Scaredy Cat!

I remember back in 1977 watching The Towering Inferno at a cinema in Derby. It was while I was doing my very first acting job, a national tour for a Theatre in Education company. Because we performed in schools and therefore worked daytimes, my evenings were always free, so I’d taken the opportunity to catch this popular star-studded disaster movie. In those days, long films tended to have an intermission, and this one I recall came to its half-way point leaving Paul Newman and Steve McQueen on an explosive cliff-hanger; after a number of well-loved box-office names had already been char-grilled, deep-fried, toasted and flambéed to the delight of the audience. In those days people still smoked in public places, and as the light on the silver screen faded at the half-way mark and before the house-lights came on to guide us to our Kia-Ora and choc ices, the chap next to me struck a match to light his cigarette. Still entirely caught-up in the movie, I saw the naked flame in my peripheral vision and literally jumped about a foot in the air!

Embarrassing.

I suppose that reading is generally a good deal safer than film-going . The stuff I write isn’t likely to cause any similar embarrassment - not publicly anyway! Although if you’re planning to read Niedermayer & Hart at bedtime you might heed the following warning posted on Goodreads:

“... If I use the quality of my nightmares as a rating system for horror novels, this one was definitely a 5/5 ... Just don't read this book right before you go to sleep unless you like waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with your own screams echoing in your ears.”

This could prove awkward if sharing a room!


Niedermayer & Hart from Amazon.com
Niedermayer & Hart from Amazon.co.uk

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