Pan Macmillan have just announced a Manga distribution contract with the Japanese publisher leading the Manga revolution, Tokyopop. The market for Manga is doubling every year and Pan are aiming to gain the largest market share.

A rather different experience  when I attended a wonderful production of Die Fledermaus at the equally wonderful opera house at Glyndebourne last night. The only problem is the time it takes to get there from London. The show also starts quite early to allow a very long interval for picnics in the beautiful gardens.

This entails leaving London shortly after lunch. There is a story of the late great Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer. He was doing a deal in London involving a bunch of bankers and lawyers. At 2.30 several of them upped and left, explaining they had to get to Glyndebourne. He is said to have remarked (language softened) that 'this is typical of the bloody Poms. They charge an arm and a leg for doing f all and then b.....r off to the races at the drop of a hat.'

Apart from the opera itself the evening is a marvellous way to observe the English (and visiting European and American) upper classes at play Here's a wondeful photo by Tony Ray-Jones from 1967. Nothing much has changed except that the cows seem to have been entirely replaced by sheep this year.