) means “to see” and Kū (空) means “the sky”, thus the word Kankūjima translates as the “island to see the sky” or perhaps the more poetic “island for contemplating the heavens”. The straight bar above the u is something foreign (and thus slightly scary) to English-speaking peoples, but it is nothing to worry about, it simply tells you that the vowel in question is long one. Actually, it’s called a macron, but let’s not get into French things for now… The island for contemplating the heavens is in Osaka Bay and it is entirely ..read more

On the way from the centre of Melbourne to Albert Park, if you do not have a chauffeur, the trams stop at Batman Park. Bruce and Wayne are both popular names Down Under, but this is not Gotham City. So why do they celebrate Batman? After some research I discovered that a man called John Batman founded Melbourne. Well, some people think that anyway. Others say it was another john called Fawkner, who also has a park named after him. Who knows? Perhaps they both settled at the same moment. In The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, an account of the city’s history, the author Garryowen reached an ..read more

If you want to know what is REALLY happening in Formula 1, and you are planning to be in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, you can sign up to attend an Audience with Joe, which I am hosting on Friday evening, at the West Beach Pavilion in St Kilda. It is a great venue, down on the beach, a short walk from Albert Park, with great food and drink. The Audience is designed to allow fans to ask any questions they like about F1 to someone who has been at every single race for the last 36 years and knows the sport (and the people involved) well. I have even been known to be slightly indiscreet ..read more

The Wellcome Lounge in King Abdul Aziz International Airport is nothing special, which is odd given that the Saudis love building things that are bigger and better than everyone else. They have the money after all, and they are keen for the world to like them. Still, the conclusion I reached is that it must be a temporary facility and work is progressing on a lounge the size of the Vatican City which will chocolate fountains, people polishing shoes and a gold-plated dog bar… When Formula 1 visits Saudia Arabia the topic of conversation often turns to money. A year ago the FIA President, wh ..read more

The human being has two basic instincts: self-preservation, and the survival of the species. Pheromones, those naughty little chemical friends we have, help us to keep the human race going. Wanting to have sex with one another is not fundamentally a bad thing – and more fun than wanting to have sex on our own… But the human world has become a very complicated place and the boundaries of appropriate sexual behaviour are blurred and subjective. How and when is it appropriate to proposition someone? Is flirtation acceptable only if it is accepted? [The author stops for a moment, shakes his he ..read more

Aston Martin has revealed its new car this morning ..read more

The Brasserie Mollard is one of Paris’s oldest, dating back to the 1860s. It is located opposite the Gare Saint-Lazare, which had been the terminus for the railway to Dieppe since 1848. This meant that fresh fish could be delivered quickly from the Channel coast to Paris and so Mollard became a big success. In the 1890s, rolling in money, the Mollard family commissioned the famous rchitect Édouard-Jean Niermans, who had designed the Hôtel Negresco in Nice, the Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo and the Moulin-Rouge, to build them an Art Deco palace. If that is a style you like, it is fantastic ..read more

The Brasserie Mollard is one of Paris’s oldest, dating back to the 1860s. It is located opposite the Gare Saint-Lazare, which has been the terminus for the railway to Dieppe since 1848. This meant that fresh fish could be delivered quickly from the Channel ports to Paris. Mollard took advantage of this and quickly became a big success. In the 1890s, rolling in money, the Mollard family commissioned the architect Édouard-Jean Niermans, to build them a Belle Epoque palace. If that is a style you like, it is fantastic. Niermans would go on to design many more places, such as the Hôtel Negresco ..read more