Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jack Allsopp
AskME: Why is there a horse hanging out in the Old Port?
Gerry Scott and his horse, Hercules, and dog, Molly, visit with passers-by in Boothby Square and on Exchange Street in Portland. Staff photo by Jill Brady A dark brown horse and a yellow dog stood in the sun on the green grass in the center of Boothby Square in Portland on a Saturday this spring.
Restaurant-loving couple creates heated cushion to keep eating outside
During the pandemic, Jocelyn Olsen and Colin Greig launched Hüga, a company that makes heated cushions for outdoor seating.
Ask ME: Is dining in an outdoor structure safer than inside a restaurant?
Ventilation and contactless service help reduce the risk of dining out in indoor structures, like these domes at Rising Tide. Photo courtesy of Rising Tide Brewing Co. The outdoor dining structures, like tents, shacks and plastic domes, that have popped up at restaurants and breweries during the pandemic have been mocked on social media and criticized as hypocritical: So it’s OK to eat inside, as long as it’s outside, their skeptics question.
Run & Eat: Build your burger however you like it at Black Cow
Food increase font size It's easy to customize your takeout order from the Old Port burger joint. Share The classic cheeseburger and fries from Black Cow Photo by Jack Allsopp Picture your perfect burger, that one that set the standard for every burger you’ve had since. Now imagine being able to re-create it. With perfectly cooked patties and a bun that holds in whatever toppings you choose, Black Cow Burgers and Fries probably can.
Love Island’s connection to World Cup fervour
These TV hits have gripped the nation this summer, and are more similar than you might expect It’s easy to be envious of the contestants on the ITV2 show Love Island. They have scored a free holiday in a gorgeous villa, their time is spent flirting, gossiping and sunbathing, and if successful they walk away with a boy/girlfriend, and a potential £50,000 jackpot. Not bad for eight weeks work. But they are missing out.
The fault in our Fawlty
It’s a British institution, one of the greatest series ever produced by the BBC. A show etched into the national psyche, a programme that everyone has watched and loved. The prime example of British humour: cleverly crafted and inoffensive. These were the sort of comments that my friends and family made when I admitted that I had never watched Fawlty Towers before.
Civilisations Review: Repeating the same mistakes
Civilisations, on paper, should work. Its aim is to update Kenneth Clarke’s documentary series Civilisation, which aired in 1969 and traced the development of art across history. The original series gained plaudits for its high production standards, thus setting the bar for the BBC history documentary over the next fifty years.
A divine display from the Saints as Anne’s dominate the Hassan’s Cup
A divine display from the Saints as Anne’s dominate the Hassan’s CupThe Saints triumphed in the women's game, whilst St. Anne's bested St John's in the men's finalThe St Anne’s Mens team celebrate their victory after the game in what was a good day for the college.
St John’s thrash Exeter in a JCR Prem goal fest
Goals from Kayinsola Akinwuntan, Sam Morris, Alex Wilson, Eddy Mort and John Findlay consigned Exeter to a 5-1 defeat as St John’s Men moved into first place in the JCR Premier Division. With Balliol’s tie against St Catherine’s postponed due to player shortages, this Monday game offered John’s the opportunity to move to the top of the league and assert themselves in the title chase.
‘League of Gentlemen’ review - meaningful, powerful and incredibly funny
After an extended hiatus, The League of Gentlemen returned to our screens on 18 December. Fifteen years on, everything has changed in Royston Vasey. Pressures on world fuel supplies have led to the dawn of fracking, the LGBTQ+ community have gained a far more prominent role in mainstream discourse, and Brexit has descended upon the United Kingdom. Yet nothing has changed.
Don’t just break the fourth wall, go and watch a film outside
This August, I wearily left my workplace, and jumped on an hour long train into central London. Two hours, one heavily delayed train journey, and about ten tubes stops later I arrived in Peckham, already £12.90 worse-off and in unfamiliar territory. I stepped out from the underground station and after a few minutes’ walk I found myself ascending seven flights of stairs to the top of an abandoned warehouse.
Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a cacophonous coming of age story, complete with fireworks, smoke machines and audaciously funny one liners, but it is the six main characters themselves that truly make the performance. It is incredibly refreshing to see female characters who are raucous, rude and badly behaved, while simultaneously human and layered.
Has football finally sold its soul to money?Jack Allsopp tries to make sense of Neymar's staggering transfer to PSGFlickrFor the £198 million that Paris Saint-Germain parted with to meet Neymar’s release clause, you could purchase thirteen Alan Shearers, over a trillion Freddos or one-tenth of a British parliamentary majority. £198 million is also the cost of covering the entire city of Barcelona in spaghetti.
To review the third instalments of two very different family film franchises, I braved the fiercest cinematic obstacle a man can face. I went alone. On a Friday afternoon. In screens packed full of irritating children and their exasperated parents. It’s indisputably the very worst way to spend time in a cinema – but I did it for you, dear reader.
The Charing Cross Theatre is an odd little venue, hidden between Embankment and Charing Cross station, and tucked underneath the Hungerford Bridge. What was once a Victorian music hall has been converted into a theatre with a capacity of 265, and with the atmospheric rumble of trains overhead every so often, the venue is defined by an intimacy that could make the wrong production feel claustrophobic.
It is common knowledge amongst those culturally ‘in the know’, so to speak, that the on-screen version of a book is always worse than the original. Just look at The Hobbit, where Peter Jackson’s greed got the better of him, and whilst huge takings were gathered at the box office, purists and critics were generally sceptical of the quality of the trilogy. By contrast, Tolkien’s Hobbit is a universally loved tale, a book cherished across generations.
This April, upon British Vogue’s revelation of Alexandra Shulman’s successor for the highly extolled and sought after role of editor-in-chief, the internet and tabloids underwent a buoyant craze. Having worked for British Vogue for over two and a half decades, the longest period of time anyone has ever served as its editor, the fashion world sat in angst awaiting the revelation of Shulman’s supersede: Edward Enninful OBE.
The gradual death of the FA Youth Cup
The gradual death of the FA Youth Cup Matt Roller says the lack of first-team opportunities for academy graduates throws the Youth Cup's purpose into question Photo: Wikimedia Commons In May 2010, Chelsea won the FA Youth Cup for the first time in 49 years thanks to a 3-2 aggregate victory over Aston Villa.
Recently, Alicia Keys has been braving the world with a bare face, choosing to wear only minimal or no makeup for all her public appearances, including her recent Grammy show and interview with Jimmy Fallon. All instances of this, thus far, have received an inevitable, yet nevertheless extreme backlash.
As a self-confessed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fanboy, I had previously consigned myself to ignoring anything produced by Twentieth Century Fox which did not feature a certain Ryan Reynolds. Imagine my surprise when, after a maligned first attempt and a mediocre sequel, the final Wolverine film surpassed all my expectations and made me reconsider what a superhero film could be.
Tim Farron: “This is the very moment that the country needs a bold and competent opposition”
Photo: flickr “Who will speak for liberal Britain?” It’s the question which is shaping our politics, and which the provocative front page of this week’s New Statesman posed. The collapse of the Labour Party as an effective opposition, it posited, is spoken of as a self-evident fact. The SNP speak only for Scotland’s interests. The debate which will define British politics in years to come is to be had within the Conservative party.
Rick and Morty returned to our screens on 1 April, 18 months after the hard-hitting finale of season two. Was the wait worth it? Did Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland top the mind-bending and emotionally fraught season two premiere ‘A Rickle in Time’ this time around? Perhaps the biggest question on our lips at the end of the weekend’s episode is whether we can trust anything that we have seen.
Dark Blues hopeful ahead of first Varsity Football double-headerMatthew Roller reports on Oxford's high hopes ahead of Sunday's Varsity Football fixturesSource: Wikimedia CommonsSunday sees the first-ever Varsity football double-header, with Barnet’s ground The Hive playing host to both the Women’s and the Men’s fixtures.The Varsity Match is the oldest regular fixture in world football, having been played every year since 1873, barring the two World Wars.
Upon the release of the first batch of T2 trailers, the image of Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) on a treadmill made me incredibly nervous. I wondered whether T2 would be consumed by the modern way, filled with Apple products, spiralisers and Netflix references. Thankfully, T2’s revival of 90’s lurid grittiness was delivered in abundance to viewers eagerly anticipating the sequel to the film of a generation.
This article originally appeared as part of a C+ investigation into Race at Oxford. Other articles include a discussion of C+ poll responses, the “whiteness” of the curriculum, and the university’s record on race and access. To some degree, we are all aware of the facts around global migration. The number of displaced people worldwide hit a record high in 2015, and has shown few signs of attenuating. But recent statistics remain deeply unsettling.
Oxford University launches £10 million medical marijuana research program
The project could make the UK the leading frontier in medical marijuana research Oxford University are set to partner with Kingsley Capital Partners to research marijuana-based medicine. Cannabinoids, the chemical compounds found in marijuana, alter neurotransmitter release in the brain, and therefore can be used to treat pain, cancer and inflammatory diseases.
The student-run Oxford Book Club has been holding second hand book fairs for a number of years, offering a diverse range of titles that is conducive both to long, expensive reading lists—and the simple pleasures of browsing and discovery. Now, the Oxford Book Club is looking to extend this element of discovery to an online forum, in the shape of a new website where readers can submit reviews and hold discussions.
C+ Investigation: Race at OxfordC+ investigates the continued relevance of race and ethnicity to issues of access, fairness and human rightsSource: Cherwell BroadcastingThis article originally appeared as part of a C+ investigation into Race at Oxford. Other articles include a discussion of student responses to the migrant crisis, the “whiteness” of the curriculum, and the university’s record on race and access.
It may seem outrageously early to already be thinking about Autumn/Winter style, but just as the first glimmers of sun start to hit our dreaming spires, the catwalks are already teeming with warm coats and woolly jumpers. One that stands out is Stella McCartney’s AW17 Ready to Wear collection for women. It is strong, sharp and exudes confidence. Three key trends can be identified from the catwalk: the first is the almost excessive use of tweed, hound’s-tooth and plaid prints.
C+: Race and AccessLowri Howard assesses the university's "encouraging" progress on race and accessSource: PexelsThis article originally appeared as part of a C+ investigation into Race at Oxford. Other articles include a discussion of student responses to the migrant crisis, the “whiteness” of the curriculum, and analysis of C+ poll data.
This article originally appeared as part of a C+ investigation into Race at Oxford. Other articles include a discussion of student responses to the migrant crisis, student responses to a C+ poll, and the university’s record on race and access.
Superficially, to those who are not as intimately acquainted with both places as myself, Slough and Oxford might not seem all that different. To a Northerner, Welshmen, or Scot, they are perhaps indistinct epitomes of southern privilege and prosperity. However, having been to secondary school in the former, and now attending university in the latter, I can confirm that this is very much not the case.
Welsh students set for Jesus College summer schools
High-achieving Welsh teenagers are to be given the opportunity to sample life at Oxford University through a four-day summer school at Jesus College. In collaboration with the Welsh Government, sixth-formers who are part of the Seren network will be invited to apply for a place at a four-day summer school at Jesus. Stretching back to its founding by Welshman Dr Hugh Price in 1571, the College has maintained its links to Wales for almost 500 years.
One hundred and ten student rooms are to be built on the site of the Royalist Civil War defence line Somerville College’s plans to build 110 student rooms in Jericho have been approved, despite concerns that the Walton Street site contains archaeological remains. It is thought that remains from the Siege of Oxford, an confrontation from the English Civil Wars, could be beneath the site. Based on Bernard De Gomme’s 1644 map, the site runs through Royalist Civil War defences.
Hollywood refuses to allow the name of more than one director to be placed in film credits unless the directors are an ‘established duo’. It is believed that, if directing was considered a collaborative process, it would undermine the role of the director by reducing his or her importance. Therefore, in all of their pre-2003 works, Joel Coen is credited as director and Ethan Coen as writer. Indeed, in some instances they adopted an alias: Roderick Jaynes.
Oxford colleges are known for their quirks, and inspired by these traits, here’s part two of the Cherwell guide to movies that reflect our second homes. Queens: With its infamous Florey building, a brooding hulk of concrete where freshers feel as if they are being kept against their will by sinister, totalitarian forces, Queens College will understand the inevitable comparison with 1984.
Oxford colleges are known for their quirks, and inspired by these traits, here’s part two of the Cherwell guide to movies that reflect our second homes. Queens: With its infamous Florey building, a brooding hulk of concrete where freshers feel as if they are being kept against their will by sinister, totalitarian forces, Queens College will understand the inevitable comparison with 1984.
Normally a drink that involves replacing gin for another type of alcohol is totally off the cards for me, but I’ll make an exception in the case of the Negroni Sbagliato. The decadence of this drink makes it not only acceptable, but totally worth it. Traditionally, a Negroni is made from Campari, a sweet vermouth, and gin. ‘Sbagliato’ is the Italian word for ‘mistaken’—the drink was created, supposedly as a fortunate accident, when a bartender used prosecco rather than the intended gin.
Understandably so, Margo Price is still in awe of Meryl Streep’s extraordinary Golden Globes speech. “The idea that actors and musicians have a role to convey emotions and experiences is something I agree with”, she says on a crackling phone line from Nashville, “and country music is a template for real life problems”. Price released her debut solo album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter in March 2016.
Amidst a swirling tempest of internal turmoil, Shakespeare’s Hamlet poses the head-scratcher: “to be or not to be”. If only he would ask us: ”to bop or not to bop”. “Hamlet mate” I would say, “that is not the fucking question. The question is, in fact, bop juice—orange or Red Bull?” Remembering what the lads at Wittenberg used to say—that “there is nothing either good or bad, but drinking makes it so”—he’d probably down a few there and then.
Think PinkCherwell fashion look pretty in pink, inspired by Gucci's SS17 showStyled by: Anoushka KavanaghModels: Isabel Nield, MollyCarlin, Jojo DieffenbacherMake-up by: Angelica WolanskaThis slideshow requires JavaScript.
Having been born in the 1990s, I recall watching the ‘old’ Disney. Those hand-drawn cartoons were Vermeer in comparison to the three-dimensional blobs that pervade the flat-screens of today. We wore velvet trackies, scrunchies and those hideously sequined baseball caps, and my Disney princesses were blonde and beautiful, of course. My room was pink and my prince was always Charming, white, on his white horse.
If you could pick out your All-Time best XI, who would you choose? Karl Frey and Sam Pace discuss their selections in Head to Head. I have chosen a 4-2-3-1 formation, which I believe accommodates the quality in my team best. The Soviet Russian is regarded by many people the best goalkeeper of all time. I have chosen Yashin, because he is the only keeper to have ever won the Ballon d’Or (1963). I am a very big fan of o?ensive full-backs, and Brazilian legend Cafú de?nitely is the best.
Eternal vigilance guarantees no freedom, but to abandon our duties of vigilance is to abandon the last barrier that stands between us and the curtailing of important moral and political values that we have held so dear to us, as liberals and conservatives alike. Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January 2017 was a moment of farce, anger, shock, and—above all—a wake-up call from reality that we ought not ignore. I was in London the day the Women’s March happened.
The name conjures up an image of a poised, elegant woman, seemingly demure in her trademark white headscarf, with eyes that gave away her sharp intellect. This is the Benazir I saw in Pakistan after she returned from her self-imposed exile, twelve years after her second term as Prime Minister.
Macaroni cheese is one of my all-time favourite dishes— it’s the perfect combination of the best two foods in existence, cheese and pasta. So, keeping with this week’s theme, I’m going to share perhaps my favourite macaroni cheese recipe, one that never fails to lift my mood and truly shows how superb this dish can be. It puts a twist on this classic by adding some Caprese flavours of mozzarella, tomato, and basil to the mix to really kick it up a notch.
In post-WWII Reykjavík, a mix of young anarchists, kind strangers, and squirming politicians welcome Ugla, a girl “from the country” into urban life. So runs the opening of Halldor Laxness’ 1948 novel, The Atom Station, a compelling satire of the Icelandic bourgeoisie and its politicians in the wake of their decision to allow America to build a nuclear base, or as the protesters sing, “sell the country”.
On the wall of my room in Brasenose hangs a framed watercolour of Old Quad with the Radcliffe Camera behind. Back at home, in front of a large high resolution photograph of a bud on the cusp of opening, there sits a birthday card composed of 18 busts of Homer, each with a candle emerging from the top of his head. A large print portraying a bent metal teapot amid a forest of stalks and leaves hangs above the armchair in the sitting room.
I think the answer lies somewhat in the increasing focus on statistics, on commodifying and measuring education. Schools which are regularly termed ‘failing’ or ‘satisfactory’ on their inspection reports are under more pressure to get those hallowed five A*-C grades for every pupil. Teachers pump all their energy into English, Maths, and Sci- ence, rather than encouraging participation on extracurriculars.
We all made New Year’s resolutions but, halfway through January, let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. Those new running shoes are definitely just for show and the closest they’ll get to proper use is that ‘half-walk, half-jog’ you do when the green man goes red. You might think your diet is going well but those post-night out chips and cheese definitely do count, no matter whether you remember eating them or not. And ‘be happier’?
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Jack
Contact Jack, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack