Today is National Poetry Day in the UK. By way of a minor contribution I found this poem which I wrote way back in 1975 I think.
Be at peace O my brothers.
Fear not the chasm that lies beneath
the rock of your mortality.
Be at peace O my brothers.
The black night shakes and with its shield
the storm clouds struggle
wrestling with one another across the sky
but be not afraid.
The morning dawns, a bowl of light
The power of which is glory.
Even as streaks of the imperial sun
like fire singe the paper rim of heaven
spreading their golden tendrils
like a flowr
a strange, uncanny, luminous plant unfolding
blossoming in the heart of darkness
the day engendered crows triumphant,
the bright blade cuts the edge of sawn.
Lightning fizzles,
a damp squib splutters in decay
and thunder rolls unheeded in the gutter.
Such a little thing is man.
A leaf trembles
cold in the morning dew,
a river of fresh opalescence
traces a slender path along its veins,
the perfect miniature of a mountain stream,
a crystalline tear
shimmering through the spectrum forms and falls,
a piece of beauty in an unmade world.
Be not afraid my brothers
though the darkness threatens to engulf you
for out of the darkness will come light.
Such a little thing is man
But such a thing of nature as is the universe.
It is a thing of beauty.
Do not strive too hard to understand.
Carol Richards Copyright (c) 1975
Thursday 3 October 2013
Tuesday 11 June 2013
Woke this morning here's the milkman by Carol Richards music video
I hav just posted my second music video 'Woke this morning (here's the milkman) on Youtube. This time it's a jolly sing along song. You can find it at http://youtu.be/FZ4e7UuTk6A. Have fun.
Thursday 6 June 2013
The Gothic Imagination - British Horor Film Classics
The British Film Institute (BFI) is joining forces with the British Museum to present a weekend of outdoor screenings of classic British horror films at the British Museum.
This Monster Weekend event taking place 29 - 31 August is a curtain-raiser for a season of events nationwide exploring the dark heart of British movies inspired by the Gothic romances of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker and those who follow in their spellbinding footsteps whose work has been brought to life on film. The Monster Weekend includes screenings of Night of the Demon, Dracula and The Mummy - all British horror classics and will be the first in a series of landmark events designed to trail a major season lasting four months to be held at the BFI's headquarters on London's Southbank and across the UK between October 2013 and January 2014.
I don't like horror myself much but lots of people do and tickets are only £15 so you may need to book early. Details at bfi website www.bfi.org
This Monster Weekend event taking place 29 - 31 August is a curtain-raiser for a season of events nationwide exploring the dark heart of British movies inspired by the Gothic romances of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker and those who follow in their spellbinding footsteps whose work has been brought to life on film. The Monster Weekend includes screenings of Night of the Demon, Dracula and The Mummy - all British horror classics and will be the first in a series of landmark events designed to trail a major season lasting four months to be held at the BFI's headquarters on London's Southbank and across the UK between October 2013 and January 2014.
I don't like horror myself much but lots of people do and tickets are only £15 so you may need to book early. Details at bfi website www.bfi.org
Tuesday 4 June 2013
The Future for Libraries
Arts Council England has just published the results of a major research project undertaken over the past year in a document entitled 'Envisioning the library of the future'. I know. Why can't they come up with titles for official documents which don't sound as if they have been dreamed up by someone who is not a native English speaker? And the Arts Council, for goodness sake.
Anyway this one might be useful to some of my readers as its aim is to help library staff, funders and Joe Public to understand what libraries could and should look like in the future.
The Arts Council claims it will help them as well as their partners in the library sector to discuss with more clarity the value, role and purpose of public libraries suggesting ways they can respond to the enormous changes in technology which affect the future use and storage of books and archive material while allowing them to remain as they always have been at the heart of their communities.
Anyway this one might be useful to some of my readers as its aim is to help library staff, funders and Joe Public to understand what libraries could and should look like in the future.
The Arts Council claims it will help them as well as their partners in the library sector to discuss with more clarity the value, role and purpose of public libraries suggesting ways they can respond to the enormous changes in technology which affect the future use and storage of books and archive material while allowing them to remain as they always have been at the heart of their communities.
Saturday 25 May 2013
Web Festival - a first for London film festivals
The first independent Web Festival has been announced which will take place on 28th and 29th September as part of the Raindance Film Festival held at London's Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly Circus.
The festival will explore the opportunities for independent film-makers arguing that web series are the new short form content that creatives and studio execs are now looking at to try and spot the next generation of film-makers.
Writers, directors, producers and actors all now make their own web content. Raindance is aiming to showcase and celebrate their work. The deadline for submissions is Monday 15 July 2013.
The festival will explore the opportunities for independent film-makers arguing that web series are the new short form content that creatives and studio execs are now looking at to try and spot the next generation of film-makers.
Writers, directors, producers and actors all now make their own web content. Raindance is aiming to showcase and celebrate their work. The deadline for submissions is Monday 15 July 2013.
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Gay marriage - why not dump marriage?
I have to first declare that I am neither gay nor married and thus I have been watching the recent furore that has engulfed UK political parties with a degree of abstraction, not to say indifference, but in all the arguments it seems to me that one solution has been missed which seems blindingly obvious. Why not abandon marriage as a legal construct altogether?
I am not here sounding the death-knell for marriage which is a long-standing and vital institution. It is not the place of the state in my view to dictate who should marry whom. The state is only concerned with the legal ramifications of such relationships. There would be nothing to stop you getting married, making a personal and social commitment in or outside a faith context if marriage were taken out of the legal context. At present you have to register a marriage for it to have legal effect.
If I am not writing this as a gay or married person, then I am writing it as a life-long feminist. The status of women has changed dramatically in the past thirty years and I like to think I have had something to do with it. Most of the anomalies in our marriage laws derive from the fact that they were conceived at a time when women were financially dependent on their marriage partners. This is no longer the case. To remove the anomalies it seems to me the best solution would be to simply take marriage out of the legal equation.
I am now for example a single pensioner. Were I to decide to marry to spend my twilight years in someone else's company my pension, which I now hold as an individual, would become swallowed up in a 'married persons' pension' and be payable to my husband. This seems to me deeply unfair and frankly I would have to think long and hard about sacrificing my financial independence. This is an example where the state decides, for no very good reason, to treat a married woman as if she were not an adult person capable of managing her own affairs.
It seems to me that if the law were to treat all individuals, whatever their relationship, as legal equals many of the anomalies would simply disappear. Rights between couples would be established purely by legal documentation - joint mortgages, wills etc. and there would be no situation where for instance a wife might automatically inherit even though she is no longer co-habiting with her husband. In this way the law would be applied whatever the gender of the couple and the whole problem of changing the nature of marriage as a social or religious institution would not apply.
The UK Conservative party has got itself into a terrible tangle by using the term 'gay marriage' which has sent its more conservative members into a tailspin. If instead the party had talked about updating UK law to simply remove the anomalies introduced by treating marriage as a legal condition most people would I think be in favour. It will be complicated because there are so many layers of legal precedent but in the end you would have a fairer legal system.
I am not here sounding the death-knell for marriage which is a long-standing and vital institution. It is not the place of the state in my view to dictate who should marry whom. The state is only concerned with the legal ramifications of such relationships. There would be nothing to stop you getting married, making a personal and social commitment in or outside a faith context if marriage were taken out of the legal context. At present you have to register a marriage for it to have legal effect.
If I am not writing this as a gay or married person, then I am writing it as a life-long feminist. The status of women has changed dramatically in the past thirty years and I like to think I have had something to do with it. Most of the anomalies in our marriage laws derive from the fact that they were conceived at a time when women were financially dependent on their marriage partners. This is no longer the case. To remove the anomalies it seems to me the best solution would be to simply take marriage out of the legal equation.
I am now for example a single pensioner. Were I to decide to marry to spend my twilight years in someone else's company my pension, which I now hold as an individual, would become swallowed up in a 'married persons' pension' and be payable to my husband. This seems to me deeply unfair and frankly I would have to think long and hard about sacrificing my financial independence. This is an example where the state decides, for no very good reason, to treat a married woman as if she were not an adult person capable of managing her own affairs.
It seems to me that if the law were to treat all individuals, whatever their relationship, as legal equals many of the anomalies would simply disappear. Rights between couples would be established purely by legal documentation - joint mortgages, wills etc. and there would be no situation where for instance a wife might automatically inherit even though she is no longer co-habiting with her husband. In this way the law would be applied whatever the gender of the couple and the whole problem of changing the nature of marriage as a social or religious institution would not apply.
The UK Conservative party has got itself into a terrible tangle by using the term 'gay marriage' which has sent its more conservative members into a tailspin. If instead the party had talked about updating UK law to simply remove the anomalies introduced by treating marriage as a legal condition most people would I think be in favour. It will be complicated because there are so many layers of legal precedent but in the end you would have a fairer legal system.
Friday 17 May 2013
The Bookseller: Marketing and Publicity Conference 2013
This year's Marketing and Publicity Conference to be held by the trade magazine The Bookseller will be held on 9th July at Southbank, London. The all-day event will include an award ceremony by the Book Marketing Society. Guest speakers lined up include Karla Greci who is Strategic Partner Development at Facebook. She will be discussing the development of a holistic marketing strategy and Patrick Brown, Director of Community at Good Reads, recently acquired by Amazon, will be talking about opportunities for partnerships between publishers and authors and the digital platforms.Both talks will be followed by a Q & A session.
This year's conference places a strong emphasis on digital publishing/marketing. Sam Eades and Vicki Palmer, Publicity Manager and Head of Digital Marketing respectively, at Headline Publishing will be discussing their campaign for Snow Child while Alice Shortland, Bloomsbury's Marketing Manager, will discuss their campaing for the Polpo cookbook. Tim Davies, MD of The History Press will present his campaign for their Titanic book which gained 120,000 followers on Twitter and generated huge numbers of sales on a very limited budget. Tara Benson, Head of Marketing at Harlequin Mills & Boon will talk about how they engage with their community of readers to ensure audience needs are at the core of Mills & Boon's marketing strategy.
This year's conference places a strong emphasis on digital publishing/marketing. Sam Eades and Vicki Palmer, Publicity Manager and Head of Digital Marketing respectively, at Headline Publishing will be discussing their campaign for Snow Child while Alice Shortland, Bloomsbury's Marketing Manager, will discuss their campaing for the Polpo cookbook. Tim Davies, MD of The History Press will present his campaign for their Titanic book which gained 120,000 followers on Twitter and generated huge numbers of sales on a very limited budget. Tara Benson, Head of Marketing at Harlequin Mills & Boon will talk about how they engage with their community of readers to ensure audience needs are at the core of Mills & Boon's marketing strategy.
Thursday 2 May 2013
UK Book Festivals in May 2013
Here are the main UK Book festivals taking place in May 2013.
The Charleston Festival 17th - 26th May
At this literary festival taking place at Charleston, the former country home of Bloomsbury artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, art, life and ideas rub shoulders with themes ranging from the Great Reform Bill of 1832 to the Scandal of 1963, the industrialist Josiah Wedgewood to the discreet charm of Apple's designs, from Jane Austen to the birth of Modernism in 1922, from early balloonists to transatlantic travel, from midwives to Mark with writers (of course) taking centre stage.
http://www.charleston.org.uk
The Boswell Festival 17th - 19th May
The world's only biography festival, named after the biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, the Boswell Festival takes place at Auchinleck House, his former family home. The 2013 Festival will feature BBC Presenter James Naughtie, Actor John Sessions among others and will include a performance of John Byrne's play Bohemian Rhapsody.
http://www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk
The Hay Festival 23rd May - 2nd June
In the words of former US President Bill Clinton 'the Woodstock of the mind' gathers people together in the beautiful Wye Valley in the town of Hay, in the Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons national park, to think about the world as it is and to imagine how it might be in a big conversation about discovery and intellectual adventure sharing stories with great international novelists, film-makers, historians, poets, philosophers, environmentalists and scientists. At night they promise to party in the company of comedians and musicians. The Festival, which is one of the largest and best known in the UK, is in its 26th year and tickets can be booked online and the Programme menu can be downloaded as a pdf.
http://www.thehayfestival.co.uk
The Charleston Festival 17th - 26th May
At this literary festival taking place at Charleston, the former country home of Bloomsbury artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, art, life and ideas rub shoulders with themes ranging from the Great Reform Bill of 1832 to the Scandal of 1963, the industrialist Josiah Wedgewood to the discreet charm of Apple's designs, from Jane Austen to the birth of Modernism in 1922, from early balloonists to transatlantic travel, from midwives to Mark with writers (of course) taking centre stage.
http://www.charleston.org.uk
The Boswell Festival 17th - 19th May
The world's only biography festival, named after the biographer of Dr Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, the Boswell Festival takes place at Auchinleck House, his former family home. The 2013 Festival will feature BBC Presenter James Naughtie, Actor John Sessions among others and will include a performance of John Byrne's play Bohemian Rhapsody.
http://www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk
The Hay Festival 23rd May - 2nd June
In the words of former US President Bill Clinton 'the Woodstock of the mind' gathers people together in the beautiful Wye Valley in the town of Hay, in the Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons national park, to think about the world as it is and to imagine how it might be in a big conversation about discovery and intellectual adventure sharing stories with great international novelists, film-makers, historians, poets, philosophers, environmentalists and scientists. At night they promise to party in the company of comedians and musicians. The Festival, which is one of the largest and best known in the UK, is in its 26th year and tickets can be booked online and the Programme menu can be downloaded as a pdf.
http://www.thehayfestival.co.uk
Friday 19 April 2013
Independent Alliance creates 'Independents Day'
The Independent Alliance consortium of ten UK publishers including Faber and Faber, Atlantic Books, Canongate, Icon Books, Profile Books, Short Books, Quercus, Serpent's Tail and Granta, in association with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is to launch a one-day festival 'to celebrate and explore independence across the creative industries in Britain'.
The festival is scheduled to take place on 6th June. Among the featured publishers will be Faber's Stephen Page and Atlantic's Ravi Mirchandani who will take part in seminars along with other leaders in the creative industries including Laurence Bell, founder of Domino Records and well-known writers including Alan Bennett and Edna O'Brien.
The festival is scheduled to take place on 6th June. Among the featured publishers will be Faber's Stephen Page and Atlantic's Ravi Mirchandani who will take part in seminars along with other leaders in the creative industries including Laurence Bell, founder of Domino Records and well-known writers including Alan Bennett and Edna O'Brien.
Thursday 18 April 2013
Pinewood Studios in Joint Venture with China's Seven Stars
Buckinghamshire-based Pinewood Shepperton plc, one of the UK's biggest film studios, announced on 17 April, 2013 that the Group has entered into a 50-50 Joint Venture Agreement with China's Seven Stars Media Limited.
Pinewood is a leading provider of services to the global film and television industry while Seven Stars is one of China's leading private media groups providing content creation, distribution, media services and events.
Song Lin, which is a literal translation in Mandarin from the name 'Pinewood', will be the name of the new venture which is to assess a number of business proposals in the growing market for entertainment in China. The Chinese entertainment and media market is said to be worth $137,458 million and is predicted to grow to £192,518 million by 2016. The Chinese market for filmed entertainment is worth £4,478 million and is expected to almost double by 2016.
The aims of the new venture are to provide co-production opportunities for film and television producers; create film and television diploma courses which will be delivered by UK educational institutions in Beijing, Tianjin and other Chinese cities; to develop production financing for Chinese film and television productions and to create a series of film-themed entertainment venues and other projects in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan.
For comments by PM David Cameron and managements of the two partners see http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/about-us/news/pinewood-signs-chinese-joint-venture-agreement
Pinewood is a leading provider of services to the global film and television industry while Seven Stars is one of China's leading private media groups providing content creation, distribution, media services and events.
Song Lin, which is a literal translation in Mandarin from the name 'Pinewood', will be the name of the new venture which is to assess a number of business proposals in the growing market for entertainment in China. The Chinese entertainment and media market is said to be worth $137,458 million and is predicted to grow to £192,518 million by 2016. The Chinese market for filmed entertainment is worth £4,478 million and is expected to almost double by 2016.
The aims of the new venture are to provide co-production opportunities for film and television producers; create film and television diploma courses which will be delivered by UK educational institutions in Beijing, Tianjin and other Chinese cities; to develop production financing for Chinese film and television productions and to create a series of film-themed entertainment venues and other projects in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan.
For comments by PM David Cameron and managements of the two partners see http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/about-us/news/pinewood-signs-chinese-joint-venture-agreement
UK Digital Theatre and CinemaLive Link Up
Digital Theatre, a company which makes filmed theatre productions available for download, will screen some of its recordings in cinemas around the UK in partnership with film producers CinemaLive. The first series of screenings will take place in September 2013.
Titles are yet to be announced but will initially focus on commercial West End productions some of which will be newly recorded and some drawn from Digital Theatre's archive which includes shows like Much Ado about Nothing starring David Tennat and Catherine Tate and David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker in Arthur Miller's modern American classic All my Sons.
Digital Theatre, founded in 2009 by Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw, now hosts productions from the UK's largest classical and modern repertory theatres including the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and the Almeida. It has launched an ipad app and hosts the Routledge Performance Archive of audio-visual material.
UK Theatre has had an increasingly regular presence in cinemas since the launch of National Theatre Live in 2009. NT Live will broadcast its first West End production The Audience starring Helen Mirren in June 2013.
Graham McLaren's productionn of Great Expectations demonstrated the commercial potential of the theatre-cinema link by taking £80,000 at the box office for its live-broadcast around the UK of its opening night. The Digital Theatre and CinemaLive will give audiences a chance to catch up on past theatrical productions they may have missed.
Titles are yet to be announced but will initially focus on commercial West End productions some of which will be newly recorded and some drawn from Digital Theatre's archive which includes shows like Much Ado about Nothing starring David Tennat and Catherine Tate and David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker in Arthur Miller's modern American classic All my Sons.
Digital Theatre, founded in 2009 by Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw, now hosts productions from the UK's largest classical and modern repertory theatres including the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and the Almeida. It has launched an ipad app and hosts the Routledge Performance Archive of audio-visual material.
UK Theatre has had an increasingly regular presence in cinemas since the launch of National Theatre Live in 2009. NT Live will broadcast its first West End production The Audience starring Helen Mirren in June 2013.
Graham McLaren's productionn of Great Expectations demonstrated the commercial potential of the theatre-cinema link by taking £80,000 at the box office for its live-broadcast around the UK of its opening night. The Digital Theatre and CinemaLive will give audiences a chance to catch up on past theatrical productions they may have missed.
Wednesday 17 April 2013
London Book Fair - new generation ebooks
At th week's London Book Fair London publisher Faber trailed a 'fully immersive' version of John Buchan's classic adventure 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', a bespoke e-book exploring how the digital format can be used to rethink conventional narrative.
Originally published in 1915 as a serial in Blackwood's magazine The Thirty-Nine Steps introduced the first action hero, Richard Hannay. It has already been adapted several times for film and television so is no stranger to new technology.
This interactive visual version was produced as a result of the publisher teaming up with two software publishers and a developer, collectively known as The Story Mechanics to create a 'fully playable, fully immersive product' which it is believed will break new ground in digital reading.
The app, borrowing techniques from gaming, will include classic stop-frame animation and be accompanied by original silent film music which will allow readers to 'unlock dozens of achievements and items to collect on their reading journey and explore hundreds of hand-painted digital environments and context from 1910s Britain.'
Also embracing innovative ideas in presenting fiction Iain Pears, author of The Dream of Scipio and An Instance of the Fingerpost is publishing his new book Arcadia in digital form, also with Faber, in the autumn with a conventional print version to follow next year. Pears' novel is inspired by quantum physics and written in 'nodes' mapped on to a graph constructed after consultation with an Oxford Professor of Mathematics. Arcadia is not an interactive novel. The aim is to create an infinite number of ways in which the story can be read. One result of the new format according to the author is to get the story beyond the constraints of time and get rid of causality. The novel is being constructed in partnership with a software developer and digital designer and will be rewritten for the print version. The team are excited that this is not simply a digital 'bolt-on' to a print novel but conceived from the outset in a digital format. Does this spell the end for the solo novelist?
Originally published in 1915 as a serial in Blackwood's magazine The Thirty-Nine Steps introduced the first action hero, Richard Hannay. It has already been adapted several times for film and television so is no stranger to new technology.
This interactive visual version was produced as a result of the publisher teaming up with two software publishers and a developer, collectively known as The Story Mechanics to create a 'fully playable, fully immersive product' which it is believed will break new ground in digital reading.
The app, borrowing techniques from gaming, will include classic stop-frame animation and be accompanied by original silent film music which will allow readers to 'unlock dozens of achievements and items to collect on their reading journey and explore hundreds of hand-painted digital environments and context from 1910s Britain.'
Also embracing innovative ideas in presenting fiction Iain Pears, author of The Dream of Scipio and An Instance of the Fingerpost is publishing his new book Arcadia in digital form, also with Faber, in the autumn with a conventional print version to follow next year. Pears' novel is inspired by quantum physics and written in 'nodes' mapped on to a graph constructed after consultation with an Oxford Professor of Mathematics. Arcadia is not an interactive novel. The aim is to create an infinite number of ways in which the story can be read. One result of the new format according to the author is to get the story beyond the constraints of time and get rid of causality. The novel is being constructed in partnership with a software developer and digital designer and will be rewritten for the print version. The team are excited that this is not simply a digital 'bolt-on' to a print novel but conceived from the outset in a digital format. Does this spell the end for the solo novelist?
FLIP Festival coming to UK
Liz Calder, former editorial director of London publisher Bloomsbury, is launching a UK version of Festa Literaria Internacional de Paraty (FLIP), the Brazil-based literary and cultural festival she co-founded with her husband, former Bookseller editor, Louis Baum, which they have tun for the past ten years.
The UK version to be called FLIPSIDE will take place 4th - 6rh October, 2013 and be held at the arts and concert venue at Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
The programme, which is still in the planning stages, will be announced in May. It will feature a number of Brazilian writers, artists and musicians alongside UK-based authors and will include a tribute to the poet and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim who together created Bossa Nova.
To find out more visit the Brazil collective stand at the London Book Fair (Y405) or www.flipsidefestival.co.uk
The UK version to be called FLIPSIDE will take place 4th - 6rh October, 2013 and be held at the arts and concert venue at Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
The programme, which is still in the planning stages, will be announced in May. It will feature a number of Brazilian writers, artists and musicians alongside UK-based authors and will include a tribute to the poet and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim who together created Bossa Nova.
To find out more visit the Brazil collective stand at the London Book Fair (Y405) or www.flipsidefestival.co.uk
Tuesday 16 April 2013
2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners
The Associatd Press reports the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winners today, April 16, 2013, awarded for all types of journalism from international news to feature photo-journalism. The winners are as follows:
PUBLIC SERVICE
The Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida for its investigation of off-duty police officers who were recklessly speeding and endangering lives which led to the suspension and dismissal of officers involved and significant policy changes at several South Florida police agencies. Editor Howard Saltz is reported as saying this type of journalism made the community safer and made certain that people behaved in a more appropriate and just way which he concluded is really what journalism is all about.
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
The Denver Post Staff won the award for the Post's coverage of the mass shooting at a movie theatre in suburban Aurora last summer which left 12 people dead. News Director Kevin Dale commented that the newspaper would rather have won for a less tragic story. The award citation noted that the paper had used Twitter, Facebook, video and written reports to capture the story and provide context indicating the greater breadth and use of wider media that is part of newspaper reporting today.
The New York Times scooped several awards including:
David Bairstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab for Investigative Reporting; The New York Times Staff for Explanatory Reporting; David Barboza for International Reporting and John Branch for Feature Writing.
The prize for Local Reporting was won by Brad Shrade, Jeremy Olsen, Glen Howatt of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis which also scooped the prize for Steve Sack for Editorial Cartooning.
The prizes for National Reporting went to InsideClimate News, Commentary to Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal, Critism to Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post and Editorial Writing to Tim Nickens and Daniel Ruth of the Tampa Bay Times.
Prizes for photo-journalism went to Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of the Associated Press for Breaking News Photography and to freelance photographer Javier Manzano for Feature photography.
The Pulizter Prizes for the Arts were awarded in the following categories:
FICTION: Adam Johnson for 'The Orphan Master's Son'
DRAMA: Ayad Akhtar's 'Disgraced'
BIOGRAPHY: Tom Reiss for 'The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the real Count of Monte Cristo
POETRY: Sharon Olds for 'Stag's Leap'
GENERAL NON-FICTION: Gilbert King for 'Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America'
MUSIC: Caroline Shaw for 'Partita for 8 Voices'
Congratulations to all the winners.
PUBLIC SERVICE
The Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida for its investigation of off-duty police officers who were recklessly speeding and endangering lives which led to the suspension and dismissal of officers involved and significant policy changes at several South Florida police agencies. Editor Howard Saltz is reported as saying this type of journalism made the community safer and made certain that people behaved in a more appropriate and just way which he concluded is really what journalism is all about.
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
The Denver Post Staff won the award for the Post's coverage of the mass shooting at a movie theatre in suburban Aurora last summer which left 12 people dead. News Director Kevin Dale commented that the newspaper would rather have won for a less tragic story. The award citation noted that the paper had used Twitter, Facebook, video and written reports to capture the story and provide context indicating the greater breadth and use of wider media that is part of newspaper reporting today.
The New York Times scooped several awards including:
David Bairstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab for Investigative Reporting; The New York Times Staff for Explanatory Reporting; David Barboza for International Reporting and John Branch for Feature Writing.
The prize for Local Reporting was won by Brad Shrade, Jeremy Olsen, Glen Howatt of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis which also scooped the prize for Steve Sack for Editorial Cartooning.
The prizes for National Reporting went to InsideClimate News, Commentary to Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal, Critism to Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post and Editorial Writing to Tim Nickens and Daniel Ruth of the Tampa Bay Times.
Prizes for photo-journalism went to Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of the Associated Press for Breaking News Photography and to freelance photographer Javier Manzano for Feature photography.
The Pulizter Prizes for the Arts were awarded in the following categories:
FICTION: Adam Johnson for 'The Orphan Master's Son'
DRAMA: Ayad Akhtar's 'Disgraced'
BIOGRAPHY: Tom Reiss for 'The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the real Count of Monte Cristo
POETRY: Sharon Olds for 'Stag's Leap'
GENERAL NON-FICTION: Gilbert King for 'Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America'
MUSIC: Caroline Shaw for 'Partita for 8 Voices'
Congratulations to all the winners.
Monday 15 April 2013
Raindance Film Festival - Early Bird Discount
Its the last 3 days to get an earlybird discount for London's Oscar qualifying (for short films) Raindance Film Festival later this year.
Raindance are themselves venturing into feature film production with Love, Honour and Obey which they are crowd-funding via http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-honour-and-obey for details and an opportunity to contribute if you wish.
They are currently running two training series.
Finding Time and Confidence is a script coach series led by Jurgen Wolff being held today, Monday April 15 6:30 - 9:00 pm at the Raindance Film Centre, 10 Craven Street, London WC2N 5BE. Just time to make that one. The cost is £48:00. Call 0207 930 3412 to book.
Anatomy of a Story with John Truby is on June 15 - 17th 9:30 am - 6:00 p.m. The venue which will be in Central London is to be confirmed. The cost is £420. Call 0207 930 3412 to book.
Raindance are themselves venturing into feature film production with Love, Honour and Obey which they are crowd-funding via http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-honour-and-obey for details and an opportunity to contribute if you wish.
They are currently running two training series.
Finding Time and Confidence is a script coach series led by Jurgen Wolff being held today, Monday April 15 6:30 - 9:00 pm at the Raindance Film Centre, 10 Craven Street, London WC2N 5BE. Just time to make that one. The cost is £48:00. Call 0207 930 3412 to book.
Anatomy of a Story with John Truby is on June 15 - 17th 9:30 am - 6:00 p.m. The venue which will be in Central London is to be confirmed. The cost is £420. Call 0207 930 3412 to book.
Saturday 13 April 2013
Death Runs After - Preview Book Cover
I am about a third of the way through my new novel Death Runs After. I can't give too much away not least because I don't know what direction the story is going to take yet. But I have produced a cover image so I can give you a sneak preview and let you guess.
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copyright(c)carolrichards2013
Friday 12 April 2013
UK Book News: Museum books top post-Easter sales
There usually a slump in bookshop sales following the Easter break but one type of book is bucking the trend this year. Nine of the books in this week's top ten accelerators chart are guides to British museums and historical sites according to The Bookseller firstedition@bookseller.co.uk. The top seller is the Imperial War Museum's Duxford Guidebook sales of which rocketed 342% week on week last week.
The only book to chart in the top 10 that is not a guidebook is Iain Banks' debut novel The Wasp Factory following the sad news last week that the author has been diagnosed with gall bladder cancer. Sales of his books jumped 40% in total which is a rather sad reflection on the fact that no publicity, even impending death, is bad publicity.
Nielsen BookScan data records that The Wasp Factory has sold 216,000 copies in the UK since their official sales records began and has spent more than 17 years in its official weekly top 5,000 bestseller list which is some record.
Here is the full list of top ten accelerators for this week:
The only book to chart in the top 10 that is not a guidebook is Iain Banks' debut novel The Wasp Factory following the sad news last week that the author has been diagnosed with gall bladder cancer. Sales of his books jumped 40% in total which is a rather sad reflection on the fact that no publicity, even impending death, is bad publicity.
Nielsen BookScan data records that The Wasp Factory has sold 216,000 copies in the UK since their official sales records began and has spent more than 17 years in its official weekly top 5,000 bestseller list which is some record.
Here is the full list of top ten accelerators for this week:
| Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | Growth 342% 255% 216% 173% 139% 131% 126% 126% 115% 108% | Title IWM Duxford Guidebook The Wasp Factory Tintagel Castle Guidebook Osborne Guidebook Battle Abbey ... Guidebook IWM HMS Belfast Guidebook Churchill War Rooms Kids Only Hadrian's Wall Guidebook Imperial War Museum North | Author - Banks, Iain Batey, Colleen E Turner, Michael Coad, Jonathan - - MacQuitty, Dr Miranda Breeze, David J - | Imprint IWM Abacus E Heritage E Heritage E Heritage IWM IWM NHM E Heritage IWM |
Wednesday 10 April 2013
London's Temple of Mithras - amazing new discoveries
A few weeks ago I wrote that there was not much chance of making amazing new physical discoveries for London's Roman and post-Roman past as most of the archaeology has been destroyed by later rebuilding. It is the curse of jounalism that as soon as you make a confident assertion you are immediately proved wrong and so it is with me today.
A team led by Museum of London Archaeologists (MOLA) digging the bed of the now 'lost' river Walbrook have uncovered an area of Roman London occupied between AD47 and the early fifth century so extensive they have dubbed it the 'Pompeii of the north' principally because the mud and silt of the former riverbed has provided an anaerobic environment which means that even organic artefacts like leather and wood have been perfectly preserved.
A spokesman for MOLA revealed that the site contains layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, built-up waterfronts, fences and yards all beautifull preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes and documents. The latter are perhaps the most exciting find of all, around 100 fragments of Roman writing tablets, everything from names and addresses to personal letters. Up until now very few written records of Roman London have come to light.
The dig has also uncovered a previously unexcavated part of the Temple of Mithras which we did know about. It was originally discovered in 1954.
The exceptional preservation of the timbers means that it will be possible to date them using dendrochronology and the archaeologists believe they will date to before AD47 which will be very interesting as this would suggest the infrastructure pre-dates the Roman conquest and thus must be of pre-Roman Celtic construction. Altogether the discoveries are truly exceptional and will give us a great insight into London's Roman history.
Pictures from the site can be seen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22086375
A team led by Museum of London Archaeologists (MOLA) digging the bed of the now 'lost' river Walbrook have uncovered an area of Roman London occupied between AD47 and the early fifth century so extensive they have dubbed it the 'Pompeii of the north' principally because the mud and silt of the former riverbed has provided an anaerobic environment which means that even organic artefacts like leather and wood have been perfectly preserved.
A spokesman for MOLA revealed that the site contains layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, built-up waterfronts, fences and yards all beautifull preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes and documents. The latter are perhaps the most exciting find of all, around 100 fragments of Roman writing tablets, everything from names and addresses to personal letters. Up until now very few written records of Roman London have come to light.
The dig has also uncovered a previously unexcavated part of the Temple of Mithras which we did know about. It was originally discovered in 1954.
The exceptional preservation of the timbers means that it will be possible to date them using dendrochronology and the archaeologists believe they will date to before AD47 which will be very interesting as this would suggest the infrastructure pre-dates the Roman conquest and thus must be of pre-Roman Celtic construction. Altogether the discoveries are truly exceptional and will give us a great insight into London's Roman history.
Pictures from the site can be seen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22086375
Tuesday 9 April 2013
Nobel Prize Poet Murder Mystery
The body of Chilean Nobel poet laureate Pablo Neruda has been exhumed by forensic specialists in an attempt to try and solve a forty year old murder mystery. Officially he died of natural causes brought on by cancer on 23 September 1973 but people close to the poet claim he was poisoned by the then military dictatorship that governed Chile in the 1970s and 1980s.
The poet, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971, was best known for his romantic poetry, notably his collection of verses 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.'
Pablo Neruda, aside from being an accomplished poet, was a left-wing politician and close friend of ousted socialist president.Santiago Allende who committed suicide rather than surrender to the military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet which staged a military coup in Chile on September 22, 1973.
It was believed Pablo Neruda would provide an influential voice in exile for the Chilean opposition. He died only twelve days after the 1973 military coup in hospital in Santiago, just a day before he was scheduled to leave the country.
The suspicion that he was poisoned is given credence by the fact that a former president and vocal critic of the Pinochet regime, President Eduardo Frei Montalva, who died nine years ago at the same clinic was found on investigation to have been slowly poisoned. The remains of Pablo Neruda are now being sent for tests to ascertain whether he too was poisoned to prevent him leading the opposition in exile to the military dictatorship.
The poet, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971, was best known for his romantic poetry, notably his collection of verses 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.'
Pablo Neruda, aside from being an accomplished poet, was a left-wing politician and close friend of ousted socialist president.Santiago Allende who committed suicide rather than surrender to the military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet which staged a military coup in Chile on September 22, 1973.
It was believed Pablo Neruda would provide an influential voice in exile for the Chilean opposition. He died only twelve days after the 1973 military coup in hospital in Santiago, just a day before he was scheduled to leave the country.
The suspicion that he was poisoned is given credence by the fact that a former president and vocal critic of the Pinochet regime, President Eduardo Frei Montalva, who died nine years ago at the same clinic was found on investigation to have been slowly poisoned. The remains of Pablo Neruda are now being sent for tests to ascertain whether he too was poisoned to prevent him leading the opposition in exile to the military dictatorship.
Friday 5 April 2013
UK Book Festivals in April 2013
This is the season when UK book festivals kick off in earnest with plenty of fine venues to choose from.
First up is The Leigh and Wigan Words Together Festival which celebrates its 10th year focusing on the best in local and international historical and modern writing. The festival offers a two week programme from 1 - 13 April, 2013 at various venues in and around Leigh and Wigan. Celebrity authors include Will Self, Lizzie Jones, Alan Whelan and Lemn Sissay.
The Laugharne Weekend in beautiful West Wales opens in the town famous as the home of poet Dylan Thomas with a cool mix of edgy musicians and authors Sir Peter Blake, Mark Thomas, Caitlin Moran, Tracey Thorn, Beth Orton, John Hegley and Mark Watson coming together for the weekend April 5 - 7.
Scarborough Literature Festival sees the famous seaside town hosting Joanne Harris, Lucy Worsley and Penny Junor 11- 14th April 2013.
Aye Write! celebrates all things literary and Glaswegian bringing the best of Scottish and international writers to the city's magnificent Mitchell Library 12 - 20th April 2013. Guest speakers include Kate Atkinson, Sandi Toksvig, Nick Cohen, Martin Palmer and Jeremy Vine.
Cambridge Wordfest Spring 2013 offers a packed weekend of some of the best in contemporary fiction, political debate, workshops and events for children. This is a festival for writers as well as readers and takes place April 12 - 14, 2013 in the city's historic ADC Theatre and the University's McCrum and Babbage lecture theatres. Taking part will be Kevin Crossley-Hollan, Antony Beevor, Lindsey Hilsum, Chimanada Ngozi-Adichie, Kate Fox.
The Chipping Norton Literary Festival takes place in the picturesque West Oxfordshire market town between 18 - 23 April, 2013. More than 50 authors, publishers and bookssellers will be taking part in book swaps, reading corners, workshops and discussions. Among those booked to appear are Mark Billingham, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Tracy Chevalier and Barry Cryer.
Hexham Book Festival is offering a mixed bag of delights for all ages blending words, stories and ideas between 24th - 27th April at Queen's Hall, Hexham, Northumbria. Celebrity authors include Claire Tomalin, Barbara Bell, Edwina Currie, Chris Mullin, Martin Bell and Maggie O'Farrell.
Last but not least The Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival celebrates its 6th year in 2013. An exciting mixture of debate, ideas and celebrity author events including workshops and humour runs alongside a programme of educational events in local schools in and around Stratford to which favourite authors including Artemis Cooper, Gavin Hewitt, Jay Rayner, John Connolly, Kate Humble, Mark Billingham and Michael Morpurgo are invited to inspire children aged 2 - 18. The festival runs from 21st April - 5th May 2013.
First up is The Leigh and Wigan Words Together Festival which celebrates its 10th year focusing on the best in local and international historical and modern writing. The festival offers a two week programme from 1 - 13 April, 2013 at various venues in and around Leigh and Wigan. Celebrity authors include Will Self, Lizzie Jones, Alan Whelan and Lemn Sissay.
The Laugharne Weekend in beautiful West Wales opens in the town famous as the home of poet Dylan Thomas with a cool mix of edgy musicians and authors Sir Peter Blake, Mark Thomas, Caitlin Moran, Tracey Thorn, Beth Orton, John Hegley and Mark Watson coming together for the weekend April 5 - 7.
Scarborough Literature Festival sees the famous seaside town hosting Joanne Harris, Lucy Worsley and Penny Junor 11- 14th April 2013.
Aye Write! celebrates all things literary and Glaswegian bringing the best of Scottish and international writers to the city's magnificent Mitchell Library 12 - 20th April 2013. Guest speakers include Kate Atkinson, Sandi Toksvig, Nick Cohen, Martin Palmer and Jeremy Vine.
Cambridge Wordfest Spring 2013 offers a packed weekend of some of the best in contemporary fiction, political debate, workshops and events for children. This is a festival for writers as well as readers and takes place April 12 - 14, 2013 in the city's historic ADC Theatre and the University's McCrum and Babbage lecture theatres. Taking part will be Kevin Crossley-Hollan, Antony Beevor, Lindsey Hilsum, Chimanada Ngozi-Adichie, Kate Fox.
The Chipping Norton Literary Festival takes place in the picturesque West Oxfordshire market town between 18 - 23 April, 2013. More than 50 authors, publishers and bookssellers will be taking part in book swaps, reading corners, workshops and discussions. Among those booked to appear are Mark Billingham, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Tracy Chevalier and Barry Cryer.
Hexham Book Festival is offering a mixed bag of delights for all ages blending words, stories and ideas between 24th - 27th April at Queen's Hall, Hexham, Northumbria. Celebrity authors include Claire Tomalin, Barbara Bell, Edwina Currie, Chris Mullin, Martin Bell and Maggie O'Farrell.
Last but not least The Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival celebrates its 6th year in 2013. An exciting mixture of debate, ideas and celebrity author events including workshops and humour runs alongside a programme of educational events in local schools in and around Stratford to which favourite authors including Artemis Cooper, Gavin Hewitt, Jay Rayner, John Connolly, Kate Humble, Mark Billingham and Michael Morpurgo are invited to inspire children aged 2 - 18. The festival runs from 21st April - 5th May 2013.
Thursday 4 April 2013
'Gates of Hell' discovered in Turkey
Archaeologists have unearthed the site they believe to be the ancient 'Gate of Hell', the muythical entrance to the underworld of Greek and Roman legend.
The site is in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, modern Pamukkale in south-west Turkey. The archaeological team, led by Francesco D'Andria, Professor of Classic Archaeology at the University of Salento, claims the site is a close match to historical descriptions of what was known in ancient Greek as Poutonion and Plutonium in Latin. They managed to pinpoint the location by reconstructing the route of thermal springs.
They found the ruins of a small temple with a facade decorated with Ionic semi columns bearing inscriptions to Pluto and Kore, the gods of the underworld. It stands next to a wall with steps leading down to a cave doorway which emits foul-smelling, poisonous gases.
The Greek geographer Strabo who lived between 64 BC and 24 AD described it saying: 'The space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.' The archaeologists confirm that the vapour has the same effect today.
The site remained in use until the 4th century AD as an important place of pilgrimage for late pagan intellectuals. It is believed to have been sacked by Christians in the 6th century and the ruin of the site was completed by earthquake damage.
Stunning photos of the site can be viewed at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302755-Gate-Hell-Turkey-Hierapolis-temple-doorway-matches-mythical-portal-underworld.html
The site is in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, modern Pamukkale in south-west Turkey. The archaeological team, led by Francesco D'Andria, Professor of Classic Archaeology at the University of Salento, claims the site is a close match to historical descriptions of what was known in ancient Greek as Poutonion and Plutonium in Latin. They managed to pinpoint the location by reconstructing the route of thermal springs.
They found the ruins of a small temple with a facade decorated with Ionic semi columns bearing inscriptions to Pluto and Kore, the gods of the underworld. It stands next to a wall with steps leading down to a cave doorway which emits foul-smelling, poisonous gases.
The Greek geographer Strabo who lived between 64 BC and 24 AD described it saying: 'The space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.' The archaeologists confirm that the vapour has the same effect today.
The site remained in use until the 4th century AD as an important place of pilgrimage for late pagan intellectuals. It is believed to have been sacked by Christians in the 6th century and the ruin of the site was completed by earthquake damage.
Stunning photos of the site can be viewed at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302755-Gate-Hell-Turkey-Hierapolis-temple-doorway-matches-mythical-portal-underworld.html
Wednesday 3 April 2013
Pink Floyd - the Play of the Album
Something of a new trend in theatrical circles in recent years has been the 'play of the album'.
Latest playwright to jump on this bandwagon is veteran playwright Tom Stoppard who has written a play to mark the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' album which tells us something about his taste in music. The drama, called Dark Side, for BBC Radio2 starring Rufus Sewell, Bill Nighy and Adrian Scarborough, will feature music from the album and is based on themes explored in the songs including greed, conflict and madness. It will be broadcast in August.
Also celebrating the band's achievements Pink Floyd's hit album 'The Wall' is set to be turned into a Broadway musical by Miramax and former Sony boss Tommy Mottola. The band's bassist and co-founder Roger Waters will write and compose the orchestral arrangements for the production which will be initially in New York but will no doubt come to London's West End in due course.
Latest playwright to jump on this bandwagon is veteran playwright Tom Stoppard who has written a play to mark the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' album which tells us something about his taste in music. The drama, called Dark Side, for BBC Radio2 starring Rufus Sewell, Bill Nighy and Adrian Scarborough, will feature music from the album and is based on themes explored in the songs including greed, conflict and madness. It will be broadcast in August.
Also celebrating the band's achievements Pink Floyd's hit album 'The Wall' is set to be turned into a Broadway musical by Miramax and former Sony boss Tommy Mottola. The band's bassist and co-founder Roger Waters will write and compose the orchestral arrangements for the production which will be initially in New York but will no doubt come to London's West End in due course.
Friday 22 March 2013
Bookseller Industry Awards 2013 - Shortlist
The Bookseller Industry awards for excellence across the book trade, now in its 4th year, aims to aupport and celebrate all areas of the business. There are 19 categories covering all aspects of the world of publishing with the shortlist in each set out below. The awards will be presented on the night of 13th May at the London Hilton in Park Lane.
Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year
Bloomsbury Publishing;Collins Learning;Oxford University Press;Pearson ;SAGE Publications
Imprint and Editor of the Year
Venetia Butterfield; Viking;Alessandro Gallenzi; Alma Books/Alma Classics;Nicholas Pearson; Fourth Estate;Matt Phillips; Yellow Jersey Press;Selina Walker; Arrow Books;Rowena Webb; Hodder & Stoughton Non-Fiction;George Weidenfeld; Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Literary Agent of the Year
Sheila Crowley; Curtis Brown;Maggie Hanbury; The Hanbury Agency Ltd;Andrew Lownie; Andrew Lownie Literary Agency;Ben Mason; Fox Mason Limited;Sarah Such; Sarah Such Literary Agency
Gordon Wise; Curtis Brown
Rights Professional of the Year
Jason Bartholomew; Hodder & Stoughton;Kate Hibbert; Little, Brown Book Group;Ruth Logan; Hot Key Books;Rachel Mills; Peters Fraser & Dunlop;Tracy Phillips; Simon & Schuster Children's Books;Mary Thompson; HarperCollins
Independent Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year
Crown House Publishing ;Edward Elgar Publishing;John Catt Educational;Jordan Publishing;
Royal Academy Publications;Woodhead Publishing
Publicity Campaign of the Year
Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James; Charlotte Bush and Natalie Higgins, Arrow Books
HHhH by Laurent Binet; Fiona Murphy, Harvill Secker
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey; Samantha Eades, Headline
A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen; Emma Knight and Emilie Ferguson, Hodder
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney; Tania Vian-Smith, Puffin
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart; Hodder & Stoughton
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling; Little, Brown
Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders; Macmillan Children's Books
Thinking Fast and Slow;Daniel Kahneman; Penguin
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel; Puffin
Fifty Shades Trilogy; Random House
The Titanic Campaign - Commemorating the 100th Anniversary; The History Press
Where's Wally? 25th Anniversary Campaign; Walker Books
Independent Publisher of the Year
Alma Books;Carlton Publishing Group;Constable & Robinson;Igloo Books;Icon Books;Osprey Group;Summersdale Publishers;Unbound
Children's Publisher of the Year
DK;Egmont UK;HarperCollins Children's Books;Igloo Books;Nosy Crow;Penguin Children's Books
Scholastic Children's Books;Walker Books
Digital Strategy of the Year
Bloomsbury Publishing;Harlequin UK;Kobo ;Nosy Crow;Penguin;Pottermore;Orion Publishing Group;The Random House Group
Publisher of the Year
DK;Faber and Faber;The Folio Society;HarperCollins;Pan Macmillan;Penguin;Orion Publishing Group;The Random House Group
Children's Independent Bookseller of the Year
The Barefoot Books Studio;The Bookmark;Children's Bookshop, Muswell Hill;Octavia's Bookshop
Tales on Moon Lane;Winstone's
Manager of the Year
Marion Akehurst; Blackwell's, Wellcome Collection
Georgina Hanratty; Tales on Moon Lane, London
Marjory Marshall; The Bookmark, Grantown-on-Spey
Angela Pickard; Bridge Bookshop, Isle of Man
Ian Owens; Waterstones, Argyle Street, Glasgow
Sue Butterworth Young Bookseller of the Year sponsored by HarperCollins
Socrates Adams ; Blackwell's, Manchester
Kate Double; Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, Bath
Iona Dudley; Waterstones Piccadilly, London
Rebecca Duncan; Books@Hoddesdon, Hoddesdon
Jonathan O'Brien; Waterstones Oxford Street Plaza, London
Adam Pollard; The Willoughby Book Club
Rachael Wing; The Wallingford Bookshop, Wallingford
Children's Bookseller of the Year sponsored by Usborne
Eason & Sons;Foyles Bookshop;Sainsbury's;The Works
Library of the Year
Devon Libraries;Dorking Library;Dudley Libraries;Dundee Library and Information Service
City of Edinburgh Library Service;Nottingham Library and Information Service
Redbridge Central Library
Independent Bookseller of the Year sponsored by Gardners
Atkinson-Pryce Books; Biggar
Chapter One; Reading
Dulwich Books; London
Falmouth Bookseller; Falmouth
Linghams Bookshop; Wirral
Octavia's Bookshop; Gloucester
O'Mahony's Booksellers; Limerick
Winstones; Sherborne
National Bookseller
Blackwell's;Foyles Bookshop;Eason & Sons ;Morrisons ;The Works
The Supply Chain Innovation Award sponsored by BIC
Macmillan Distribution;Mainline Flatpacks Ltd;Publiship;SkanTrans-PSL Limited
Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year
Bloomsbury Publishing;Collins Learning;Oxford University Press;Pearson ;SAGE Publications
Imprint and Editor of the Year
Venetia Butterfield; Viking;Alessandro Gallenzi; Alma Books/Alma Classics;Nicholas Pearson; Fourth Estate;Matt Phillips; Yellow Jersey Press;Selina Walker; Arrow Books;Rowena Webb; Hodder & Stoughton Non-Fiction;George Weidenfeld; Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Literary Agent of the Year
Sheila Crowley; Curtis Brown;Maggie Hanbury; The Hanbury Agency Ltd;Andrew Lownie; Andrew Lownie Literary Agency;Ben Mason; Fox Mason Limited;Sarah Such; Sarah Such Literary Agency
Gordon Wise; Curtis Brown
Rights Professional of the Year
Jason Bartholomew; Hodder & Stoughton;Kate Hibbert; Little, Brown Book Group;Ruth Logan; Hot Key Books;Rachel Mills; Peters Fraser & Dunlop;Tracy Phillips; Simon & Schuster Children's Books;Mary Thompson; HarperCollins
Independent Academic, Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year
Crown House Publishing ;Edward Elgar Publishing;John Catt Educational;Jordan Publishing;
Royal Academy Publications;Woodhead Publishing
Publicity Campaign of the Year
Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James; Charlotte Bush and Natalie Higgins, Arrow Books
HHhH by Laurent Binet; Fiona Murphy, Harvill Secker
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey; Samantha Eades, Headline
A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen; Emma Knight and Emilie Ferguson, Hodder
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney; Tania Vian-Smith, Puffin
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart; Hodder & Stoughton
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling; Little, Brown
Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders; Macmillan Children's Books
Thinking Fast and Slow;Daniel Kahneman; Penguin
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel; Puffin
Fifty Shades Trilogy; Random House
The Titanic Campaign - Commemorating the 100th Anniversary; The History Press
Where's Wally? 25th Anniversary Campaign; Walker Books
Independent Publisher of the Year
Alma Books;Carlton Publishing Group;Constable & Robinson;Igloo Books;Icon Books;Osprey Group;Summersdale Publishers;Unbound
Children's Publisher of the Year
DK;Egmont UK;HarperCollins Children's Books;Igloo Books;Nosy Crow;Penguin Children's Books
Scholastic Children's Books;Walker Books
Digital Strategy of the Year
Bloomsbury Publishing;Harlequin UK;Kobo ;Nosy Crow;Penguin;Pottermore;Orion Publishing Group;The Random House Group
Publisher of the Year
DK;Faber and Faber;The Folio Society;HarperCollins;Pan Macmillan;Penguin;Orion Publishing Group;The Random House Group
Children's Independent Bookseller of the Year
The Barefoot Books Studio;The Bookmark;Children's Bookshop, Muswell Hill;Octavia's Bookshop
Tales on Moon Lane;Winstone's
Manager of the Year
Marion Akehurst; Blackwell's, Wellcome Collection
Georgina Hanratty; Tales on Moon Lane, London
Marjory Marshall; The Bookmark, Grantown-on-Spey
Angela Pickard; Bridge Bookshop, Isle of Man
Ian Owens; Waterstones, Argyle Street, Glasgow
Sue Butterworth Young Bookseller of the Year sponsored by HarperCollins
Socrates Adams ; Blackwell's, Manchester
Kate Double; Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, Bath
Iona Dudley; Waterstones Piccadilly, London
Rebecca Duncan; Books@Hoddesdon, Hoddesdon
Jonathan O'Brien; Waterstones Oxford Street Plaza, London
Adam Pollard; The Willoughby Book Club
Rachael Wing; The Wallingford Bookshop, Wallingford
Children's Bookseller of the Year sponsored by Usborne
Eason & Sons;Foyles Bookshop;Sainsbury's;The Works
Library of the Year
Devon Libraries;Dorking Library;Dudley Libraries;Dundee Library and Information Service
City of Edinburgh Library Service;Nottingham Library and Information Service
Redbridge Central Library
Independent Bookseller of the Year sponsored by Gardners
Atkinson-Pryce Books; Biggar
Chapter One; Reading
Dulwich Books; London
Falmouth Bookseller; Falmouth
Linghams Bookshop; Wirral
Octavia's Bookshop; Gloucester
O'Mahony's Booksellers; Limerick
Winstones; Sherborne
National Bookseller
Blackwell's;Foyles Bookshop;Eason & Sons ;Morrisons ;The Works
The Supply Chain Innovation Award sponsored by BIC
Macmillan Distribution;Mainline Flatpacks Ltd;Publiship;SkanTrans-PSL Limited
Thursday 14 March 2013
Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 - Longlist announced
The longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction has been announced. The £30,000 prize, formerly sponsored by Orange, is this year being funded by a group of individual donors including Cherie Blair and Martha Lane Fox although founder Kate Mosse has said a permanent sponsor is being sought for 2014 onwards. The long list of 20 women writers is as follows:
Kitty Aldridge A Trick I Learned From Dead Men (Jonathan Cape)
Kate Atkinson Life After Life (Doubleday)
Ros Barber The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre)
Shani Boianjiu The People of Forever are Not Afraid (Hogarth)
Gillian Flynn Gone Girl (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Sheila Heti How Should A Person Be? (Harvill Secker)
A M Homes May We Be Forgiven (Granta)
Barbara Kingsolver Flight Behaviour (Faber)
Deborah Copaken Kogan The Red Book (Virago)
Hilary Mantel Bring Up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Bonnie Nadzam Lamb (Hutchinson)
Emily Perkins The Forrests (Bloomsbury Circus)
Michèle Roberts Ignorance (Bloomsbury)
Francesca Segal The Innocents (Chatto & Windus)
Maria Semple Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Elif Shafak Honour (Viking)
Zadie Smith NW (Hamish Hamilton)
M L Stedman The Light Between Oceans (Doubleday)
Carrie Tiffany Mateship with Birds (Picador)
G. Willow Wilson Alif the Unseen (Corvus Books)
The shortlist will be announced on 16th April 2013 and the awards ceremony will be held on 5th June.
Kitty Aldridge A Trick I Learned From Dead Men (Jonathan Cape)
Kate Atkinson Life After Life (Doubleday)
Ros Barber The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre)
Shani Boianjiu The People of Forever are Not Afraid (Hogarth)
Gillian Flynn Gone Girl (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Sheila Heti How Should A Person Be? (Harvill Secker)
A M Homes May We Be Forgiven (Granta)
Barbara Kingsolver Flight Behaviour (Faber)
Deborah Copaken Kogan The Red Book (Virago)
Hilary Mantel Bring Up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Bonnie Nadzam Lamb (Hutchinson)
Emily Perkins The Forrests (Bloomsbury Circus)
Michèle Roberts Ignorance (Bloomsbury)
Francesca Segal The Innocents (Chatto & Windus)
Maria Semple Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Elif Shafak Honour (Viking)
Zadie Smith NW (Hamish Hamilton)
M L Stedman The Light Between Oceans (Doubleday)
Carrie Tiffany Mateship with Birds (Picador)
G. Willow Wilson Alif the Unseen (Corvus Books)
The shortlist will be announced on 16th April 2013 and the awards ceremony will be held on 5th June.
Wednesday 13 March 2013
Knight's grave under Edinburgh Car Park
Archaeologists excavating a building site and former car park in Edinburgh's Old Town made an exciting discovery when they unearthed what they believe to be the foundations of a monastery built by a mediaeval King of Scotland.
Three buildings of historical significance were known to be associated with the site, the 18th century Old High School, the 16th century Royal High School and the 13th century Blackfriars monastery.
The monastery was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II of Scotland. The exact location of he monastery, destroyed around 1588 during the Protestant Reformation, has since been unknown so this is a very significant discovery in attempting to understand Edinburgh's mediaeval past. Among the artefacts uncovered was a sandstone slab carved with a Calvary Cross and an ornate sword suggesting the grave of a mediaeval knight. A further examination is being made of the associated skeleton to ascertain where the person was born and how he lived.
I mentioned in previous blogs the work of Michael Harrison exploring the continuity of usage in city ccentres. Its interesting to note that this car park has been associated with seats of learning going back nearly a thousand years at least. Currently the Department of Archaeology of Edinburgh University is sited just yards from the excavation site.
Three buildings of historical significance were known to be associated with the site, the 18th century Old High School, the 16th century Royal High School and the 13th century Blackfriars monastery.
The monastery was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II of Scotland. The exact location of he monastery, destroyed around 1588 during the Protestant Reformation, has since been unknown so this is a very significant discovery in attempting to understand Edinburgh's mediaeval past. Among the artefacts uncovered was a sandstone slab carved with a Calvary Cross and an ornate sword suggesting the grave of a mediaeval knight. A further examination is being made of the associated skeleton to ascertain where the person was born and how he lived.
I mentioned in previous blogs the work of Michael Harrison exploring the continuity of usage in city ccentres. Its interesting to note that this car park has been associated with seats of learning going back nearly a thousand years at least. Currently the Department of Archaeology of Edinburgh University is sited just yards from the excavation site.
Saturday 9 March 2013
London Chocolate Festival 2013
The London Chocolate Festival will run from 22 - 24 March at the Southbank Centre where you will be able to sample sweet and savoury creations and cocktails. You can become a choc swot with free workshops. Details can be found at www.festivalchocolate.co.uk.
This comes under the 'Things you didn't know about your own family' heading as I have only recently learnt that my great uncle and aunt, returning from a spell living in Australia to their native Worcester, trained as chocolatiers, opened a chocolate shop and gave classes to would-be chocolate-makers. This would have been in the 1930s I guess so this is not a new phenomenon.
For those living outside London other chocolate festivals are being held at Easter in Bristol (home to Rowntrees), where you can have your portrait painted in chocolate and join a tour of a chocolate factory. The Bristol Chocolate Festival is on 30-31 March details from the website above. For those oop north there is the York Chocolate Festival (home to Terrys) being held 29 March - 1 April. Chocolate traders across the north-east promise to tempt you with cakes, biscuits and hand-made chocolates. They are also offering chocolate dinners, workshops and demos details of which can be found on their website at www.yorkchocolatefestival.co.uk.
If you succumb to that lot you might like to know that the 33rd London Marathon leaves Greenwich Park on 21st April. Fortunately I am way too old for that!
.
This comes under the 'Things you didn't know about your own family' heading as I have only recently learnt that my great uncle and aunt, returning from a spell living in Australia to their native Worcester, trained as chocolatiers, opened a chocolate shop and gave classes to would-be chocolate-makers. This would have been in the 1930s I guess so this is not a new phenomenon.
For those living outside London other chocolate festivals are being held at Easter in Bristol (home to Rowntrees), where you can have your portrait painted in chocolate and join a tour of a chocolate factory. The Bristol Chocolate Festival is on 30-31 March details from the website above. For those oop north there is the York Chocolate Festival (home to Terrys) being held 29 March - 1 April. Chocolate traders across the north-east promise to tempt you with cakes, biscuits and hand-made chocolates. They are also offering chocolate dinners, workshops and demos details of which can be found on their website at www.yorkchocolatefestival.co.uk.
If you succumb to that lot you might like to know that the 33rd London Marathon leaves Greenwich Park on 21st April. Fortunately I am way too old for that!
.
Friday 8 March 2013
Quadriga Gallery - The Birth of Archaeology Exhibition
This is one I have pencilled in my diary for later this month.
The Quadriga Gallery is a new space at the Wellington Arch in London's Hyde Park dedicated to a series of exhibitions exploring the past, present and future of England's heritage. This year, to mark the centenary of the passing of the Ancient Monuments Act in 1913 five special exhibitions are being staged to highlight the movement to protect England's heritage from its early days to tomorrow's challenges.
In 1859 two crucial events changed the way people regarded human development. A flint handaxe was found in a gravel quarry level with bones of extinct animals and in the same year Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species challenging (I would rather say enlarging on) the accepted Biblical version of creation.
The exhibition at Wellington Arch tells the story of what happened next as pioneers in archaeology battled to save Britain's prehistoric sites from destruction. The display focuses on the work of three men in particular, scientist Charles Darwin, archaeologist/anthropologist General Pitt-Rivers and banker and politician (not all bad then) John Lubbock. Together they fought to bring recognition and protection for Britain's ancient monuments.
Wellington Arch is at Apsley Way, Hyde Park Corner, London W1J 7JZ and details of tickets, opening times and transport can be found on the English Heritage website at http://ow.ly/irC7d
The exhibition runs until 21 April 2013.
The Quadriga Gallery is a new space at the Wellington Arch in London's Hyde Park dedicated to a series of exhibitions exploring the past, present and future of England's heritage. This year, to mark the centenary of the passing of the Ancient Monuments Act in 1913 five special exhibitions are being staged to highlight the movement to protect England's heritage from its early days to tomorrow's challenges.
In 1859 two crucial events changed the way people regarded human development. A flint handaxe was found in a gravel quarry level with bones of extinct animals and in the same year Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species challenging (I would rather say enlarging on) the accepted Biblical version of creation.
The exhibition at Wellington Arch tells the story of what happened next as pioneers in archaeology battled to save Britain's prehistoric sites from destruction. The display focuses on the work of three men in particular, scientist Charles Darwin, archaeologist/anthropologist General Pitt-Rivers and banker and politician (not all bad then) John Lubbock. Together they fought to bring recognition and protection for Britain's ancient monuments.
Wellington Arch is at Apsley Way, Hyde Park Corner, London W1J 7JZ and details of tickets, opening times and transport can be found on the English Heritage website at http://ow.ly/irC7d
The exhibition runs until 21 April 2013.
Thursday 7 March 2013
Commonwealth Games 2014 Cultural Events
The organisers of the 2014 Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow are planning a world-class cultural programme to rival the Edinburgh Festival to complement this major sporting event to be staged next year.
Dozens of arts events are being lined up which will be designed to spill out into the streets of Scotland's second city over a two-week period before and during the games themselves as part of a £4 million programme of events involving the city's galleries, museums and performing arts companies.
Funding to the tune of grants up to £300,000 has already been provided and the fund is said already to be 'hugely oversubscribed' after being opened to artists, events, organisers and companies across the country last year.
Dozens of arts events are being lined up which will be designed to spill out into the streets of Scotland's second city over a two-week period before and during the games themselves as part of a £4 million programme of events involving the city's galleries, museums and performing arts companies.
Funding to the tune of grants up to £300,000 has already been provided and the fund is said already to be 'hugely oversubscribed' after being opened to artists, events, organisers and companies across the country last year.
Wednesday 6 March 2013
Julian Barnes on Sex in Novels
Julian Barnes, one of my favourite contemporary authors, has complained that modern authors are under 'a commercial obligation' to include sex scenes in their work. This is an area notoriously difficult to get right as witnessed by the annual Literary Review Bad Sex Awards and perhaps explains why a lot of novelists choose to target a pre-pubescent audience which avoids the necessity for including anything beyond a chaste kiss.
Julian Barnes suggests that the new 'freedom' (ie post Lady Chatterly) which writers have can lead to the problem of striking the right balance between how much to describe explicitly and how much to omit in the interests of taste and decency.
As an admirer of Flaubert (his novel 'Flaubert's Parrot' was a masterly study of the French writer) Julian Barnes should simply follow Flaubert's advice. Flaubert was himself very keen on writing about sex (very French) but he made it a golden rule and the writer should never use a coarse word or be too explicit. His 'disciple' Guy de Maupassant always followed this strict instruction with the result that he is one of the very best writers about sex. My advice is follow Flaubert's advice and you can't go wrong.
Julian Barnes won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 for his novel The Sense of an Ending.
My book 'The Lady in Grey' is a fictional biography of Guy de Maupassant which includes most of Flaubert's advice and is available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk in paperback or as a Kindle download.
Julian Barnes suggests that the new 'freedom' (ie post Lady Chatterly) which writers have can lead to the problem of striking the right balance between how much to describe explicitly and how much to omit in the interests of taste and decency.
As an admirer of Flaubert (his novel 'Flaubert's Parrot' was a masterly study of the French writer) Julian Barnes should simply follow Flaubert's advice. Flaubert was himself very keen on writing about sex (very French) but he made it a golden rule and the writer should never use a coarse word or be too explicit. His 'disciple' Guy de Maupassant always followed this strict instruction with the result that he is one of the very best writers about sex. My advice is follow Flaubert's advice and you can't go wrong.
Julian Barnes won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 for his novel The Sense of an Ending.
My book 'The Lady in Grey' is a fictional biography of Guy de Maupassant which includes most of Flaubert's advice and is available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk in paperback or as a Kindle download.
Tuesday 5 March 2013
BFI 57th London Film Festival Dates Announced
The dates for the 57th London Film Festival have been announced by the British Film Institute. The 2013 Festival will run from Wednesday 9th until Sunday 20th October 2013.
Submissions are now open for both feature films and short films.
The London Film Festival aims to champion creativity, originality, vision and imagination through its annual showcase of feature films, documentaries, short films, animation and excperimental films from around the world. The festival attracts large public audiences to venues across the capital bringing leading international film-makers, new talent, industry professionals and the media to London for a 12-day celebration of cinema.
Last year's festival hosted 227 feature films and 111 short films from 57 countries including 13 World Premieres. 570 film-maker guests drew the highest ever audience attendance of 151,000 including a record number of industry delegates.
The full programme for the 2013 festival will be announced in September.
Submissions are now open for both feature films and short films.
The London Film Festival aims to champion creativity, originality, vision and imagination through its annual showcase of feature films, documentaries, short films, animation and excperimental films from around the world. The festival attracts large public audiences to venues across the capital bringing leading international film-makers, new talent, industry professionals and the media to London for a 12-day celebration of cinema.
Last year's festival hosted 227 feature films and 111 short films from 57 countries including 13 World Premieres. 570 film-maker guests drew the highest ever audience attendance of 151,000 including a record number of industry delegates.
The full programme for the 2013 festival will be announced in September.
Monday 4 March 2013
British Pie Week - Bacon Pie recipe
This week is British Pie Week running from 4 - 10th March. Here is my contribution to celebrate the great British Pie, a cheap and nutritious pie ideal for feeding a family on a budget.
Bacon Pie
Ingredients
1 - 2 tablespoons of sage and onion stuffing mix (or home-made stuffing, see below)
boiling water
8 oz sausage meat
1-2 tablespoons tomato puree or chutney
3/4 lb of bacon pieces (offcuts from bacon joint)
8 oz shortcrust pastry
2 - 3 tomatoes (optional)
Home-made sage and onion stuffing (more faff than the mix but much nicer)
peel and chop 1 onion and boil in water in a small saucepan until the onion is soft
put the onion in a food processor and zap or chop it very finely on a chopping board
grate or zap in food processor two or three slices of white bread to make breadcrumbs
mix the onion and breadcrumbs with 1/2 tablespoon of dried sage
mix the whole lot with 1 oz of melted butter and a spoonful of milk to make a paste
(alternatively make up the stuffing mix with melted butter and boiling water as per the instructions on the packet.)
To make the pie
Stir the sausage meat and tomato puree or chutney with your sage and onion stuffing. Remove the rind and fat from the bacon pieces and chop the meat fairly finely (you can sometimes find this done for you in the supermarket) and mix with the sausage mixture.
Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate. Spread the sausage mixture filling over this. If you like tomatoes slice them up and arrange in a layer over the filling. Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the pie. Trim, seal and flute the edges and make two or three slashes in the top to allow steam to escape. Glaze with egg or milk and bake at Mark 6 (Gas), or 400 degrees (Electric) for 20 - 30 mins until golden then reduce the heaqt to Mark 3 (325 degrees) for a further 20-30 minutes. Serves Six to eight portions.
Bacon Pie
Ingredients
1 - 2 tablespoons of sage and onion stuffing mix (or home-made stuffing, see below)
boiling water
8 oz sausage meat
1-2 tablespoons tomato puree or chutney
3/4 lb of bacon pieces (offcuts from bacon joint)
8 oz shortcrust pastry
2 - 3 tomatoes (optional)
Home-made sage and onion stuffing (more faff than the mix but much nicer)
peel and chop 1 onion and boil in water in a small saucepan until the onion is soft
put the onion in a food processor and zap or chop it very finely on a chopping board
grate or zap in food processor two or three slices of white bread to make breadcrumbs
mix the onion and breadcrumbs with 1/2 tablespoon of dried sage
mix the whole lot with 1 oz of melted butter and a spoonful of milk to make a paste
(alternatively make up the stuffing mix with melted butter and boiling water as per the instructions on the packet.)
To make the pie
Stir the sausage meat and tomato puree or chutney with your sage and onion stuffing. Remove the rind and fat from the bacon pieces and chop the meat fairly finely (you can sometimes find this done for you in the supermarket) and mix with the sausage mixture.
Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate. Spread the sausage mixture filling over this. If you like tomatoes slice them up and arrange in a layer over the filling. Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the pie. Trim, seal and flute the edges and make two or three slashes in the top to allow steam to escape. Glaze with egg or milk and bake at Mark 6 (Gas), or 400 degrees (Electric) for 20 - 30 mins until golden then reduce the heaqt to Mark 3 (325 degrees) for a further 20-30 minutes. Serves Six to eight portions.
Saturday 2 March 2013
Book Festivals - March 2013
Essex Book Festival was launched on Friday 20 February and runs all month. Lined-up to appear at the festival are celebrity authors Andrew Cowan, Anthony Horowitz, Rachel Joyce and Sandi Toksvig.
In Cumbria the Way with Words Festival also launched yesterday with guest speakers Chris Mullin, Jack Straw and Pat Barker. The Way with Words Festival runs until 10th March.
In Cumbria the Way with Words Festival also launched yesterday with guest speakers Chris Mullin, Jack Straw and Pat Barker. The Way with Words Festival runs until 10th March.
Friday 1 March 2013
Happy St David's Day - Mam's Welsh Cakes
Happy St David's Day, especially to the Welsh contingent. To celebrate here is my grandmother's recipe for Welsh cakes.
Ingredients
8 oz flour
2 oz butter
2 oz lard
2 oz currants or sultanas
3 oz sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
pinch salt
1 tablespoon milk or cream
Method
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Rub in the fat with your fingertips and add the other dry ingredients. Beat the egg lightly and add with enough milk (or cream for a posher version) to make a firm paste. Roll out on a floured board to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut into rounds. Cook on a lightly greased griddle or a heavy flat-bottomed frying pan for about 3 minutes each side until golden brown. Cool and sprinkle with caster sugar. Split and serve with butter or cream and jam. They can also be kept in an air-tight tin and eaten alone as biscuits - excellent with coffee for dunking.
Ingredients
8 oz flour
2 oz butter
2 oz lard
2 oz currants or sultanas
3 oz sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
pinch salt
1 tablespoon milk or cream
Method
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Rub in the fat with your fingertips and add the other dry ingredients. Beat the egg lightly and add with enough milk (or cream for a posher version) to make a firm paste. Roll out on a floured board to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut into rounds. Cook on a lightly greased griddle or a heavy flat-bottomed frying pan for about 3 minutes each side until golden brown. Cool and sprinkle with caster sugar. Split and serve with butter or cream and jam. They can also be kept in an air-tight tin and eaten alone as biscuits - excellent with coffee for dunking.
Wednesday 27 February 2013
Roman Britain - the modern legacy?
One million people in Britain are descended from Romans
according to a study by a commercial DNA testing company. BritainsDNA took Y chromosome markers found in modern
British men and compared them with those found in modern Italians. They found five major types of DNA likely to
have come from the Roman Legions – Alpine, Balkan, Ancient Caucasian,
Herdsmen-Farmers and Anatolian.
The first, Alpine, group was present in 13% of Italian men, 6.5% of men in England and Wales, 4.3% in Scotland and 1.8% in Ireland reflecting the relatively low contact between Romans and the Irish.
Applied to the total population these figures suggest an estimated 1.6 million men in Britain carry the Alpine marker of around which half a million may be descended from the Roman armies.If all five markers are included the scientists calculate that at least one million men may be direct descendants of the Romans.
The results of the research which was carried out by historian Alistair Moffat and Managing Director and Chief Scientist of BritainsDNA Dr Jim Wilson will be discussed at the Who do you think you are? Live family history event being held at London’s Olympia.
The first, Alpine, group was present in 13% of Italian men, 6.5% of men in England and Wales, 4.3% in Scotland and 1.8% in Ireland reflecting the relatively low contact between Romans and the Irish.
Applied to the total population these figures suggest an estimated 1.6 million men in Britain carry the Alpine marker of around which half a million may be descended from the Roman armies.If all five markers are included the scientists calculate that at least one million men may be direct descendants of the Romans.
The results of the research which was carried out by historian Alistair Moffat and Managing Director and Chief Scientist of BritainsDNA Dr Jim Wilson will be discussed at the Who do you think you are? Live family history event being held at London’s Olympia.
The survey is interesting on two counts. One, because it confirms what we know about the spread of Roman influence across the British Isles from documentary evidence and archaeology.
Secondly, the numbers of men bearing the Roman markers are relatively small, only about 4% of the total population of the British Isles (around 60 million), suggesting the relatively low impact of the Roman invasion on the native British population which goes some way to explain the speed and strength of the Celtic revival after 410 AD.
Tuesday 26 February 2013
Forever Living
As you get older you find you need to spend a bit more to keep looking good. I have recently discovered a range of health and beauty products by a US Company, Forever Living, which I am happy to recommend. You may rest assured that I would never endorse any product that I have not already tested myself.
A couple of months ago I noticed my hair was thinning slightly on the crown, down to age I'm afraid, and I started using their Aloe Vera-Jojoba shampoo and conditioning rinse with excellent results. My hair is thicker and looks healthy and shiny which is really important if, like me, you have silver hair. I have also tried their Aloe Vera Lotion, a good all-purpose moisturiser which is easily absorbed into the skin and has a pleasant unobtrusive fragrance.
The company's commitment to quality and purity is commendable. All of their products are certified cruelty-free as they do not use animal testing and they offer a 60-day guarantee. Their products are not cheap but compare in price and quality with Origins.
For further information you can check out the website at www.avrich.co.uk
A couple of months ago I noticed my hair was thinning slightly on the crown, down to age I'm afraid, and I started using their Aloe Vera-Jojoba shampoo and conditioning rinse with excellent results. My hair is thicker and looks healthy and shiny which is really important if, like me, you have silver hair. I have also tried their Aloe Vera Lotion, a good all-purpose moisturiser which is easily absorbed into the skin and has a pleasant unobtrusive fragrance.
The company's commitment to quality and purity is commendable. All of their products are certified cruelty-free as they do not use animal testing and they offer a 60-day guarantee. Their products are not cheap but compare in price and quality with Origins.
For further information you can check out the website at www.avrich.co.uk
Monday 25 February 2013
Oscars 2013 - The winners
At t 85th Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles last night the winners were:-
Film-making
Film-making
Best Picture: Argo
Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Animated Feature Film: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (Brave)
Animated Short Film: John Kahrs (Paperman)
Documentary Feature: Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn (Searching For Sugar Man)
Documentary Short Subject: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine (Inocente)
Foreign Language Film: Amour
Best Live Action Short Film: Shawn Christensen (Curfew)
Acting
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
Music
Music (Original Score): Mychael Danna (Life Of Pi)
Music (Original Song): Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for 'Skyfall' (Skyfall)
Screenwriting
Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio (Argo)
Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)
Costume and Design
Makeup and Hairstyling: Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell (Les Miserables)
Production Design: Lincoln
Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina)
Technical
Cinematography: Claudio Miranda (Life Of Pi)
Sound Editing: Per Halberg Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall) and Paul N. J. Ottosson (Zero Dark Thirty)
Sound Mixing: Andy Nelson, Mark Patterson, Simon Hughes (Les Miserables)
Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Donald R Elliott (Life Of Pi)
Film Editing: William Goldenberg (Argo)
Sunday 24 February 2013
Ready for the Big Night - Oscar nominations
Oscar nominations for this year are as follows:-
Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Amour, Django Unchained, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Denzel Washington (Flight), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Amy Adams (The Master)
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert de Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) Michael Haneke (Amour) Behn Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom), Michael Haneke (Amour), John Gatins (Flight)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner (Lincoln), David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Chris Terno (Argo), David Magee (Life of Pi), Behn Zeitlin, Lucy Albar (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Animated Feature: Frankenweenie, The Pirates!Band of Misfits, Wreck-it Ralph, ParaNorman, Brave
Best Foreign Feature: Amour (France), Footnote (Denmark), Kon-Tiki (Norway), No (Chile) War Witch (Canada)
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (Skyfall), Seamus Mcgarvey (Anna Karenina), Robert Richardson (Django Unchained) Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi), Janusz Kaminski (Lincoln)
Best Costume Design: Jacquline Durran (Anna Karenina), Paco Delgado (Les Miserables), Joanna Johnston (Lincoln), Eiko Ishioka (Mirror Mirror), Colleen Atwood (Snow White and the Huntsmen)
Best Make-up: Howard Berger, Martin Samuel (Hitchcock), Lisa Westcott, Julie Dartnell (Les Miserables) Peter King, Tami Lane, Rich Findlater (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Best Original Score: Mychael Danna (Life of Pi), Alexandre Desplat (Argo), Dano Marianelli (Anna Karenina), John Williams (Lincoln), Thomas Newman (Skyfall)
Best Original Song:
'Before my Time' from Chasing Ice. Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
'Everybody needs a best friend' from Ted. Music Walter Murphy, Lyric Seth McFarlane.
'Pi's Lullaby' from Life of Pi. Music Michael Danna, Lyric Bombay Jayashri
'Suddenly' from Les Miserables. Music Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyric Herbert Kretsmer and Alain Boublil
'Skyfall' from Skyfall. Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth.
Best Documentary Feature:
'Searching for Sugar Man', 'How to Survive a Plague', 'The Gatekeepers', 'The Invisible War', '4 Broken Cameras'
Best Documentary Short: Kief Davidson, Cori Shepherd (Open Heart), Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine (Inocente), Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill (Redemption), Sari Gilman, Jedd Wider (Kings Point), Cynthia Wade, Robin Honan (Mondays at Racine)
Best Film Editing: Michael Kahn (Lincoln), Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers (Silver Linings Playbook), Tim Sqyres (Life of Pi), William Goldenberg (Argo), Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg (Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Animated Short Film: Minkyu Lee (Adam and Dog), PES (Fresh Guacamole), David Silverman, Maggie Simpson (The Longest Daycare) John Kahrs (Paperman)
Best Live-Action Short Film: Brian Buckley, Nino Jarjoura (Assad), Ariel Nasr, Sam French (Buzkashi Boys), Shawn Christensen (Curfew), Tom Van Avermael, Ellen de Waele (Death of a Shadow) Yan England, Ellen de Waele (Henry)
Best Sound Editing: Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn (Argo), Wylie Stateman (Django Unchained), Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton (Life of Pi), Per Halberg, Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall), Paul N. J. Ottosson (Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Sound Mixing: John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Jose Antonio Garcia (Argo), Andy Nelson, Mark Patterson, Simon Hayes (Les Miserables), Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemhill, Drew Jurun (Life of Pi), Andy Nelson, Gary Rydshorn, Ronald Jenkins (Lincoln), Scott Milan, Greg P Russell, Stuart Wilson, William Goldenberg (Skyfall)
Best Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Donald R Elliott (Life of Pi), Joe Letteri, Eric Saundon, R Christopher White David Clayton (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Janeck Sirrs, Guy Williams, Daniel Sudick, Jeff White (Marvel's The Avengers), Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, Martin Hill (Prometheus), Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson, Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (Snow White and the Huntsmen)
Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Amour, Django Unchained, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Denzel Washington (Flight), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Amy Adams (The Master)
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert de Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) Michael Haneke (Amour) Behn Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom), Michael Haneke (Amour), John Gatins (Flight)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner (Lincoln), David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Chris Terno (Argo), David Magee (Life of Pi), Behn Zeitlin, Lucy Albar (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Best Animated Feature: Frankenweenie, The Pirates!Band of Misfits, Wreck-it Ralph, ParaNorman, Brave
Best Foreign Feature: Amour (France), Footnote (Denmark), Kon-Tiki (Norway), No (Chile) War Witch (Canada)
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (Skyfall), Seamus Mcgarvey (Anna Karenina), Robert Richardson (Django Unchained) Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi), Janusz Kaminski (Lincoln)
Best Costume Design: Jacquline Durran (Anna Karenina), Paco Delgado (Les Miserables), Joanna Johnston (Lincoln), Eiko Ishioka (Mirror Mirror), Colleen Atwood (Snow White and the Huntsmen)
Best Make-up: Howard Berger, Martin Samuel (Hitchcock), Lisa Westcott, Julie Dartnell (Les Miserables) Peter King, Tami Lane, Rich Findlater (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Best Original Score: Mychael Danna (Life of Pi), Alexandre Desplat (Argo), Dano Marianelli (Anna Karenina), John Williams (Lincoln), Thomas Newman (Skyfall)
Best Original Song:
'Before my Time' from Chasing Ice. Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
'Everybody needs a best friend' from Ted. Music Walter Murphy, Lyric Seth McFarlane.
'Pi's Lullaby' from Life of Pi. Music Michael Danna, Lyric Bombay Jayashri
'Suddenly' from Les Miserables. Music Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyric Herbert Kretsmer and Alain Boublil
'Skyfall' from Skyfall. Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth.
Best Documentary Feature:
'Searching for Sugar Man', 'How to Survive a Plague', 'The Gatekeepers', 'The Invisible War', '4 Broken Cameras'
Best Documentary Short: Kief Davidson, Cori Shepherd (Open Heart), Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine (Inocente), Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill (Redemption), Sari Gilman, Jedd Wider (Kings Point), Cynthia Wade, Robin Honan (Mondays at Racine)
Best Film Editing: Michael Kahn (Lincoln), Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers (Silver Linings Playbook), Tim Sqyres (Life of Pi), William Goldenberg (Argo), Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg (Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Animated Short Film: Minkyu Lee (Adam and Dog), PES (Fresh Guacamole), David Silverman, Maggie Simpson (The Longest Daycare) John Kahrs (Paperman)
Best Live-Action Short Film: Brian Buckley, Nino Jarjoura (Assad), Ariel Nasr, Sam French (Buzkashi Boys), Shawn Christensen (Curfew), Tom Van Avermael, Ellen de Waele (Death of a Shadow) Yan England, Ellen de Waele (Henry)
Best Sound Editing: Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn (Argo), Wylie Stateman (Django Unchained), Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton (Life of Pi), Per Halberg, Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall), Paul N. J. Ottosson (Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Sound Mixing: John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Jose Antonio Garcia (Argo), Andy Nelson, Mark Patterson, Simon Hayes (Les Miserables), Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemhill, Drew Jurun (Life of Pi), Andy Nelson, Gary Rydshorn, Ronald Jenkins (Lincoln), Scott Milan, Greg P Russell, Stuart Wilson, William Goldenberg (Skyfall)
Best Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Donald R Elliott (Life of Pi), Joe Letteri, Eric Saundon, R Christopher White David Clayton (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Janeck Sirrs, Guy Williams, Daniel Sudick, Jeff White (Marvel's The Avengers), Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, Martin Hill (Prometheus), Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson, Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (Snow White and the Huntsmen)
Friday 22 February 2013
World's largest panorama of London
Last night the world's largest panoramic photo of London was unveiled. Breaking the previous record set by a 281-gigapixel electron micrograph of a zebrafish embryo taken in 2012, the 320-gigapixel image shot from the roof of the BT Tower by Prague-based panorama specialists 360 Cities is made up of 48,640 images seamlessly edited together showing a full 360-degree view of the capital. It is so detailed that if it were printed in 2D the panorama would be 98 x 24 metres.
According to the Digital Photography Review 'The photo was taken with four Canon EOS 7D Cameras and EF 400 mm f/2.8L LS II USM lenses plus Extender EF 2 x III teleconverters. The cameras were mounted on Rodeon VR Head ST robotic panoramic heads.'
The photography team of Jeffrey Martin, Tom Mills and Holgen Schulze took three days to shoot the individual photos spending hours on the 29th floor outdoor platform of the BT Tower in London's Fitzrovia and it took three months to process the final image. Steve Hecher, director of 360 Cities is quoted as saying: 'So many unknowns and variables had to be addressed in the planning of this unprecedented shoot, really the first of its kind. Software and hardware were pushed to the limits and rain, wind and other potential stumbling blocks had to be dealt with.'
The images were taken after the end of London 2012, the first digital Olympic Games. The record-breaking panorama can be viewed on the BT website.
According to the Digital Photography Review 'The photo was taken with four Canon EOS 7D Cameras and EF 400 mm f/2.8L LS II USM lenses plus Extender EF 2 x III teleconverters. The cameras were mounted on Rodeon VR Head ST robotic panoramic heads.'
The photography team of Jeffrey Martin, Tom Mills and Holgen Schulze took three days to shoot the individual photos spending hours on the 29th floor outdoor platform of the BT Tower in London's Fitzrovia and it took three months to process the final image. Steve Hecher, director of 360 Cities is quoted as saying: 'So many unknowns and variables had to be addressed in the planning of this unprecedented shoot, really the first of its kind. Software and hardware were pushed to the limits and rain, wind and other potential stumbling blocks had to be dealt with.'
The images were taken after the end of London 2012, the first digital Olympic Games. The record-breaking panorama can be viewed on the BT website.
Thursday 21 February 2013
Brit Awards - winners
Last night saw the annual Brit awards hosted by actor James Corden. The winners were...
British Female Solo Artist
Emeli Sande
British Group
Mumford & Sons alt-J
British Breakthrough Act
Ben Howard
British Male Solo Artist
Ben Howard
British Live Act
Coldplay
International Female Solo Artist
Lana Del Rey
International Group
The Black Keys
International Male Solo Artist
Frank Ocean
British Single
Adele - Skyfall - winner
MasterCard British Album Of The Year
Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events
Brits Global Success
One Direction
Critic's Choice
Tom Odell
Special Recognition Award
War Child
Congratulations to all.
British Female Solo Artist
Emeli Sande
British Group
Mumford & Sons alt-J
British Breakthrough Act
Ben Howard
British Male Solo Artist
Ben Howard
British Live Act
Coldplay
International Female Solo Artist
Lana Del Rey
International Group
The Black Keys
International Male Solo Artist
Frank Ocean
British Single
Adele - Skyfall - winner
MasterCard British Album Of The Year
Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events
Brits Global Success
One Direction
Critic's Choice
Tom Odell
Special Recognition Award
War Child
Congratulations to all.
Tuesday 19 February 2013
Hilary Mantel - ill-timed remarks
Hilary Mantel, the double Booker Prize winning author of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, has hit the front pages due to some disparaging remarks she made about the Duchess of Cambridge in a recent lecture at the British Museum. Since the object of her lecture was to question the validity of a monarchy that chooses to make a display of its royal ladies her remarks have probably been quoted out of context but two things arise from their publication on the front page of a national newspaper today.
One is that, while I am sure the Duchess of Cambridge is old enough and intelligent enough to know not to take these things to heart, it is rather ill-bred to direct spiteful personal remarks at someone who cannot hit back in kind.
Secondly, I have to question the timing of this story. Hilary Mantel made her comments two weeks ago but they have hit the papers just as the government is about to introduce legislation to place the strongest restrictions on the freedom of the press seen in the UK in decades. It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the timing of this story, following closely on the row about the Princess being photographed on a public beach in a bikini, is grist to the mill to those who are campaigning for ever greater restrictions on the British press.
I cannot think that Hilary Mantel as a writer, and one in particular specialising in Tudor History, can be unaware of the consequences of state censorship. The lesson of history is that state censorship, however well-intentioned, is never a good thing for writers.
One is that, while I am sure the Duchess of Cambridge is old enough and intelligent enough to know not to take these things to heart, it is rather ill-bred to direct spiteful personal remarks at someone who cannot hit back in kind.
Secondly, I have to question the timing of this story. Hilary Mantel made her comments two weeks ago but they have hit the papers just as the government is about to introduce legislation to place the strongest restrictions on the freedom of the press seen in the UK in decades. It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the timing of this story, following closely on the row about the Princess being photographed on a public beach in a bikini, is grist to the mill to those who are campaigning for ever greater restrictions on the British press.
I cannot think that Hilary Mantel as a writer, and one in particular specialising in Tudor History, can be unaware of the consequences of state censorship. The lesson of history is that state censorship, however well-intentioned, is never a good thing for writers.
Monday 18 February 2013
London Fashion Week 2013 - the Fashion for Ethical Fashion
While the focus of the catwalk shows may be on young designers this week the limelight has been stolen by two of the grandes dames of British fashion Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes both urging that fashion should be more ethical.
Vivienne Westwood, always good for an attention-grabbing headline, takes our current fashion belle, the Duchess of Cambridge, to task for wearing 'too many outfits', urging her to put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
Her outburst was perhaps prompted by the number of high street stores like Top Shop and River Island running catwalks this year. They have transformed London Fashion Week by introducing wearable designs perfect for transfer immediately to the ready-to-wear market.
Dame Vivienne is quoted as saying 'I don't have any advice for her, except I think it would be great if she wore the same clothes over and again because that's very good for the environment and it would send out a very nice message.'
It might also be the answer to concerns about intrusive photography by the paparazzi since all the photographs would look the same!
Meanwhile, our other 'Queen of Punk', veteran designer Zandra Rhodes yesterday confirmed her partnership with ethical fashion house People Tree. Founder of the Fashion and Textiles Museum, she has created a limited edition range with Safia Minney, CEO of People Tree, a collection of six pieces, including separates and dresses, exploiting the jungle trail print inspired by African flowers she used in her Autumn/Winter collection.
Zandra Rhodes is quoted as saying 'I wanted to work with People Tree because they are ethically aware. Something's got to be done so that we can improve our practices.'
She added, 'I have always loved the idea of my designs being created in organic and Fair Trade fabrics and working with Fair Trade groups, putting people right at the heart of my creations - but where to begin?
Encouraging high street chains not to source their goods from China or other far eastern sweatshops and encourage a revival of the British textile trade that once ruled the world might be a start.
Zandra Rhodes is not showing at London Fashion Week although Vivienne Westwood last night exibited her signature structured dresses and fine tailoring, but both of our 'Queens of Punk' have had a lasting and contuing influence on young London designers.
Vivienne Westwood, always good for an attention-grabbing headline, takes our current fashion belle, the Duchess of Cambridge, to task for wearing 'too many outfits', urging her to put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
Her outburst was perhaps prompted by the number of high street stores like Top Shop and River Island running catwalks this year. They have transformed London Fashion Week by introducing wearable designs perfect for transfer immediately to the ready-to-wear market.
Dame Vivienne is quoted as saying 'I don't have any advice for her, except I think it would be great if she wore the same clothes over and again because that's very good for the environment and it would send out a very nice message.'
It might also be the answer to concerns about intrusive photography by the paparazzi since all the photographs would look the same!
Meanwhile, our other 'Queen of Punk', veteran designer Zandra Rhodes yesterday confirmed her partnership with ethical fashion house People Tree. Founder of the Fashion and Textiles Museum, she has created a limited edition range with Safia Minney, CEO of People Tree, a collection of six pieces, including separates and dresses, exploiting the jungle trail print inspired by African flowers she used in her Autumn/Winter collection.
Zandra Rhodes is quoted as saying 'I wanted to work with People Tree because they are ethically aware. Something's got to be done so that we can improve our practices.'
She added, 'I have always loved the idea of my designs being created in organic and Fair Trade fabrics and working with Fair Trade groups, putting people right at the heart of my creations - but where to begin?
Encouraging high street chains not to source their goods from China or other far eastern sweatshops and encourage a revival of the British textile trade that once ruled the world might be a start.
Zandra Rhodes is not showing at London Fashion Week although Vivienne Westwood last night exibited her signature structured dresses and fine tailoring, but both of our 'Queens of Punk' have had a lasting and contuing influence on young London designers.
Sunday 17 February 2013
London Fashion Week 2013 Day One Highlights
London fashion week kicked off in style with plenty of young celebrities turning out to sit on the front rows.
Music superstar Rihanna's new clothing collection for River Island was revealed last night at the launch of London Fashion Week 2013. Her collection included floral prints, crop tops, baseball caps and skirts with thigh-high splits reflecting the fashion style of the young pop singer.
Day One also saw a show by twins Felder Felder introducing a vintage influence and bringing a bit of rock and roll to the BFC Courtyard space. Their collection featured a play on texture incorporating velvet, latex and lamb's wool in their designs. Soft pink coats pinched and belted at the waist were the result of a collaboration between the designers and lurex specialists Vin + Omi. Easy to wear statement knits were subtly embellished with suede panels while quilted leather skirts teamed with metallic shirts and plunge-neck velvet tops gave the collection a cool edge.
Music superstar Rihanna's new clothing collection for River Island was revealed last night at the launch of London Fashion Week 2013. Her collection included floral prints, crop tops, baseball caps and skirts with thigh-high splits reflecting the fashion style of the young pop singer.
Day One also saw a show by twins Felder Felder introducing a vintage influence and bringing a bit of rock and roll to the BFC Courtyard space. Their collection featured a play on texture incorporating velvet, latex and lamb's wool in their designs. Soft pink coats pinched and belted at the waist were the result of a collaboration between the designers and lurex specialists Vin + Omi. Easy to wear statement knits were subtly embellished with suede panels while quilted leather skirts teamed with metallic shirts and plunge-neck velvet tops gave the collection a cool edge.
Saturday 16 February 2013
London Fashion Week - hot tickets for Rihanna and Tom Ford
Music superstar Rihanna is excited that her 2013 spring/summer collection of clothes and accessories will be revealed to the world for the first time later today at London Fashion Week. Earlier this week she declared that she was looking forward to her fans finally seeing her designs and is hoping to attract 'fashion gods' to see her collection.
This is one of the hottest tickets for London Fashion Week which organisers say is attracting an unprecedented US audience as American designer Tom Ford leads a host of key buyers from across the pond. His first womenswear catwalk show is on Monday night (18th February).
The event will see 56 catwalk shows and 20 presentations taking place over five days until Tuesday 19th February. Visitors from all over the world are expected to flock to the capital for the bi-annual fashion week, one of the highest profile events in the fashion world classed as one of the 'big four' along with New York, Paris and Milan. Over half of the British designers represented are trained at London's Central St Martin's College of Art, which has raised the bar for British fasion over recent years lifting London Fashion Week into the world's top four.
This is one of the hottest tickets for London Fashion Week which organisers say is attracting an unprecedented US audience as American designer Tom Ford leads a host of key buyers from across the pond. His first womenswear catwalk show is on Monday night (18th February).
The event will see 56 catwalk shows and 20 presentations taking place over five days until Tuesday 19th February. Visitors from all over the world are expected to flock to the capital for the bi-annual fashion week, one of the highest profile events in the fashion world classed as one of the 'big four' along with New York, Paris and Milan. Over half of the British designers represented are trained at London's Central St Martin's College of Art, which has raised the bar for British fasion over recent years lifting London Fashion Week into the world's top four.
Friday 15 February 2013
Funding for UK artists
Artangel is launching a £1million fund for UK artsits.
Arts Council national portfolio organisation Artangel and their new partners BBC Radio4 have launched an Open Call for artists.
Creatives working in any medium, from anywhere in the UK, can apply for funding and support for site-specific projects and for the first time this will include artists working in the digital space.
The closing date for submissions is Monday 29 April 2013.
Arts Council national portfolio organisation Artangel and their new partners BBC Radio4 have launched an Open Call for artists.
Creatives working in any medium, from anywhere in the UK, can apply for funding and support for site-specific projects and for the first time this will include artists working in the digital space.
The closing date for submissions is Monday 29 April 2013.
Thursday 14 February 2013
Ask.com - illegal 'capture' of computer
I opened my computer this morning to find my search facility suddenly taken over without warning by ask.com. I did not ask for this and when asked if I wanted to enable the transfer I clicked 'Don't enable'. Despite this I suddenly found my computer installing the software for ask.com. I went to 'Programs' and tried to uninstall it only to be told by Windows that I would need an administrator to do this. I am utterly outraged. How dare ask.com interfere with the system as I have chosen to set it up! Who do these people think they are? And how dare any company install software on my computer which I know nothing about, have clearly stated I don't want and am unable to remove when I want to. No reputable company would behave like this. I cannot see any difference between this is and hacking into a mobile phone.
Monday 11 February 2013
Grammy Awards 2013: The winners
At last night's Grammy awards the winners were:
Record of the Year: "Somebody That I Used to Know," Gotye & Kimbra
Album of the Year: Babel, Mumford & Sons
Best Alternative Music Album: Making Mirrors, Gotye
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye featuring Kimbra
Best Rock Album: El Camino, The Black Keys
Best Country Song: "Blown Away," Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins and Carrie Underwood
Best Rap Song: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis and Kanye West
Best Rap Performance: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter and Kanye West
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Best R&B Album: Black Radio, Robert Glasper
Best Dance/Electronica Album: Bangarang, Skrillex
Best Dance Recording: Bangarang, Skrillex featuring Sirah
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album: Midnight In Paris
Best Short Form Music Video: "We Found Love" Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
Best Pop Solo Performance: "Set Fire to the Rain" Adele
Best Country Solo Performance: "Blown Away," Carrie Underwood
Song of the Year: "We Are Young," fun. and Janelle Monáe
Best Urban Contemporary Album: Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
Best Rock Performance: "Lonely Boy," The Black Keys
Best Pop Vocal Album: Stronger, Kelly Clarkson
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "No Church in the Wild," Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and The Dream
Best New Artist: Fun
Record of the Year: "Somebody That I Used to Know," Gotye & Kimbra
Album of the Year: Babel, Mumford & Sons
Best Alternative Music Album: Making Mirrors, Gotye
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye featuring Kimbra
Best Rock Album: El Camino, The Black Keys
Best Country Song: "Blown Away," Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins and Carrie Underwood
Best Rap Song: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis and Kanye West
Best Rap Performance: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter and Kanye West
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Best R&B Album: Black Radio, Robert Glasper
Best Dance/Electronica Album: Bangarang, Skrillex
Best Dance Recording: Bangarang, Skrillex featuring Sirah
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album: Midnight In Paris
Best Short Form Music Video: "We Found Love" Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
Best Pop Solo Performance: "Set Fire to the Rain" Adele
Best Country Solo Performance: "Blown Away," Carrie Underwood
Song of the Year: "We Are Young," fun. and Janelle Monáe
Best Urban Contemporary Album: Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
Best Rock Performance: "Lonely Boy," The Black Keys
Best Pop Vocal Album: Stronger, Kelly Clarkson
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "No Church in the Wild," Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and The Dream
Best New Artist: Fun
BAFTAS 2013: The winners
At last night'sBritish Academy Film and Television Awards the winners were:
BEST FILM
ARGO - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
SKYFALL - Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
DIRECTOR
ARGO - Ben Affleck
LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA - Amour
LEADING ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY - Les Misérables
Watch: Les Miserables trailer
SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Django Unchained
Watch: Django Unchained clip
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell
ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
SKYFALL
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
EE RISING STAR
JUNO TEMPLE
DOCUMENTARY
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
BEST FILM
ARGO - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
SKYFALL - Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
DIRECTOR
ARGO - Ben Affleck
LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA - Amour
LEADING ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY - Les Misérables
Watch: Les Miserables trailer
SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Django Unchained
Watch: Django Unchained clip
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell
ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
SKYFALL
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
EE RISING STAR
JUNO TEMPLE
DOCUMENTARY
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Richard III - it is he!
Some months ago I reported the finding of Richard III's supposed remains in Leicester on the site of the old church of Grey Friars monastery, now a municipal car-park.t
Yesterday, following DNA testing and carbon dating to be sure, the archaeologists announced that the skeleton uncovered is indeed that of Richard III, the last King of England to bear the name Plantagenet.(Not really the last Plantagenet though because Henry VIII had a pretty good share of Plantagenet blood in him).
In my previous blog I pointed out the perils of being a historical novelists when the facts get in the way of a good story and was preparing to eat my hat but looking at the photos of the skeleton this morning I'm am not so sure I should be in a hurry to do so. My identification of the 1475 portrait of ST Ivo as being possible a painting of the young Richard of Gloucester might still be correct. Although the skeleton indicates that the King was not a hunchback in the strictly medical sense the marked curvature of the spine, about half-way down his back, does match the position of the 'hump' in the portrait which is not at the top of the shoulder but some way below the shoulder-blade. I am therefore not going to eat my hat just yet.
Yesterday, following DNA testing and carbon dating to be sure, the archaeologists announced that the skeleton uncovered is indeed that of Richard III, the last King of England to bear the name Plantagenet.(Not really the last Plantagenet though because Henry VIII had a pretty good share of Plantagenet blood in him).
In my previous blog I pointed out the perils of being a historical novelists when the facts get in the way of a good story and was preparing to eat my hat but looking at the photos of the skeleton this morning I'm am not so sure I should be in a hurry to do so. My identification of the 1475 portrait of ST Ivo as being possible a painting of the young Richard of Gloucester might still be correct. Although the skeleton indicates that the King was not a hunchback in the strictly medical sense the marked curvature of the spine, about half-way down his back, does match the position of the 'hump' in the portrait which is not at the top of the shoulder but some way below the shoulder-blade. I am therefore not going to eat my hat just yet.
Sunday 3 February 2013
Winter Skies by Carol Richards - Song Lyric
I have noticed over the years that people like to be able to read song lyrics so it seems unfair to publish a song on the internet without the lyric. Here are the words to Winter Skies should you wish to sing along.
Winter Skies
(copyright (c) 1985 Carol Richards)
Winter Skies
Grey clouds spinning soft rock in the air
Poor disguise
For the gap of nothing hidden there
Winter Skies
Winter's clown
Sad-faced poker registers defeat
Ill-scarred town
Battered by the wind that sweeps the street
And still a clown
Naked trees stand black against the sun
Reaching for the trigger of the gun
All the gold is glitter hanging on the tree
And the future's bitter and it's not for me
Winter skies
Whiter than the stone that marks the grave
Here it lies
All that we thought ever worth to save
And there it dies
Winter's song
Whistles down the branches of the wind
Sails gone
Former glories gradually thinned
The film's too long
Black and white it flickers on the screen
Forgotten past eventually seen
Through a child's eyes
In the winter skies
Winter Skies
(copyright (c) 1985 Carol Richards)
Winter Skies
Grey clouds spinning soft rock in the air
Poor disguise
For the gap of nothing hidden there
Winter Skies
Winter's clown
Sad-faced poker registers defeat
Ill-scarred town
Battered by the wind that sweeps the street
And still a clown
Naked trees stand black against the sun
Reaching for the trigger of the gun
All the gold is glitter hanging on the tree
And the future's bitter and it's not for me
Winter skies
Whiter than the stone that marks the grave
Here it lies
All that we thought ever worth to save
And there it dies
Winter's song
Whistles down the branches of the wind
Sails gone
Former glories gradually thinned
The film's too long
Black and white it flickers on the screen
Forgotten past eventually seen
Through a child's eyes
In the winter skies
Wednesday 30 January 2013
King Arthur - another lost Temple?
I was so excited on reading Michael Harrison's book (see yesterday's blog) to find some evidence of the veneration of King Arthur in London because it is in London that his story starts and if there was to be a temple to him anywhere it would be in London. If Michael Harrison's identification of St Martin's as a key clue to identifying a temple of Artemis/Arthur (they probably shared temples as they are both represented by a bear) as suggested by the connection with St Martin's Vintry then another possible temple site would be further to the west at St Martin's in the Fields.
This is a good candidate because it was on the banks of the river Tyburn, another of London's tributaries, the name of which is usually said to derive from the old welsh Ty Burn, burn still being a common name for a stream in Scotland and is therefore translated as 'House by the Stream'. But, using Harrison's method, what if the corruption is actually from Ty Bruin ie the House of the Bear? The site as potentially a temple to Arthur makes sense because it is at Westminster, then Thorney Island, that Arthur finds the all-important Sword in the Stone. The temple would have looked across the river estuary towards the island where, if the story 'The Sword in the Stone' is accurate there was a temple to Merlin, later shared with the Christians. You don't need me to tell you how closely Arthur and Merlin have always been connected.
Bearing in mind what Michael Harrison has to say about the continuity of London's history (which I would agree with) it is worth noting that this was the site of religious worship right through the Middle Ages. Covent Garden, which lies right behind the church of St Martin's In the Fields, is a corruption of Convent Garden. The nunnery at Tyburn lasted until the reformation.
It's a bit of a long-shot as this area of London has been thoroughly dug over what with the 17th century damming of the Tyburn to change its course and create the lake in St James's Park and the creation of the underground. It's unlikely that any physical archaeology will provide us with substantial proof and it may be that the tenuous linguistic connection is all we will ever have but it might be worth some furtghher investigation so watch this space!
I should add that I disagree with Michael Harrison on one point, that is his identification of Billingsgate with the Roman war goddess Bellona. I have found an early Tudor reference to 'Bolin's Gate' which seems to me much closer to 'Balin's Gate' as I suggest. Balin is clearly an important Druid God as he has a whole section in 'The Sword of the Stone'. He is the one who demonstrates the principle of free will, a crucial element in Druid and later Christian Druid theology. It is natural that he would have a shrine adjacent to that of his brother Bran which archaeology does provide us with under the White Tower at the Tower of London. Bellona does not make a contribution to British culture at all - most of the Celtic gods were war gods and they had at least three war goddesses of their own so she was hardly needed.
This is a good candidate because it was on the banks of the river Tyburn, another of London's tributaries, the name of which is usually said to derive from the old welsh Ty Burn, burn still being a common name for a stream in Scotland and is therefore translated as 'House by the Stream'. But, using Harrison's method, what if the corruption is actually from Ty Bruin ie the House of the Bear? The site as potentially a temple to Arthur makes sense because it is at Westminster, then Thorney Island, that Arthur finds the all-important Sword in the Stone. The temple would have looked across the river estuary towards the island where, if the story 'The Sword in the Stone' is accurate there was a temple to Merlin, later shared with the Christians. You don't need me to tell you how closely Arthur and Merlin have always been connected.
Bearing in mind what Michael Harrison has to say about the continuity of London's history (which I would agree with) it is worth noting that this was the site of religious worship right through the Middle Ages. Covent Garden, which lies right behind the church of St Martin's In the Fields, is a corruption of Convent Garden. The nunnery at Tyburn lasted until the reformation.
It's a bit of a long-shot as this area of London has been thoroughly dug over what with the 17th century damming of the Tyburn to change its course and create the lake in St James's Park and the creation of the underground. It's unlikely that any physical archaeology will provide us with substantial proof and it may be that the tenuous linguistic connection is all we will ever have but it might be worth some furtghher investigation so watch this space!
I should add that I disagree with Michael Harrison on one point, that is his identification of Billingsgate with the Roman war goddess Bellona. I have found an early Tudor reference to 'Bolin's Gate' which seems to me much closer to 'Balin's Gate' as I suggest. Balin is clearly an important Druid God as he has a whole section in 'The Sword of the Stone'. He is the one who demonstrates the principle of free will, a crucial element in Druid and later Christian Druid theology. It is natural that he would have a shrine adjacent to that of his brother Bran which archaeology does provide us with under the White Tower at the Tower of London. Bellona does not make a contribution to British culture at all - most of the Celtic gods were war gods and they had at least three war goddesses of their own so she was hardly needed.
Tuesday 29 January 2013
King Arthur's Lost Temples - Exciting new discovery
I have been reading Michael Harrison's book The London that Was Rome (George Allen & Unwin 1971) in which he introduces his 'new archaeology', a form of etymological archaeology by which means he is able to map Roman London through an analysis of surviving place names and their Latin roots. Setting aside the purely Roman connections, using his method and information supplied his his book, I have been able to confirm my theory set out in my book The Wonderful History of the Sword in the Stone that a British-Celtic temples complex extended along the north bank of the Thames before, during and after the Roman period. Below is a (very) rough sketch-plan of how this now looks.
Monday 28 January 2013
Better than Jane Austen?
Today is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' probably known to most people through the recent films/TV series and the 'Bridget Jones' version than through people reading it. I actually like 'Pride and Prejudice'. The style is impeccable and the comedy first-rate although I am always disappointed in Jane Austen. Her later books lost their comic touch and are irredeemably dull. She never developed any intellectual or stylistic ambition to compensate for the lack of sparkle. At a time of huge social upheaval her books, as one critic put it, never move outside the park gates.
Those looking for good women novelists in the 19th century though have several to choose from. I would recommend Maria Edgeworth whose 'Ormond' bravely tackles the tricky problem of Irish politics and is at least as good as anything written by her male contemporaries (it's 'Tom Jones' without the sex), George Eliot whose superb 'Middlemarch' is breath-taking in its ambition and range and Elizabeth Gaskell, best known for Cranford because it's most like Jane Austen in its subject matter but whose several books 'North and South', Mary Barton and the unfirnished (altough only just) 'Wives and Daughters' tackle the issues of social change in the mid-19th century. The latter was a Minister's wife but she managed to combine decorum with a social conscience which Jane Austen never did, but she did write of herself 'people think I'm a communist but I think I'm just a Christian' which I love.
All of these novelists were in my opinion much better writers than Jane Austen because they combined style with substance, If you want to kinow what is meant by the phrase 'style without substance' then read Jane Austen by all means.
Those looking for good women novelists in the 19th century though have several to choose from. I would recommend Maria Edgeworth whose 'Ormond' bravely tackles the tricky problem of Irish politics and is at least as good as anything written by her male contemporaries (it's 'Tom Jones' without the sex), George Eliot whose superb 'Middlemarch' is breath-taking in its ambition and range and Elizabeth Gaskell, best known for Cranford because it's most like Jane Austen in its subject matter but whose several books 'North and South', Mary Barton and the unfirnished (altough only just) 'Wives and Daughters' tackle the issues of social change in the mid-19th century. The latter was a Minister's wife but she managed to combine decorum with a social conscience which Jane Austen never did, but she did write of herself 'people think I'm a communist but I think I'm just a Christian' which I love.
All of these novelists were in my opinion much better writers than Jane Austen because they combined style with substance, If you want to kinow what is meant by the phrase 'style without substance' then read Jane Austen by all means.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Who saved Alfred the Great?
Next week on BBC Radio 4 historian Michael Wood is running a series of programmes about Alfred the Great, a subject dear to my heart as I have written a play Isle of Princes about his comeback after he was ousted in the Christmas coup. This has, alas, so far failed to make it to the stage partly I fear that my theory that Alfred had assistance from his Frankish sister-in-law, Judith, thus denting the idea that he did it all by himself. Judith was the Duchess of Ghent but also technically still Queen of Wessex as she was the only early Anglo-Saxon queen to be crowned and anointed. Anglo-Saxon queens of the period were generally regarded simply as 'the King's wife' but Judith was especially well-connected, her father being not only the French King but Holy Roman Emperor.
The section of Asser's life of Alfred, our principal source, which would relate to how Judith assisted Alfred has mysteriously been expunged. It may have been damaged in the Cotton library fire but more likely male historians did not care to acknowledge that the paragon of English Kingship had to be rescued by a woman but if we look at what Alfred did after his restoration we have a couple of important clues as to who helped him get back his throne.
He founded two monasteries, one at Shaftesbury which I believe to be the site of 'Egbert's stone - the traditional siting to the far west makes no strategic sense - where his troops rallied prior to the march north to face Guthrum's army at Bratton Camp, and the other at Athelney, the Isle of Princes, where he found refuge after the coup. What is interesting about the foundation at Athelney is that it was not for English scholars as you might expect but to provide a refuge for Flemish scholars fleeing Viking raids and seeking safety on this side of the channel, a thank-you to Flanders for the help given to him during his fight back. The other significant act he performed immediately after his restoration was the betrothal of his new-born daughter to Judith's infant son, cementing the alliance between the two countries. Alfred is given credit for founding the 'British Navy' but his purpose in doing so was not to defend Wessex but to protect the Scheldt estuary which was being harried by Viking fleets based in East Anglia. The strong connection between Alfred and his sister-in-law are quite clear but in most histories poor Judith barely gets a mention. Her erratic love-life (and her independence) was so disapproved of that she was almost completely excised from history. We don't even know when she died but the 'English-speaking peoples' that Alfred rallied against the Vikings have good reason to be grateful to her. As am I, as she provides me with a great part for a leading actress in what would otherwise be a distinctly male-dominated play.
The section of Asser's life of Alfred, our principal source, which would relate to how Judith assisted Alfred has mysteriously been expunged. It may have been damaged in the Cotton library fire but more likely male historians did not care to acknowledge that the paragon of English Kingship had to be rescued by a woman but if we look at what Alfred did after his restoration we have a couple of important clues as to who helped him get back his throne.
He founded two monasteries, one at Shaftesbury which I believe to be the site of 'Egbert's stone - the traditional siting to the far west makes no strategic sense - where his troops rallied prior to the march north to face Guthrum's army at Bratton Camp, and the other at Athelney, the Isle of Princes, where he found refuge after the coup. What is interesting about the foundation at Athelney is that it was not for English scholars as you might expect but to provide a refuge for Flemish scholars fleeing Viking raids and seeking safety on this side of the channel, a thank-you to Flanders for the help given to him during his fight back. The other significant act he performed immediately after his restoration was the betrothal of his new-born daughter to Judith's infant son, cementing the alliance between the two countries. Alfred is given credit for founding the 'British Navy' but his purpose in doing so was not to defend Wessex but to protect the Scheldt estuary which was being harried by Viking fleets based in East Anglia. The strong connection between Alfred and his sister-in-law are quite clear but in most histories poor Judith barely gets a mention. Her erratic love-life (and her independence) was so disapproved of that she was almost completely excised from history. We don't even know when she died but the 'English-speaking peoples' that Alfred rallied against the Vikings have good reason to be grateful to her. As am I, as she provides me with a great part for a leading actress in what would otherwise be a distinctly male-dominated play.
Saturday 26 January 2013
First music video
Yesterday I published my first music video on Youtube http://youtu.be/75id-GCT0PY title 'Winter Skies by Carol Richards'. I have posted five other short films under youtube/satampix but this is the first one for which I have used one of my own songs as the soundtrack. It occurred to me that this is a great way to publish some of my songs. The film is shot on a Blackberry Curve 8250 smartphone and put together with Windows Movie-maker as it is the esssence with these short films that they cost no money.
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