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Taking Time to Live Well
Our playlist was inspired by the dad of our regular contributor, Lottie. Richard Storey became an internet sensation when he selected tracks for a ‘desert island disco’ on Lauren Laverne’s 6Music show earlier this year. To mark Father’s Day, we asked our dads (including Richard, naturally) to suggest some favourite tunes. And here’s the resulting playlist.
Listen here.
DJ: Frances Ambler and the dads of The Simple Things team.
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Image: Plain Picture
In June's The Simple Things, Sally Brown's piece on fatherhood explores just how important dads can be in the life of a child.
As it's Father's Day in the UK, we've put together a selection of our favourite books, films and songs featuring fathers.
How far would an ordinary father go to spend more time with his children? Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is no ordinary father, so when he learns his ex-wife needs a housekeeper, he applies for the job. With the perfect wig, a little makeup and a dress for all occasions, he becomes Mrs. Doubtfire, a devoted British nanny who is hired on the spot. Free to be the "woman" he never knew he could be, the disguised Daniel creates a whole new life with his entire family.
He's all right, my dad. He's as strong as a gorilla and as happy as a hippopotamus. He's a great dancer, a brilliant singer,he's fantastic at football and he makes me laugh. A lot. But that's not all that's great about my dad . . . A warm, hilarious, witty and very personal tribute to Dad (and to dads everywhere) by the ever-brilliant and inventive Anthony Browne.
Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian tragicomedy comedy-drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian book shop owner, who must employ his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp.
The story of Big Fish revolves around a dying father and his son, who is trying to learn more about his dad by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. The son winds up re-creating his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and his great failings.
Atticus Finch, small town lawyer and widower, is arguably fiction’s greatest father. Atticus parents his ten-year-old son Jem and his younger sister, Scout, six, with a calm and approachable demeanour. For a man in the 1930s American South, he is a progressive. He’s against spanking, never yells, and gives his children truthful answers to difficult questions. Most importantly, for his parenting philosophy and the plot of the novel, Atticus models the behaviour he wants to see in his children.
Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is a workaholic advertising executive who has just been assigned a new and very important account. Ted arrives home and shares the good news with his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) only to find that she is leaving him. Saying that she needs to find herself, she leaves Ted to raise their son Billy (Justin Henry) by himself. Ted and Billy initially resent one another as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload and Billy misses his mother's love and attention. After months of unrest, Ted and Billy learn to cope and gradually bond as father and son.
Danny is only four months old when his mother dies; and at the beginning of the story, he lives with his widowed father, William, in a Gypsy caravan, where William operates a filling station and garage, and partakes in poaching pheasants. Danny thinks his dad is the most marvellous and exciting father a boy could wish for.
Compiled by Lottie Storey
Home cook, photographer and mother Kat Molesworth from Housewife Confidential has stopped by to share a special recipe suitable for small hands to make and perfect for sharing with the whole family this Father's Day.
Days of whispered planning, secret making and dreaming of the special breakfast – “We will make pancakes, won’t we Mama?” They rush down the stairs in their pyjamas, pulling open the fridge and jumping up and down like monkeys. Everyone takes a turn at adding ingredients, mixing and checking the blueberries taste good (they do). Then the air fills with a comforting buttery sizzle as the first pancakes plop into the pan. We stack them on a plate, their jammy berries oozing and delicious and glug the maple syrup on top. Cards and presents, coffee and the pancakes all troop up the stairs to where Papa waits.
This is the morning when a little more time is taken, to say thank you, to cuddle and to nourish. Let’s take a walk, go slowly, hold hands and remember why this love, pure and simple, is the best.
Happy Father’s Day!
Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes
135g plain flour
½ tbsp. caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
30g butter, melted and cooled slightly
250ml milk
1 egg
Method:
- Melt the butter in a pan on a low heat and set aside to cool. - Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine. - Lightly whisk the milk and egg together then pour the melted butter in and whisk again. - Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine only. You will have a lumpy batter, over whisking will activate the gluten and make your pancakes tough. - Rub a large frying pan with butter or oil and use a small ladle to drop the batter onto the pan over a medium heat. You should be able to fit several in at a time depending on the size of your pan. - As they begin to cook drop blueberries into the surface of each pancake. - Cook for 1 – 2 minutes on each side until they are just done – you should see little holes form on the surface and they should be lightly browned. - Serve hot with a generous glug of maple syrup!
If you would like to learn to take beautiful photographs like Kat, visit her online film and photography school Capturing Childhood their Manual Overdrive course begins today and there are gift certificates available for all of the online courses. All photography © Kat Molesworth
We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.