Month: July 2003
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The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
This is another of those books that was sold to me on the cover alone. Actually, it was the title alone that did it. I saw this book all over the place before finally picking it up in a buy 2 get a third free promotion. Anyhow it’s a very entertaining book set in Botswana…
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Vendetta Against Gilligan Turns To Tragedy
Well it looks as though the ridiculous mole-hunting of BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan’s source within the MOD or Security Services from which he made “sexed up” report claims, has lead to tragedy. David Kelly earlier this week was questioned by the Commons foreign affairs select committee, but whether he was actually Gilligan’s source remains to…
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The British Film Industry – Alexander Walker
Today’s Evening Standard carried a large tribute section to Alexander Walker today. When I got home this evening, I flicked around looking for something to watch and stumbled upon Alex on the BBC Parliament channel. They were showing coverage of the Culture Media and Sport committee from Tuesday 17 June at which Alexander Walker was…
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Water Water Everywhere
Nor Any Drop To Drink (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge). I got back today to find that I had no water. But not only me – everyone in this part of Enfield is suffering. I was told this by the guy in the Co-op, although he seemed quite keen to sell…
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A Little Excitement
I was sitting down earlier, finishing off The Life of Pi in the heat of my living room, when I heard an argument through my open back window. I listened a little, and it sounded like someone was going to do some serious injury to someone else. There were at least two pleading voices saying…
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The Life of Pi
This was the Booker winner earlier this year, and I wasn’t totally sure about it. It had received good reviews, but since it’s the story of an Indian boy (not Greek as maybe the title suggests) travelling across the ocean in the company of various animals including a Bengal tiger, I took the book to…
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Aftermath
My book reading is playing its usual game of jumping around a little, but having quite enjoyed slugging back the last Inspector Banks book I read, I picked up another at the weekend. In Aftermath, the crime – a very grisly one – has already been committed and the killer is fighting for his life…
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Alexander Walker
Sadly Alexander Walker, film critic for over 40 years at the Evening Standard has died at the age of 73. You didn’t always take his side of things with films, but he always remained an excellent and never less than fascinating film reviewer – one that I’d always read. The Standard’s obituary is here, The…
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Old Bailey Trials – 1674 to 1834
This is amazing! A group have taken about 150 years of Old Bailey transcripts (well summarisings), scanned, catalogued, databased, and put on a website. And it’s all free with seemingly no catches. A few weeks back I visted the London 1753 exhibition at the British Museum a few weeks back (entry seems to be sadly…
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L’Alpe d’Huez
What a superb day for the Tour today! I know it was a gloriously sunny day, but I spent all afternoon indoors watching Le Tour on TV. Now obviously the whole world has slipped into some kind of parallel dimension at the moment because ITV were showing live coverage of the race today with commentary…
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Soapbox
Yes of course this is a soapbox. This is my personal soapbox. I can write what I want! Does that make it worth reading. Umm… no. Not the fact that I’m writing it, just the fact that I might have something interesting to say.
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The Cutting Room
I suppose here’s an example of advertising getting a sale. I think that I only really picked up this because I’d seen it advertised quite a lot in the Guardian Review. It’s an interesting crime novel set amongst the world of antiques in Glasgow – with barely a policeman in sight. It has a promiscuous…