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Someone Called Round for a Book

27/2/2014

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This morning someone called round for a book, not one of mine I hasten to add. Generally when people call by to make a purchase it’s almost invariably someone local who has come round for a copy of my wife’s book Southborough War Memorial. It was the first book we brought out under our Odd Dog Press trading name in 2009. Actually, at that moment in time, although I’d already written Niedermayer & Hart, Southborough War Memorial seemed like the only book we’d ever be likely to do. I know digital printing and e-books were already around, but they weren’t well established, and it didn’t seem at all practical or even possible back then to bring out a work of fiction without losing a stack of money and ending up with a vast number of yellowing copies of your book stacked-up under the bed!

Judith spent seven years meticulously researching and writing Southborough War Memorial. She abhors every sort of war and violence, yet she had always felt deeply moved by the personal histories of the ordinary men and women (one woman on Southborough War Memorial) who suddenly discover themselves caught up by world events and carried off to a hitherto undreamed of world where killing is organised and systematic, and human suffering and cruelty is on an unimaginable scale. Yet for all the filth and hate and degradation, there is often immense courage, kindness, and powerful demonstrations of selflessness and generosity of the human spirit. Judith took up the task in 2001, suddenly realising that the last living connection to those who had fought and died in Gallipoli, Ypres, the Somme, and many other battlefields in foreign lands were themselves fading fast; she began interviewing in earnest. In fact, by the time the book was published quite a number of  the most elderly of these ‘interviewees’ had sadly passed away. She has often spoken of the eagerness of these people to relate family stories of an older brother, father or adored cousin. As the interviews concluded many of them thanked her for what she was aiming to do. When someone has a relative who has died in a war, that loss never seems to be fully mourned, the grief is never completely come to terms with - least that’s how it seems to me.

Judith planned to do her best to find a photograph and if possible something of the life and death of the two hundred and fifty-two names on our local war memorial. In most cases she succeeded, sometimes the result was beyond reasonable expectation, however, sadly, a few names beat her completely. The book is 254 pages long and its comprehensive indexes list each person by regiment and where they were laid to rest. I saw her break down in tears after setting the whole book and realising she had scanned every image (about 250) at the wrong resolution. For an hour or two I think she actually said she was giving up! It was probably Judith’s determination to finish this massive project, all done in her spare time (as I said, over seven years) whilst holding down a full time job, which in turn encouraged me to pick up my own pen again. I had been utterly discouraged and disheartened by the world of publishing after they’d initially shown so much interest in N & H - but the only thing I got in the end was a couple of free lunches and a lot of hot air and promises! A bit like Scarlett O’Hara I vowed I’d never put myself in such a vulnerable position again - well a little bit like that!

Anyway back to the morning’s book sale. I’d spoken to a bookshop owner yesterday who was ringing to order some books, and he asked if we’d mind someone calling by to get a copy of SWM as they were returning home to Wales. The lady, although originally from Kent, had lived in South Wales for the past twenty years, which of course prompted a nice little chat about home. She said she already owned the Kindle version of SWM which she liked very much but I could tell that she was very pleased to be holding the print version in her hand - book lovers are so transparent! She was also related to one of the names on the memorial - hence her very keen interest in Judith’s book. She asked me what I did and I told her that I wrote stuff too. She went on to ask if she might find my writings on a shelf somewhere and I said there were copies on the shelf directly behind her head.

I pictured another cash sale as she leafed through N & H and Roadrage. She looked very interested. I tried to look nonchalant.

She said she’d check them out on line!

Heigh ho!


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Captain Phillips

20/2/2014

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We watched Captain Phillips last weekend on DVD. It came as a Valentine’s Day gift from the wife, but even though it was my present I let her watch too! Actually this was a movie we’d heard from reputable sources was very good and planned to catch it at the cinema. Unfortunately by the time we were able to get ourselves along to a showing the film had closed locally. We probably would have enjoyed viewing it on a big screen - instead of on our TV (not even state of the art fifteen years ago when it was new!) but, whether seen in the cinema or viewed on a smaller screen at home, the film really doesn’t disappoint on any level.

It’s based on true events, and while I don’t assume that anything I watch in a movie is absolutely the way things actually unfolded, its non-stereotypical portrayal of the main characters, particularly the bad guys, in this Somali pirate story is definitely thought-provoking. By the final scenes of the film you actually feel a certain sympathy for the antagonists, themselves at the mercy of oppressive and violent tribal warlords. The sense of extreme danger and the threat of sudden incontrovertible violence is sustained right throughout the film. Yet, this film doesn’t contain very much actual violence, and for once there’s no square-jawed action hero on board to save the day or dodge the bucketloads of bullets that generally keep coming his way and always miraculously miss him! You get the feeling when you see this film, the right feeling to my mind, that violence is ugly and disgusting. It’s got a 12 Certificate in the UK, and if I had a twelve year old child I’d be more than happy to take them along to see a film about a terrifying ordeal that doesn’t in any way glorify violence.

Tom Hanks is on top form in the titular role and Barkhad Abdi as the main pirate Muse is equally excellent and doesn’t look in any way intimidated to be acting opposite such an old experienced hand as Hanks. The direction from Paul Greengrass, whose work I only know from the Bourne films, is very classy.

I can highly recommend this movie if you haven’t seen it already.


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Rain!

13/2/2014

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The weather here in the UK has been phenomenally wet of late. In fact it’s hard to recall a single day when it didn’t rain at some point within its twenty-four hour timespan. My wife, Judith, commented the other morning that it has become quite a rare sight to see the neighbours, mostly a cheery bunch who we generally stop and chat with. So, the weather is affecting our local social life - If you do happen to spot a neighbour these days they’re generally struggling to keep an umbrella in mid air whilst battling gale force winds. It’s always flippin’ raining! Well, it certainly seems like it is! Harumph! Harumph! And harumph again!

Judith, who works near a Kent reservoir and wildfowl centre, says that even the bird watchers, who are renowned for being all present and correct in every kind of weather, aren’t even bothering to turn up, because there just aren’t any birds about apparently! Don’t know where they’ve gone, she didn’t say. Personally I’d opt for somewhere like the Costa Dorada - I have a sister-in-law who lives there and she posted a picture today of her nice local beach, with the sea calm as milk, on Facebook. Grrr! Talk about rubbing salt in wounds!

Returning to the subject of birds, the pair of chirpy wood pigeons, a perky couple, who generally hang around on the oak tree at the back of our garden, sit hunched-up day after day on separate branches in the endless rain - frankly, the poor blighters look like they could do with Prozac! And they’re not the only ones feeling down in the dumps. A neighbour who works as a postman told me that he has done several deliveries recently where he has been out in non-stop torrential rain for his entire shift. He gets soaked, the mail gets soaked and the public then complain at him because their mail’s soaked. Even the odd passing dog on a lead looks like it might prefer to be at home - in front of the telly watching an old Scooby Doo episode perhaps?

I’m indulging in all manner of strange, previously unknown behaviour (for me that is!) like checking the daily weather forecast! I actually did something today that I have never done before and which I put down to the adverse effect the weather’s having on me. You see I work to a daily word quota when I’m writing a first draft and today, for the first time ever, I clocked that I’d hit my word count and literally just stopped mid-sentence. Mid sentence! I was feeling so darned apathetic that ....

Yes, I know, I’m whingeing, and I also know that there are hundreds of my fellow countrymen (women included of course) who are really suffering. There was one old feller of ninety-two on the radio news who had been cut off by floodwater and said he hadn’t seen a soul in days. Another elderly man was caring for a wife with Parkinson's disease who couldn’t be moved. There are hundreds and hundreds of people who have been without power for extended periods; people with potentially life-threatening illnesses who have to have a regular supply of medication; people who’ve been flooded out, their homes awash with contaminated water; people who have lost precious family heirlooms, or just about everything they own. It’s sickening to hear about the thieves who have been robbing the deserted properties of flood victims. But uplifting to hear the far more numerous reports of acts of generosity and kindness. Our emergency services continue to deliver help where needed day after day. They deserve our praise for their tireless efforts on our behalf.

The rain is getting on my nerves, but we live up on a hill, we’re warm, dry, and there’s nothing much to moan about really. I gave another exasperated shrug when I heard that after what had been a mostly dry day today, tomorrow there are more gales expected and more torrential rain.

But I guess it has to stop sometime. It does, doesn’t it?

The picture at the top is of Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales. It has nothing whatever to do with this blog post. I took the photograph eighteen months back on a gloriously warm morning when I went for a walk and a swim with my son. My smiley face instantly returns when I think of it.

Chin up!


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Coriolanus and Julie

6/2/2014

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I’ve been driving all about me a little crazy lately by constantly humming along to “Brush up your Shakespeare” from the musical Kiss Me Kate.

The reason, you ask?

The song, an earworm, lodged itself firmly into my cerebellum once I knew I was going to see an NT Live transmission of Coriolanus.

Still not fully made the connection?

You may recall there’s a line in the song about getting booted up the ‘Coriolanus’. Thing is, I seem to have a musical black-hole in my brain when it comes to lyrics, e.g. “Brush up your Shakespeare, start quoting him now, brush up your Shakespeare, da da da da da da da da” - then a whole lot more ‘das’ before finishing with “Da da da Coriolanus”.

Perhaps you’re beginning to understand how weeks of this might drive the latter-day saints that surround me into contemplating a little arsenic or ground-glass topping on my muesli!

Anyway, relief came when the night of the (exorcism) performance finally arrived and we went along to see the show. Coriolanus is not a Shakespeare play I am well acquainted with, having only seen it performed just once. This was at the RSC in Stratford back in the early 1970s.

The Donmar production, directed by Josie Rourke and with Tom Hiddleston in the titular role, was highly accessible. I found myself engaged throughout the entire performance and was honestly left open-mouthed by the abrupt, quite viscerally shocking final scene. I don’t know why, but I am still endlessly surprised by Shakespeare’s universality and greatness as a playwright - you’d think I’d know this by now, wouldn’t you? Isn’t it amazing that four hundred years on, Shakespeare can still leave an audience feeling emotionally drained and speechless?

The designer Lucy Osborne used the space simply but effectively, creating something powerfully evocative by subtly incorporating graffiti designs reminiscent of those seen in the ancient Roman world. The cast brought the play to life with a consistent energy and dynamism and all deserve praise; however, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Gatiss as Menenius and Deborah Findlay as Volumnia were outstanding. The production runs at the Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden, until 13 February. Check the NT Live site for possible encore dates at a cinema near you!


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The second theatrical venture of the week was a visit to the E M Forster Theatre in Tonbridge to see Julie Madly Deeply, which received excellent notices when it ran in the West End until very recently. The show is written and performed by Sarah-Louise Young with support on the piano and an occasional interjection/ad lib from Michael Roulston, who is also the musical director. The show is unashamedly a love letter to Julie Andrews and goes through her life from child singing sensation, on to Broadway and the movies, right through to the surgical mistake that tragically robbed the world of that iconic voice. It is a fun and funny piece of cabaret and Sarah-Louise Young managed through her wittily sharp banter with the audience and highly competent singing talent to get the house completely on board and on her side. This is a very entertaining evening, and whether or not you’re a massive Julie Andrews fan, I honestly can’t imagine anyone not enjoying it.

I thoroughly recommend seeing this one too!

The show is currently touring the British Isles and you can search for a venue near you by taking a look at this website Julie Madly Deeply



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    Available in paperback and ebook:
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    Available in paperback and ebook:
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    Available in paperback and ebook:
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