West of Santa Fe

Oh hey. Back door open already, looks like a hot one. Summer is here and looks like hanging around for a while (apart from where it's cloudy and disappointing, sorry). Time for your summer slacks! A blog written from the garden is so much more decadent don't you find? I can hardly type for the spray from the sprinklers and the happy cries of the early croquet types. Oh the stress.

We have a top chat today with historian and journalist Ben Macintyre. He's written 'SAS:Rogue Heroes', which is an authorised wartime history from the secret SAS archives. He's a terrific writer and he's had unprecedented access to tell this astonishing story. It's full of extraordinary missions, amazing bravery and, at times, eccentric, extravagant idiocy.The first recruits? A spectacles salesman, a tomato farmer and an amateur boxer. Ben should be good after 6.

And LA LA LAND oldies today please as an excuse to go all Californian because the Los Angeles Film Festival starts today! Let's go y'all (Texan I know but hey...)