End of the path for pioneering classical blogger

In November 2006, I wrote a newspaper column that attempted to assess what was then a new phenomenon of blogging about classical music.

It introduced newspaper readers to a range of sites and, for its reservations, aroused a degree of blogger indignation. Bob Shingleton, author of a blog titled On An Overgrown Path, had a blast back at me, and then another and another down the years.

Such is life.

Two and a half years later, I ended my involvement with print media and joined the blogosphere in my own fashion and with great satisfaction.

So it is with sorrow that I read this week that Bob, a retired EMI executive, has decided for various reasons ‘to stand back from blogging’.

His was a pioneering effort, a distinctive, detached voice in an often overheated and self-regarding medium. I shall miss his homilies.

Maybe this overdue tribute from an unintended antagonist will prompt Bob to reconsider.