Why the arts matter - the economic argument

Arts Council England has just published a report detailing the contribution made by arts and culture to the UK economy. The report, written by Cebr (Centre for Economic and Business Research) provides evidence that arts and culture offers a "strong, tangible contribution to the national economy."

The Arts Council England report was launched on 13 July in conjunction with the Creative Industries Federation whose own report is titled 'Arts and Growth:How public investment in the arts contributes to growth in the Creative industries.' You can follow the conversation on Twitter at #cultureforgrowth.

The reports indicate that the Creative industries experienced growth of 9.9% which is higher than any other industrial sector including financial services. Publicly invested arts return 0.4% of the country's GVA and indirectly contribute via tourism, overseas trade and regional development. Arts and Culture is worth £7.7 billion GVA to the UK economy, has generated £15.1 billion in turnover in 2012-2013, an increase of 26% since 2010. For every £ spent on arts and culture an additional £1.06 is generated in the economy.

And after forty years in the business I am still treated as if I do not have a proper job!

Night at the Museum:Secret of the Tomb

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb filmed on location at the British Museum opens in UK from 19 December 2014. You can explore the Museum with a new free app which unlocks exclusive film content and special offers at www.britishmuseum.org/visiting/family_visits/night_at_themuseum/

For an entertaining Christmas adventure try MASTER MERRYMAN

Shakespeare and Master Merryman - First Folio Discovered

News today that a First Folio of Shakespeare's plays has been discovered at a library in Saint-Omer near Calais. Printed in 1623 the book of 36 plays is the 229th copy believed to exist. The book is valued at around £4million but the librarian says the town will never sell it. Good for him. Some things are beyond price.

Shakespeare learnt much of his art from his predecessors, the heroes of my Christmas story Master Merryman, Henry Medwall and Miles Bloomfield, Medwall in particular. Shakespeare mentions his play Fulgens and Lucres in his own work and almost certainly acted in it many times. Many of his comedies included in the First Folio take their structure from Fulgens and Lucres.

MASTER MERRYMAN

That time of year again to remind everyone that my Christmas book MASTER MERRYMAN is a jolly good read. Suitable for young teenage sprigs of the family (and ssh... they might learn something.)

59th London Film Festival 2014

The 59th London Film Festival opens on 8th October and runs until 19th October 2014. The full programme released today features world premieres and the best of this year's festivals. Featured films include the World War 1 drama Testament of Youth starring Game of Thrones stars Kit Harrington and Alicia Vikander, Carol Morley's The Falling and for sci-fi lovers Monsters:Dark Continent.

Other films to look forward to are Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo and Damien Chazelle's Whiplash which was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. The festival will also stage the European premiere of Jason Reitman's Men, Women and Children starring Adam Sandler and Ansel Elgort and the biopic Wild starring Reese Witherspoon directed by Jean-Marc Vallee.

London Film Festival stalwart Mike Leigh is bringing Mr Turner to a main gala screening starring Timothy Spall as the grumpy artist.

The festival programme will again be organised into categories of Love, Debate, Dare, Laugh, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Sonic and Family demonstrating the diversity of film genres.

Early evidence of women priests in Christian Church in 5th century

Following the recent decision by the Church of England to accept women bishops I was interested to pick up an article from Reuters last year regarding some archaeological evidence that there were women priests in the second to fifth centuries AD. There is certainly evidence for them in Britain in the Celtic Church from the fifth century on but surprisingly this evidence is in Rome and I had not come across it before.

Frescoes in the newly restored Catacombs of Priscilla are claimed to prove there were women priests in early Christianity. The Vatican dismisses such claims as 'fairy tales' but given the elevated position of women in the Celtic Church this might be wishful thinking on the part of a church with a long history of misogyny.

The Catacombs on the Via Salaria reopened after a five-year restoration project.  I have not visited them myself but you can tour them virtually via Google Maps. A Christian burial site between the second and fifth centuries AD they meander underground for 13km (8 miles) over several levels. The Catacombs of Priscilla contain frescoes of women including the 'Cubicularum of the veiled woman's showing a woman with arms outstretched like a priest saying mass. She is wearing a 'rich liturgical garment' (although the word liturgical is for some reason unknown omitted in the English version) and a stole.Another room known as the 'Greek Chapel' shows a group of women sitting around a table, their arms outstretched like those of a priest saying mass.

This interests me because the Celtic Church always believed that it represented a more 'pure' form of Christianity. Women had a more equal role in society in Northern Europe than in Rome and I had assumed this accounted for equality for women within the Christian Druid Church but it seems I may be wrong and they were simply continuing a tradition within the early Christian Church.

2014 Man Booker Prize longlist

That time of year again. The 2014 Man Booker Prize long list has been published. The competition is open to American novelists for the first time but a deluge of transatlantic entries feared by some has not materialised. Of 154 entries only 40 are by US writers.

In the long list only four of the thirteen writers are American. Britain has six authors including the Indian-born Neel Mukherjee, with one novelist each from Ireland and Australia with Irish-American Joseph O'Neill being claimed by both countries.

Paul Kingsworth is the debut novelist up against some previous winners (Howard Jacobson winner in 2010) and shortlisted writers (Ali Smith 2001 and 2005 and David Mitchell 2001 and 2004).

There is a wide range of genres represented  from Kingsworth's account of life in England post 1066 told in an invented language some way between Middle and Modern English, Howard Jacobson's futuristic love story J and David Mitchell's metaphysical thriller The Bone Clocks.

This reminds me my own current novel Death Runs After is no further forward. Must get on.