News & Chat

The Working Man's Ballet

07-Aug-2008 by Mark

I have read this book. The title is quite lyrical but sadly it goes downhill thereafter. As someone said earlier though there are flashes of surreal brilliance in there and the book is strangely magnetic. May I recommend my favourite football book? Sir Alf about the greatest manager football has ever had.

600 pages by Alan Hudson !

06-Aug-2008 by King Crombie

Not being a Shed boy, 600 pages by Alan Hudson strikes me as a page or two over the odds. Maybe if I have a go at "the most egotistical book of all time" ( quite a recommendation) i'll change my tune ?

Tinker

06-Aug-2008 by CDR

Do you mean The Tinker and The Tasilman? That's how it was printed, anyway. Yes that was quite a large book....

Football Books

06-Aug-2008 by Felix

If you’re a fan of The Working Man’s Ballet (possibly the most egotistical book ever published). One must read The Tinker and Talisman Hudson’s true masterpiece over six hundred pages of nonsense.

Football books

05-Aug-2008 by Slim Jim

As the writer below says The Damned United is a damned fine book. It transcends telling a story and enters the mind of Brian Clough. The relationship between him and Johnny Giles is so fiery that the book practically ignites. No wonder Giles has sued. Tony Cascarino did an honest book as did a Charlton player a few years back 'My Left Foot' or something and painted an alternative picture of life for footballers not blessed by Premiership riches and fame. George Best and 21 Others traces what happened to the 22 youth players in a City and United youth game in the early 1960s and is an entertaining social document. My particular favourite is The Working Man's Ballet being the autobiography of Alan Hudson. The book is tinged with madness and that makes it stands out.

Much Obliged Junco

04-Aug-2008 by King Crombie

I shall swag myselg a copy, once i've made it through John Fisher's Tommy Cooper bio ( an Xmas present from Prince Crombie).

04-Aug-2008 by Junco Partner

Steve Claridge's 'Tales From the Boot Room' is a good read, great account of the life of a journeyman footballer and his battles with a serious gambling addiction. The man can write (and it wasn't ghost written).

Football books ?

04-Aug-2008 by KING CROMBIE

The season will soon be upon us and every once in a while I like to dip into a fottball book, most of which aren't worth the punt. "4-2", "Damned Utd" and of course "Fever Pitch" all still reside in my grey matter, but the others seem to have scarpered. Any pointers ?

Nice piece from today's Times re Alan Sillitoe

01-Aug-2008 by Harry Fabian Junior

Bring back Alan Sillitoe and a refreshing view of humanity Today's cultural elite depict ordinary people as degraded, disgusting chavs and slagsMick Hume Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe's classic novel of working-class life, is being republished on its 50th birthday. And to judge by the gutter culture of today, it's not a moment too soon. My daughters having reached that difficult age when they watch EastEnders, I have just glimpsed the grimy soap - depressing enough to make anybody want to east-end it all. It bears little relation to how people live in our corner of northeast London. But it seems typical of the cultural elite's depiction of “ordinary people” as degraded, disgusting, Shameless victims, abusers, chavs and slags, seen everywhere from reality TV shows to “gritty” novels, movies and misery memoirs. Against that background, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning feels like a 50-year-old breath of fresh air. Young Arthur likes nothing better than drinking, fighting and sex - a reminder to some that these things existed before 1997. But Seaton's “anti-social behaviour” is life-affirming and uplifting. In achieving Sillitoe's aim of being “both ordinary and extraordinary”, Arthur, the spirit of the age in a drape suit, still speaks to us about the universal human spirit of resilience and aspiration. If today's degraded cultural stereotypes reflect the more marginalised, atomised condition of the working classes, Seaton marks the birth of the individual rebel as part of a confident workforce of the 1950s, with more money, clothes and attitude than ever before. Proud of the £14 a week that he earns for skilled piecework, he also daydreams about blowing up the Nottingham bike factory where he works. Like pale imitations seen in popular culture since, he is unbound by traditional politics or morality. Yet unlike them, Seaton is nobody's victim or whinger. He lives by the creed “Don't let the bastards grind you down” and sees himself as “a bloody billy goat trying to screw the world... because it's trying to do the same to me”. While acknowledging that he'll always be “fighting with mothers and wives, landlords and gaffers, coppers, army, government”, he concludes that “it's a good life and a good world, all said and done, if you don't weaken, and if you know that the big wide world hasn't heard from you yet, no, not by a long way, though it won't be long now”. In our easily-offended times, some have reacted to the abuse heaped on working-class people by trying to ban the dread word “chav”. They would be better off taking Seaton's attitude to such contemptuous branding: “Whatever people think I am or say I am, that's what I'm not, because they don't know a bloody thing about me.” Fifty years on, the time is surely right for the big wide world to hear from Arthur again

Rimbaud

28-Jul-2008 by iPat

the reasoning behind the crass drummers use of the name. Im sure Penny says something about it in Sibboleth. returning to the teddy boys in Lambeth, i recall that was where Penny started on his way (although it may not have been exactly Lambeth) and theres a clip on you tube where he meets the beatles - the winner of an art competition. With the Windsor free festival being smashed by the police, he helped start Stonehenge as an alternative before being heavily involved in the punk scene with crass. Hes not stopped either since then and has been an influence on a lot of people for a long time.

Rimbaud - punk for sure.

27-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Although i doubt he ever heard the term "punk" and wrote poetry not novels, it's hard to see why Rimbaud wouldn't be considered a punk writer - perhaps the first ? Which would put the French in the frame.

27-Jul-2008 by Junco

The Boy Who Looked at Johnny by Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill? If by any others you mean good, then you're bang on.

Punk novels

26-Jul-2008 by Mark

Besides John King's excellent Human Punk has there ever been any other punk novels. Cannot think of any.

First Bands to be called punk ?

26-Jul-2008 by Barnet

The American North-west scene of around 66/67' was the first time bands were specifically called punk bands amongst them featured The Sonics - still going strong now.

Lenny Kaye - "Nuggets" - punk rock

24-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

First time I heard punk used to describe music was in Lenny Kaye's liner notes for the "Nuggets" compilation, most of which would now be described as "garage". Still any earlier references to the word than Sir Humphrey Mildmay's 1642 usage ?

American Punk

24-Jul-2008 by Albert Finney

Even if we out do them on the use of the word. I am afraid they outdo us and predate us on the music. Think The Stooges, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Ramones...verses the Sex Pistols and er...The Damned...I am afraid there is no contest

the first punk

24-Jul-2008 by iPat

the yanks always going on about being the first with punk. The colonies were founded in 1607, so this still pre dates this reference. ; ) gotto to outdo them on this!! : )

Punks (1640's)

24-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

I'm reading Christopher Hibbert's "Roundheads and Cavaliers" and in it a gentleman refers in his diary to "punks" which Hibbert annotates as "whores". Is this the origin of the word, or does it go back to before the English Civil War ? Your starter fro ten Bamber...

Bermondsey Boy

23-Jul-2008 by COFFINDODGER

I have recently read Bermondsey Boy written by the entertainer Tommy Steele. There does not appear to be a ghost writer and it well written cleverly evoking the war-time cockney south London of his formative years. Well worth a read.

Public houses

23-Jul-2008 by Doctor Lager

Go back twenty or thirty years and a pint of lager, bitter, mild, cider was very cheap compared to today. I know these things creep up and the memory fades, but beer wasn’t expensive at all, that’s why the pubs were packed most nights of the week. I take your point, but a bit of shopping around and you can find a pub where a pint is £2 or cheaper. Kids now have a lot more spare cash than twenty or more years back, so I don’t know if that is a factor so much. These are kids who walk around in trainers that cost a small fortune, with mobiles, iPods and all sorts. It’s only my personal opinion of course, but I think if pubs eased up a little the drunks would be off the streets and youngsters would be drinking in safety. It is a myth that more drink is consumed today. Another state lie. Everyone was on the piss when I was growing up. Many of us still are. I would actually suggest dropping the legal drinking age to sixteen as kids that age are going to drink anyway so why not accept the fact? Drop it to sixteen and then stay lax on the law as that way the odd fifteen year old can sneak in as well. I was in the pub fairly regularly by fifteen and I really don’t see the harm in it. A lot of girls were in there by thirteen or fourteen as I recall as they tended to mature a lot faster than boys and could get served with their older boyfriends.

True

22-Jul-2008 by John Drew

Dr Lager what you say is true. But I reckon that if alcohol was sold as relatively cheaply as it is today in supermarkets, then we'd be loading up on cans too and sitting around the parks etc

Hooligan nights

22-Jul-2008 by Doctor Lager

Every time I turn on the radio these days the presenters are going on and on about drinking. If it isn’t the harm it does adults it is the trouble young hooligans cause on the streets when they are wandering around with their cans of lager. Well when I was a lad it was easy to get served in a pub so we stayed inside and if we didn’t want the landlord to chuck us out in the cold we behaved ourselves. It was as simple as that. Nowadays pubs are so strict you hardly see anyone under 20 let along a fifteen or sixteen year old. What are young people supposed to do? Let the kids in so they can get pissed in the warmth. It never did me any harm. In fact it made me the man I am today.

Benny Green

22-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Sheepskin Steve, evidently he's written many books including several on jazz, cricket and at least two on London. I remember him as a London TV/Radio personality and have only read his Rook introduction.

Mark Benny

22-Jul-2008 by Albert Finney

I have been interested in Mark Benny for a while but I have had no luck tracking his books down, they seem very difficult to get hold of. What books did he write?

Benny Green

22-Jul-2008 by Sheepskin Steve

I’ve read Mark Benny but not Benny Green. What did he write about Mr Crombie? Heard Irvine Welsh on the radio talking to Robert Elms the other day. He came across well and I have bought Crime on the back of that. Third of the way in now and it is a very good read. Well worth buying. Listening to the show made me think about Elms. I reckon he does an excellent job for London and is one of the few people out there who covers real Londoners. He is a million times better than snobby publications like the Standard and Time Out who are only interested in house prices and trendy tourist restaurants.

Clarence Rook "The Hooligan Nights"

22-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Just finished "The Hooligan Nights" by Clarence Rook (first pub.1899), brought to my attention by Whistling Jack Smith at this very site. Chapeau Whistling Jack. The story of a South London "Hooligan"/petty criminal it reads much like a series of newspaper/magazine sketches that it originally was and contains some wonderful language. Still I'm far from convinced that all the adventures Rook unveils all happened to Young Alf alone and suspect it's more of a true life criminal compendium passed of as "one lad's story". Benny Green's over wordy 1971 introduction casts similar doubts. Anyone here read any of Benny Green's writing

Lambeth boys

21-Jul-2008 by anonymous

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=the+lambeth+boys&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a plenty of clips on you tube

Lambeth boys

21-Jul-2008 by anonymous

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=the+lambeth+boys&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a plenty of clips on you tube

Chris Steele-Perkins & Richard Smith

21-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Is it "The Teds" by Steele-Perkins and Smith. Some top shelf smudges of the 70's "Country and Western" Teds.

Teds

21-Jul-2008 by Vince

There is a smashing pictorial Ted book down at my barber's that never ceases to amaze me. The photos were taken in the 1970s but were the original Teds then all in their 40s. They are centred around a pub in west london. I will get the details and post it on here. We are the Lambeth Boys was a 1960ish documentary which is available on Amazon. Authentic and interesting.

Richard Allen

21-Jul-2008 by Solly

New site: http://richardallen.wordpress.com/

Elephant Boys

18-Jul-2008 by Chuck

Came out a few years back now. Not a cult book more underworld but I'm sure there was Ted stuff in there from 1950s.

What about the Teds ?

18-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Has there been much literature of merit featuring Teddy Boys ? Colin Macinnes touches on it, but it's not the focus of his attention. Any pointers ?

Skinhead by JK

18-Jul-2008 by iPat

After my recommendation a pal got a copy and read it and i was suprised by his lack of enthusiasm for the book. He was chuffed about the horses surviving but was disapointed by the ending. In context the other books have never turned out that way so the ending suprised me but also captured how we stress and worry about things needlessly so much of the time. The book hasnt been discussed here that much as i guess no--one wants to spoil the story for those who want to read it. But what did you think?

Skinheads in literature

18-Jul-2008 by iPat

I recall being given a list, it must have been around 93/94 of skinhead type media. I guess i was hoping to get better than the Allen type stuff but this was mainly video or fanzines covering the skinhead scene including scootering. A lot of it was was extreme and didnt interest me so i never really went further with it. I guess a lot of the literature went into DIY formats, some of it being regurgitated on some websites.

Skinheads in literature

17-Jul-2008 by Mark

Its surprsing that for a such a cultureal phenomemon how little skinhead related books there actually are. Of course there is now John King's book Skinheads but before that besides Richard Allen's and Martin King's Boy Stories what was there?

Skinhead books

17-Jul-2008 by anonymous

They were an absolute phenomenon. Read now there is little to commend them, except as a trigger for nostalgia, but every apsiring skin owned it even those who could not read. Richard Allen I understand was a paid hack and never benefited in any serious way in what were the best-selling books of 1969-70-71.

Richard Allen Skinhead

16-Jul-2008 by Albert Finney

I have a similar experience with those books - Skinhead, Suedehead etc were pretty good, but kind of lost interest with the later ones...

Richard Allen - must have a posse

16-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

I'm no expert, but I was a young customer of Mr Allen's. Like many other young 'erberts of the time I cut my teeth on "Skinhead" and a handful of others, but stopped long before titles like "Glam" and "Teeny Bopper Idol". I know some of the skinhead related titles were re-issued in an anthology. I'm sure if you had a poke about online - you'd find plenty on him - he must have a posse.

DodgemGreaser

13-Jul-2008 by Derek, Islington

I have it here. Haven;t read it in years but about Norman's days travelling with the fair. There was a spate of Chopper books in the early 1970s about a Hell's Angel, I think they may have been by Richard Allen and put out by the New English Library but not sure. I remember reading the bit in school where they have a chicken head biting initiiation.

Frank Norman

13-Jul-2008 by Albert Finney

I have always been curious about his book Dodgem Greaser, anyone read it and is it easy to get a copy? I do agree that what with a revival of interest in writers such as Westerby, Kersh and Hamilton he does seem have fallen by the wayside.

Frank Norman

13-Jul-2008 by COFFINDODGER

A little known fact about Frank Norman is that he wrote scripts for The Two Ronnies.

Any plans for Frank Norman

13-Jul-2008 by Sally Norman (no relation)

Frank Norman is a more recent author than your current crop but he too seems to have been swept under the literary carpet. He was an orphan who ended up in clink but produced some wonderful books and went on to become the toast of swinging London in the 1960s. Check out Banana Boy, Dodgem Greaser and Stand on Me. I believe he also wrote the play Fings Aint Wot They Used To Be. Ripe for a revival.

Francis' Paypal pitch

12-Jul-2008 by King Crombie

Can't one of the bouncers at London Books give Francis' Paypal pitch the Big E ? Go on delete it !

Trotters Independent Traders

11-Jul-2008 by Derek Trotter Esquire

Nothing to do with us, though we ARE doing a nice line in leopard-skin lamps at the moment. Failing that we have a box of Robert Westerby first editions in the lock-up. Lovely jubbly. You know it makes sense.

Your a very sad man Francis

10-Jul-2008 by Henry Green

This has nothing to do with this notice board. IT IS ABOUT BOOKS DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Please keep your dodgy naff scams to yourself. Do you work for Trotters Independant Traders?

Pay pal finally gives back to you

10-Jul-2008 by Francis

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Through a glass darkly

10-Jul-2008 by Lemmy

I'm just reading Hamilton's biography by Nigel Jones and also recently republished by Black Spring. I think he was a pretty decent sort of chap and of his time. To foist modern values and hindsight on his character would be a tad unfair. He had a horrific road accident that disfigured him and was a long time alcoholic howver his writing at his best is among the finest produced by any British author.

Patrick Hamilton

08-Jul-2008 by Dean Street Dan

I read Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky and thought it was a brilliant novel but then read something about Hamilton himself and there seems to be a conflict between his professed communism, use of prostitutes and an unnatural interest in strangulation. Can anyone fill me in on Hamilton’s true character and moral standing? Is he another perverted toff preaching equality while abusing working class people or is he a great author with honest principles?

Craven House

07-Jul-2008 by COFFINDODGER

This early novel by Patrick Hamilton has just been released by Black Spring Press. I'm reading it now. It was written, incredibly, when the guy was 19 or something and is not his best book but it has all those Hamilton trademarks: stifled people in stifled places leading stifled lives spiced up with acute observation. He honed his style to perfection following this work but is nevertheless and entertaining and worthy read.

Alan Sillitoe - West End Nights And Sunday Mornings

23-Jun-2008 by London HQ

Alan Sillitoe with be reading from A Start In Life and talking about his own life at the Sohemian Society this coming Wednesday (June 25th). The address is The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho, London W1 - a five minute walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station. Entrance is £3 and the event starts at 7.30pm. Alan will also be signing copies A Start In Life during the evening.

Alan Silltoe

21-Jun-2008 by Hayley

I spent an enjoyable evening at Waterstone Gower Street on Thursday listening to Mr Sillitoe read from his works and talk about his life. His books still pack a punch nearly half of a century later. I had no idea he also penned poertry and will endeavour to read some more of these. We were also introduced to the London Books publishers who look impossibly young and fresh-faced for publishers.

The Speakers by Heathcote Williams

20-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

I'm in the thick of Heathcote Williams' "The Speakers" (1964) not always easy but well worth paying the fare.

Jack Sheppard

16-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

Although Jack Sheppard had a go at the Highwayman caper, it was his exploits as a prison escape artist that won him his mighty reputation.

Highwaymen

15-Jun-2008 by Mark

Coincidentally a number of the letters in the Maclaren-Ross collection concern a screenplay he wrote about the highwayman Jack Sheppard....

Julian Maclaren-Ross

15-Jun-2008 by Mark

Selected Letters - just out from Black Spring Press. Excellent.

Didn't Stand Up or Deliver Much

14-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

I've just finished David Brandon's "Stand And Deliver ! A History of Highway Robbery" and would suggest anyone interested in the subject to try elsewhere. There's a good amount of information but it's poorly written and thus dull. Wish I had opted for Christopher Hibbert's "Highwaymen" as I liked both his "King Mob" (Gordon Riots) and "Road To Tyburn" (Jack Sheppard).

mmm...whats lucky about that?

11-Jun-2008 by anonymous

Unless you are the unlucky one who is locked up for forty days for a crime you have not commited...I say again why should we count ourselves lucky for our government bringing in such brutal and unfair laws?

the Govenment wants 40 days

11-Jun-2008 by anonymous

so we should think ourselves lucky

21 days so what ?

11-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

I've not read "Boy" so I have to be on double duty here, but What does it matter in how many days it was written in ? I couldn't care less if it was written in 21 hours and i wouldn't be suprised if some of my favourite songs were written in less than 21 minutes !

I read BOY too moving to Orwell

10-Jun-2008 by Bachelor Boy

It says in the preamble that it was written in 21 days and I'm afraid you can tell that. Having said that some passages are outstanding leaving the reader in no doubt the book is autobiographical despite the author's denials. Have just picked up Coming Up For Air by Mr Orwell for the first time in a couple of decades and look forward to that. Speaking of the great man I visited his grave at Sutton Courtenay recently and is simply marked 'Eric Blair' and his dates. A few graves away lies former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. not sure whether Orwell would have liked that or not. Asqith's son was Anthony who directed that fine film The Winslow Boy with Robert Donat and his great granddaughter is the actress Helena Bonham Carter and she starred in the film of Orwell's book Keep the Aspisdrata Flying. What symmetry.

Alan Sillitoe

06-Jun-2008 by Alan Harvey

Will be reading from A Start In Life at Waterstones, Gower Street on Thursday, June 19 2008 from 6.30. Be there or be square

Chapeau IPat

04-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

Well Done.

Boy independent link

02-Jun-2008 by iPat

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/boy-by-james-hanley-457378.html

BOY - INDEPENDENT ARTICLE 2007

02-Jun-2008 by King Crombie

For me this is quite a discovery abnd I tip my stingy brim low and slow to the Coffindodger. I f I knew how to stick it up here I would, but alas I'm well short in that (and many other) department(s). It's an article by Ken Worpole whose pedigree is beyond question. Maybe one of our "can do" contributors might have a go

BOY

01-Jun-2008 by COFFINDODGER

Is fiction written by Julian Hanley. I've finished it now and I must say a disturbing book overall and hard to believe was published first in 1931. It leaves little to the imagination. I will investigate the author's further work

BOY ?

31-May-2008 by King Crombie

Thanks for the tip Coffindodger, memoir or fiction ? Also who's the author ?

Boy

31-May-2008 by COFFINDODGER

Stumbled upon this book from Oneworld Classics. Boy is the story of a young stowaway in the 1930s who is rudely awakened to adult life. First published in 1931 it was banned for decades because of its unfllinching subject matter but was acclaimed by Anthony Burgess. Only 20% in but it is knocking me backwards in my armchair.....

Windass & Barnby return

26-May-2008 by Robin

Jimmy, You never know your luck, i'm guessing he'll play a pivotal role in the prem adventure, at least he has prem experience. You never know he might do the hat trick, I'm hoping one of these seasons that Hearts break the old firm monopoly and win the SPL, so never stop believing Take Care Robin Take care Robin

A NorthernTown

26-May-2008 by Jimmy Jazz

Robin & Shay - thanks. The premiiership will be a struggle but a good laugh. Hull has it's problems, like most cities , there are good & bad areas but the people are diamonds. They love their football & rugby. I'm looking forward to seeing Chelsea next season. You never know, Windass might grab a hat-trick !

Hull City

26-May-2008 by Shay

Many years ago. It may have been 1976 when Chelsea were in the old second division I took the special up there and we ended up missing the train back. Long story. We ended up drinking in Hull six of us and we were nervous because there were no chelsea in town. Local lads took us under their wing and we had a great time and they clubbed together and paid our fare to fo back in the morning,. Good peopel and will never forget the kindness. So for me and a bunch of lads from Hillingdon Hull will always be our second team. Good luck in the Prem,

Congrats

25-May-2008 by Robin

Fair play, the boy done good. Isn't it good to see someone around the same era as yourself cut the mustard in the premiership. Hope u do well next year, and Dean keeps doing the business for you. Wot about Stuart Elliot is their any chance you will be bringing him back. Don't know much about Hull City, but given a half decent chance he could proove himself from what I have seen, he would certainly give 110% to the cause.(Or has the loan to Doncaster become a permanent one.) Good luck Robin

Special Writer

25-May-2008 by Jimmy Jazz

Hit the nail on the head Robin. John King is a very special writer. I too was born in 1970 and it's really great to have someone writing about things that were happening around about when you were growing. John King - writing about real people and putting across a point of view that makes you stop and re-think the world around you. Long may he continue writing. Oh and by the way. Come on you Tigers ! Hull City in the Premiership ! Who would have thought ? Dean Windass you hero !

Robin.W@hotmail.co.uk

24-May-2008 by www.london-books.co.uk

Have read all the john king books, human punk and skinheads is most definitely my favourite. Best books I have ever read. Are charasismatic, makes you fell good about being born when you where (1970). Keep on writing cos u have a gift. Best of luck Robin (Norn Iron, (Season ticket Windsor Park, jambo and Chelsea man, long live the chopper and bring back the special one, Healey! Healy! Healey!) John King Best ever author please reply.

Capote

24-May-2008 by Trixie

Good film for book lovers. Tells the story of Truman Capote writng the book In Cold Blood rather than the story of the murders themselves. Very watchable as he ambles around the murder town with his researcher Harper Lee who later wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. There is a theory that Capote wrote this for her as they were childhood friends. THis comes from the fact that Harper Lee never wrote another book.....

Wide Boys Never Work

23-May-2008 by Alan Harvey

The title has been acquired and we will be publishing in October.

Soho Incident

22-May-2008 by King Crombie

I've deliberately avoided seeing it until I've read the book (NUDGE NUDGE LONDON BOOKS) . It was released in the U.S. as "Spin A Dark Web" and Mexico as "44 Soho Square"

Film adaptation of Wide Boys Never work

21-May-2008 by Albert Finney

I have just purchased the film version of Robert Westerbys' great novel Wide boys Never Work called Soho Incident anyone seen it?

Cheers Albert

19-May-2008 by King Crombie

I'm on the hunt, cue "devils gallop".

Roland Camberton

19-May-2008 by Albert Finney

He was described by Iain Sinclair as 'Hackneys greatest writer', not sure of the competition though. He only wrote two novels and then disappeared. His first was called Scamp and is set in Soho and is about a writer trying to set up a magazine; it is a critical, satirical study of the bohemian Soho and its inhabitants. Many of the characters are based on true people, Quentin Crisp for example. Julian Maclaren Ross was scathing of the book in his review of it, although that maybe because it was to close to home and cut to close to the bone. J B Priestley though liked the book. The only other novel he wrote was called Rain on the Pavements, which is about Jewish life in London in the 1950's again it touches like Scamp on the world of London cafes, pubs and clubs of the time. Good luck tracking them King Crombie; I know from personal experience they are tricky to find and a don't often come cheap.

Camberton Mr Finney ?

19-May-2008 by King Crombie

I don't know anything about Camberton. Any titles you might recommend ?

Message for the Crombie Kid

19-May-2008 by Blockhead Bill

I like donkey jackets.

Jew Boy

19-May-2008 by Albert Finney

King Crombie I am glad you enjoyed Jew Boy. I don't think the influence and importance of Jewish writers can be underestimated. So many great writers from that period who write about interesting subject matter and lives were Jews, maybe due to the harsh economics, slum living that many found themselves trapped in. Think of Gerald Kersh, Bernard Kopps, Alexander Baron and Roland Camberton, Simon Blumenfeld to name but a few truly great writers.

Blockhead Bill

19-May-2008 by King Crombie

Well the name says it all .

Difficult to read?

18-May-2008 by Blockhead Bill

I love big blocks of text, the bigger the better in fact. Keep them coming! I also enjoy joined-up writing, wolf whistling at pretty girls, and hot tea. It must be hot though as I can’t drink it warm!!!

A Start In Life and Alan Sillitoe from today's SUNDAY TIMES

18-May-2008 by Alan Harvey

Fame and Fortune: Alan Sillitoe The author, poet and one-time Angry Young Man says his work should matter more than the cash Mary Meyer Alan Sillitoe was one of the “Angry Young Men” of the 1950s alongside John Osborne, John Braine and Kingsley Amis. Sillitoe was born in Nottingham and left school at 14. He worked in the Raleigh bicycle factory for three years and then as an air traffic control assistant for a year before joining the RAF in 1946. He published his first novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, in 1958. It was made into a film two years later. Sillitoe's 1959 short-story collection, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, remains his most celebrated work. It was awarded the Hawthornden Prize and the title story was adapted for the big screen. His ninth novel, A Start in Life, has just been republished. Sillitoe, 80, has also published several collections of poetry, short stories and plays. He lives with his wife, the poet Ruth Fainlight, in Notting Hill, west London. How much money do you have in your wallet? Never, or rarely, less than £50. I have to verify quite often that there's that much in my pocket because such an amount is easily spent, especially since I try to pay as little as possible with credit card. Do you have any credit cards? I only have one credit card - a Barclays Visa - but rarely use it, except to draw cash from a bank when travelling. I'm old enough not to worry too much about credit cards and things like that. I like to know what money I have in my account and in my wallet - and as long as I know that, I know that I'm safe. I pay my card off every month but often there's nothing on it. Are you a saver or a spender? Neither a saver nor a spender. I enjoy spending but when you get to a certain age there are not many things that you need, or at least that you feel you need. You even get to need fewer clothes (except for underwear and shirts, of course). I've never stinted myself on buying books, though, which I suppose is understandable, considering my occupation. I spend half as much more on books as I do on travelling. I have a deposit account which makes an income, a reserve account - a smaller amount on which I can draw - and, of course, my current account. It's like a stepladder. I have a private pension with the Society of Authors which I have put money into over the years, as well as my state pension. I started drawing money from my Society of Authors pension 10 to 20 years ago. How much did you earn last year? There's no regular sum for a freelance writer. It varies a lot year by year. Last year it was about £25,000. With my two pensions, my earnings from my books and my freelance writing, I am quite comfortably off. How much was in your first pay packet? I went to work at Raleigh bicycle factory at the age of 14 in 1942, and my first pay packet was £1, 12 shillings and sixpence (£1.62). Calculate that in modern spending power if you can! Apart from the 2/6d I kept for spending money, it was a welcome addition to the family income. Have you ever been really hard up? I've never been desperately hard up after starting to earn a living. On leaving the RAF I received a 100% disability pension, having developed tuberculosis during active service in Malaya. This allowed me and my girlfriend to live in Spain for several years. It was the life of Riley but at the same time we were working very hard on our writing. Anyway, work, what's work? It was a perpetual holiday. What is the most lucrative work you have ever done? Did you use the fee for something special? I suppose the best-paid work I've ever done was to write the script for the film of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning in 1959. I got £1,500 [about £25,000 in today's money] and it occupied me for about three months. Even better, of course, is when the rights are bought for one of your novels, which is like a gift falling from heaven. The rights for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner came to £6,000. I bought a pair of Barr & Stroud binoculars, which I'd always wanted. What property do you own? We own a flat in Notting Hill Gate, where we've lived since 1970. Property here was relatively cheap then because the area was somewhat squalid. Its obviously worth quite a bit now - £800,000 maybe. However, personally I think that what a property is worth is totally meaningless because it's just where you live - you can't say much more about it. The property was leasehold at first and then later on we got the freehold. It's very difficult now to estimate what we paid originally. What was £20,000 then might now be £200,000 or £300,000. We also have a small cottage in Leicestershire which is very good for working. I bought it four years ago for about £250,000. Do you invest in shares? No, I don't. I think it's too risky. It's not morality, probably I'm too cowardly. I did have a few thousand shares in the 1960s but I sold those. I made some money but I had a notion that if I'm not careful, I'm going to lose it. I thought it seemed a good time to sell. I don't remember who the shares were with, probably all sorts of dangerous things - tobacco, armaments. What's better - property or pension? Property is better than shares, but so is insurance, and the combination just about takes care of everything - if the system holds up or you're lucky. Are you financially better off than your parents? My father, who was a labourer in the 1930s, rarely earned more than £2 or £3 a week. The war was a terrible disaster, of course, but we were eating better in the second world war than we were before. My father could neither read nor write, and when I handed him my first novel to look at he turned it round and round in his hands and said, with some stupefaction: “Bloody hell, Alan, you've written a book! You'll never have to work again!” What has been your worst investment? And your best? I have no idea really. I'm one of those people who as long as I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food on the table I don't care about the rest of it. We've never been people to spend a lot because we don't come from that high-flying background. My best investment has been my dedication to my work - that's of more value than anything, to tell you the truth. What aspect of our taxation system would you change? I've never objected to paying taxes, but the whole concept of Vat seemed to me senseless and tyrannical when it first came in. What is your financial priority? My financial priority was never to have a mortgage, never to be in debt. I was brought up to never owe anyone anything and I've more or less followed that as much as I possibly could. I think borrowing is inadvisable but people don't think that these days. I just don't agree with it. People are lent money whether they want it or not - it's ridiculous. Do you have a money weakness? Books, obviously, or radios. Sometimes, I pick up a radio I like the look of and listen to strange French stations. What is the most extravagant thing you have ever bought? The most extravagant items have been cars. I have always enjoyed long-distance driving. I once bought an AR-88 Radio Corporation of America communications receiver for £85, the model I used as a wireless operator in Malaya. Morse code wireless interception has always been one of my pastimes - a therapy, you might say. What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money? A writer should pay more attention to the work than to making money, but he is doubly lucky when successful in both, as I have been.

JEW BOY

18-May-2008 by King Crombie

Just finished Simon Blumenfeld's "Jew Boy" and really enjoyed it. An easy read, with some great pre WWII insight into life for the working poor. It's hard to imagine this woulkd not have been an influence on Bernard Kops. Obviously some of the concepts of a Soviet utopia and a proletarian brotherhood will now seem naive, but the thoughts and feelings behind those desires are for me, very understandabl and admirable. If you don't know anything about being a poor Londoner in the 1930's read this and you will learn something.

I Must Agree With Frank

16-May-2008 by King Crombie

It really would make for a better improved Message Board, if the longer posts could be broken up/down. It is after all about literature. As it is now, the longer posta really are intimidating, which is not as it should be. Surely someone at London Books can get "on the case" ?

England Away/Human Punk

15-May-2008 by Gorse

Both are in line to being made into films. Human Punk will be shot second although nothing is confirmed as yet. In answer to the original post, the film of Human Punk will definitely be shot with a true punk spirit running right the way through it from the script, to the casting and director. John K will also be fully involved.

Layout

15-May-2008 by Frank Bryant

Dear London Books, as KC rightly indicates there are no breaks here on this board and when putting up something of any length it becomes arduous reading. Can you do something, please? Found the Balchin appreciation on the net., by the way

Chapeau Frank Bryant

14-May-2008 by King Crombie

Where did you uncover this ? I've only read half of it and had to come up for air ! I dip my stingy brim low and slow.

HP film

13-May-2008 by yellowandblue

i think the book ends in 2000...but agree it could be a great film

Human Punk

13-May-2008 by anonymous

oh, ok...thanks David Webb...shame tho

Nigel Balchin - interesting find......

13-May-2008 by Frank Bryant

Nigel Marlin Balchin 1908 - 1970 Nigel Marlin Balchin was born on 3rd December 1908, the youngest son of William Balchin, a shopkeeper in the small West Country village of West Lavington. His was a lower middle class family, and neither his brother nor his sister showed any of his determined and persevering fascination with books and learning from an early age. It was an unsupportive upbringing for a budding scholar, for there was little interest and less money to be spared for his ambitions. In business Mr. Balchin senior was neither talented nor successful, a factor that may have had some bearing on Nigel's lifelong preoccupation with the techniques and machinations of the factory floor. He grew up intensely aware of money - the need to make it, the difficulty of keeping it, and the uncertain nature of its continued arrival. Even at the height of his career, when he was by any standards a wealthy man, the shadow of poverty remained with him, although paradoxically he was also extremely generous. Highly intelligent and verbally fluent, Nigel won a scholarship to the nearby Dauntsey's School which provided him with all the support and sympathy he had lacked at home. Academically he excelled, and also developed a love of cricket which remained with him for the rest of his life. From Dauntsey's School he won a further scholarship to read Sciences at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He accepted, reluctantly, because although he was interested in science, his true passion lay on the arts side, and he already dreamed of a career as a writer. However, without the scholarship there was no university education, and he duly became an Exhibitioner and Prizeman at Peterhouse, and in time (1930) obtained a First Class Honours degree in Natural Sciences. During those Cambridge years he also wrote his first short stories, in which the scientific life he pursued by day reappeared by night in fictional guise. After graduation, the excellence of his degree would have meant a ready path in to academic research. However, he was more interested in theory of use to people than abstract concepts, and instead he joined the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, becoming consultant to Rowntrees. His job there was a pioneering one - liasing between management and workforce, he studied the psychology of the workplace and how it could best be developed and adapted to provide the greatest possible efficiency and best working conditions. his involvement with all levels of manufacturing bore fruit in more than one direction, for he also conceived of the bubble-filled chocolate Aero, and suggested the name KitKat for the company's latest chocolate bar. In 1933 he married Elizabeth Walsh, daughter of the writer Douglas Walsh, whom he met at Cambridge where she was reading Archaeology and Anthropology. His first novel, No Sky, was written on their honeymoon, and in the copy he gave Elizabeth he wrote 'For ourselves. Kept like a baby's first shoes, as a pathetic relic of one's first blunders.' In fact it was far from the inept production he implied; his writing was already stylish and accomplished, and his sense of plot and characterisation impressively assured. It received excellent reviews and sold well, as did Simple Life, published in 1935. Their first child Prudence was born in 1934. Whilst writing his first two novels he was also contributing to Punch under the pseudonym Mark Spade. How to run a Bassoon Factory and Business for Pleasure are witty, satirical and telling sketches offering tongue-in-cheek advice to the aspiring businessman. Begun in the form of a series of sketches, the whole collection was published much later in 1956 as an omnibus edition. Meanwhile, family life for the Balchins continued in Highgate, with the birth of a second daughter Penelope in 1937. (She has in adult life become the famous childcare guru, Dr Penelope Leach.) At this time Nigel continued to double as writer and workplace consultant at Rowntrees, commuting to York at least once a week. He produced a companion to the Mark Spade series -Income and Outcome - and in 1936 broke new ground with Lightbody on Liberty, the story of a small-time shopkeeper transformed into a crusader for justice. It was a funny, exciting and moving novel, which brought the name of Balchin to new prominence. However, there was no time for Nigel to capitalise on this, to him, unexpected and somewhat bewildering acclaim. In Whitehall, the shadows of war were already gathering, and discreet recruitment of the exceptionally able and informed from all fields of industry was taking place by the Government. Nigel was approached, and in the course of time appointed both to the personnel section of the War Office as a consultant and psychologist, and to the British War Council as a Deputy Scientific Adviser, in time rising to the rank of Brigadier General. The dual nature of his work and his excellence in both fields was another example of his versatility; it also put him in a unique position for gathering the heterogeneous material for the three novels which ensured his reputation. The first of these, his fourth novel published in 1942, was Darkness Fails from the Air, and his first popular success. It gives a compelling account of life during the London Blitz and the multi-stranded and disabling frustrations of a temporary civil servant endeavouring to serve his country against constant checks of petty bureaucracy. Probably his most famous book, The Small Back Room was published in 1943; the hero Sammy Rice is a crippled scientist fighting against personal demons of pain and alcohol, as well as the ineptitude and corruption of the departmental politicking and ministerial ignorance which makes his vital work almost impossible. This book added to the English language, giving us 'boffin' and 'backroom boy' as terms of common parlance. It struck a nerve in contemporary wartime Britain, and has continued to do so to this day. Sammy became one of the early prototypes for the cynical and reluctant hero who has dominated modern fiction, from Graham Greene (with whom Nigel was often compared in his day) to Dick Francis, whose best-seller status in the popular market parallels Nigel's in the closing years of the war. The novel was made into a successful film in 1949, which is shown periodically on Channel 4 and at the National Film Theatre. In 1945 Mine Own Executioner was published, and became arguably his most popular novel - a psychological thriller, for which Nigel subsequently wrote the scenario for the motion picture starring Burgess Meredith. Whilst working in his wartime posts, Nigel and Elizabeth travelled the country as the Army Council shifted its headquarters from the capital to Wales and back again to London, where Elizabeth secured a job vetting potential agents for the espionage unit, S.O.E. After the war, the Balchins, now a family of five with the arrival of their third daughter, Freja, on Boxing Day 1944, moved from London to Leigh Barton, a rambling black-beamed farmhouse at Stelling Minnis in Kent. It was an idyllic rural setting, but within commuting distance of London and gave Nigel peace for his writing, to which he could then devote more of his time. He continued his advisory work at Rowntrees, newly reopened after the war. His reputation grew tremendously, but he also had time to pursue other hobbies with equal perfectionism and intensity. He as a keen gardener, loved roses and fruit trees which he cultivated with the scientific precision of grafting, pruning and pollination whilst also taking great pleasure in the aesthetic and sensual results. Although essentially a solitary person, he joined in the life of the village and rekindled his love of cricket by playing in village matches. When he allowed himself time away from his writing, he enjoyed wood-carving and small-scale cabinet making. After the successes of his wartime novels, he felt free to experiment with different genres. Unlike so many popular novelists, he was never content merely to exploit the formula of previous successes, and instead was constantly pressing towards the boundaries of fiction. Although he had attempted playwriting during the war, Miserable Sinners and Leader of the House were not successful. However, shortly afterwards he adapted Mine Own Executioner and Howard Spring's Fame is the Spur for the screen, both proving highly successful and acclaimed films which led him towards the dramatic form of his next novel, Lord I Was Afraid, published in 1947. It was a brilliant, allegorical and ambitious documentation of the effects of war and its aftermath on ordinary people, their intelligence, aspirations, innocence and cynicism, and the complex variations on those traits which constitute character, always the chief motivating interest of his writing. The result, even today, is an exposition of why the 'New World' failed to materialise out of the ashes of Belsen and Hiroshima, all the more chilling for the apparent triviality of its setting and protagonists. Unfortunately, the book failed, being too inaccessible for most of his readers who were simply accustomed to 'a good read'. This was bitter confirmation of his inescapable conviction that he was most valued for a kind of competent craftsmanship, and fell far short of the creative genius to which his relentless perfectionism aspired. Nigel was still experimenting in his subsequent novel, The Borgia Testament, which was published in 1948. This is a first-person account - and to some extent a justification - of the life of Cesare Borgia related four and a half centuries after his death. His approach was both scholarly and rigorous, and found favour again with his readers, re-establishing him as a popular 'serious' novelist. He drew on his day job for his next novel, A Sort of Traitors, published in 1949, and once again the 'scientists as human beings, only more so' formula charmed the lectorate. He followed this with a volume of thirteen essays about famous criminals, The Anatomy of Villainy (1950), which includes studies of Guy Fawkes, Judas Iscariot and Rasputin. Sadly, however, life at home, whilst eminently satisfactory for Nigel - interspersed with visits to London for his advisory work for industry, membership of the Saville Club where he was esteemed and very enthusiastic - was less so for Elizabeth. The marriage had for some time been difficult; Nigel never really understood his wife, trying unsuccessfully to give her what she wanted and needed. She had held a position of authority during the war years, but he had expected her to return to a life of domesticity which for a woman of her intelligence and background was hard, if not impossible, to accept. His habit of bringing home interesting people to meet Elizabeth at Leigh Barton finally brought matters to a head when Nigel introduced, in 1948, a young painter, sculptor and writer, Michael Ayrton, to her. Initially he was pleased with their rapport, and when Joan, Michael's long term partner, became Nigel's lover on a light-hearted and temporary basis, the four spent a good deal of time together in an amiable menage á quatre - combining travel in Europe with weekends at Leigh Barton. Unfortunately, Elizabeth did not share her husband's mutually enjoyable essentially, trivial polygamy, and fell deeply in love with Michael despite his being eleven years her junior. Eventually the Balchins agreed to part, and the marriage was finally dissolved in 1950. A year later the former Mrs Balchin became Mrs Michael Ayrton. Nigel was not only faced with the loss of his wife, but also his best friend. Michael had all the self-confidence in his own talent that Nigel lacked; the fact that out of this autonomy he could also give Elizabeth the kind of support and happiness which Nigel had intended to provide, despite his failings, made the whole affair all the more bitter. Following the break-up of his marriage to Elizabeth, Nigel was forced to sell Leigh Barton, his home in Kent, and for some months he lived in a series of rented flats in London - an unsatisfactory arrangement which eventually became intolerable. There was the welfare of his three children to consider, and Nigel resented the idea of his family moving in to the casual bohemian squalor of Michael Ayrton's home in All Soul's Place. It would have added insult to injury, and for months he used every possible resource to prevent it. It would be intolerable, he declared, for his children to associate with Michael's drunken friends in a household founded on an immoral relationship. The two younger children were made Wards of Court, and it was made clear to Elizabeth that if she wished to keep them, she must remain in her own flat. Prue and Penny, now 14 and 11, were established in a respectable day school nearby, and the uncomfortable shuttling between flats continued, unsatisfactory for all concerned and doing nothing to resolve an increasingly tense situation. However, in the spring of 1950 Elizabeth moved in with Michael, bringing five year old Missie (Freya) with her. To do Nigel justice, he never seriously proposed separating his youngest daughter from her mother. Meanwhile, both the elder girls rebelled against the new school. Prue, having obtained her School Certificate with matric exemption at the early age of 14, announced her desire to go on the stage. She secured herself a place at LAMDA, abandoning her younger sister without a qualm, while poor Penny was left, at Nigel's insistence, to the miseries of an exclusive boarding school in Malvern which she loathed even more than the day school, and suffered greatly from homesickness. Elizabeth did not approve of Penny being sent away, but Nigel was adamant, and once it had been forced upon her, she felt free to move in permanently with Michael, who later proved himself to be an excellent stepfather. None of the Balchin children resented the part played in breaking up their family life, not even Prue, who, old for her years and devoted to both Nigel and her mother, would have been ready to find a scapegoat for her divided loyalties in her mother's lover. Instead she liked him from the start. But Nigel remained determined that the Ayrton establishment was unsuitable for his children, and must be only a temporary solution. However, when Penny was sent home from boarding school with pneumonia, Nigel had to reluctantly agree with Elizabeth that she should stay at All Soul's Place, as he did not feel able to cope with a sick child. Michael accepted a third Balchin child in to the household, but when Penny and Missie began squabbling over a bedroom, he realised that lack of space was becoming a problem. Elizabeth was dying to leave London and return to the country where she felt Nigel would accept such an establishment as suitable for the two girls. Eventually, in 1952, after their marriage, the Ayrtons moved to Bradfields, North Essex, which had been recommended to Michael by a friend in the Saville Club. While Nigel was enduring all this domestic misery, one small incident stands out at the time which illustrates his character and integrity. When his wife's affair with Michael Ayrton became common knowledge at the Saville Club, outraged members proposed that he should be asked, or if necessary should be compelled, to resign his membership. Michael had been introduced to the Club by his father at the early age of fourteen, later becoming a full member at his coming of age, and it would have been a devastating blow for him to leave the Club, where he greatly valued his position and friends. Knowing this, Nigel could have effectively reaped his revenge by allowing events to take their course. Instead he quietly made it known the should such action be pursued, he himself would resign. Needless to say the motion was dropped. During those bitter and difficult months, Nigel still continued his writing, and in 1951 A Way Through The Woods, his tenth novel and his fifth book in as many years, was published. This dealt, yet again, with a troubled relationship, and drew on his own experiences for this tale of a husband who condones his wife's infidelity in the hope that she might outgrow her infatuation. The work was successfully adapted for the stage by Ronald Millan, under its new title Waiting for Gillian, and starring husband and wife team Googie Withers and John McCallum it became one of the last plays to be staged at the St James's Theatre. Finding London life impossible, Nigel moved back to the country, buying a converted oast house in Sussex, where he now continued writing full-time with less-frequent trips to London. Following the breakdown of his marriage, Nigel had several short-term relationships, but none developed beyond initial attraction, until he met Yovanka Tomich, a young Yugoslav refugee, whom he eventually married in 1953, and by whom he had two children. Following the marriage he took on a new lease of creative life and produced three novels in the next three years. With Sundry Creditors in 1953, he demonstrated that, like Dickens and Norman Collins, he could work on a broad canvas. The novel chronicles the fortunes of a family-run engineering firm in the Midlands, with a host of convincingly-drawn characters, ranging from shop-floor workers to members of the Board. Like many successful novelists, Nigel had by this time contributed a number of short stories to various leading magazines, although none of these had been collected between hard covers. His 1954 work, Last Recollections of my Uncle Charles, redressed the balance to a certain extent, being made up of fifteen stories featuring the loveable rogue of the title. Taken together, they form a warm and skilfully-drawn portrait of that perennially popular type, the 'born raconteur', and the book was yet another best-seller. Now at the height of his powers, Nigel published yet another novel - his third in as many years - in 1955. The Fall of the Sparrow is a piece of textbook storytelling, tracing the inexorable downfall of a morally-weak public schoolboy who inspires loyalty in a small group of friends, even as he betrays their trust. The novel was successfully adapted for the small screen (although not by the author) and remains hugely enjoyable in its original form after more than four decades. In 1955, Nigel left England for Hollywood where he spent the next seven years writing screenplays, during which time he averaged one produced screenplay a year - an impressive figure considering how few movie projects ever get off the ground - including his own A Sort of Traitors, imaginatively retitled Suspect by the Boulting brothers. His most notorious exploit was his collaboration on the first script for the great farce of Cleopatra. Although almost the entire body of his work on the project was eventually abandoned, he later took whimsical delight in including among his works 'the first folio edition of Cleopatra'. However, in spite of his success, Hollywood was bad for him in many ways. Although he saw a number of his screenplays produced, they were almost always the ones he valued least. The endless rewrites imposed by outsiders, who cared only for the latest fashions of the box office or the vagaries of the stars, were agony to a craftsman accustomed to making every word count in careful construction of plot and character, while the superficial glitter of the Hollywood lifestyle he found draining and depressing. All the old feelings of inadequacy returned, and he countered them disastrously by drinking. In Hollywood, drink of all kinds flowed freely; while never plumbing the depths of alcoholism, Nigel soon became bitterly aware that his drinking was becoming a problem. He hated it, he hated Hollywood, but he was unable to tear himself away. Finally, in 1961, he roused himself to return to England and to novel writing. Seen Dimly Before Dawn, published in 1962, proved to his many admirers that screenwriting had sharpened rather than dulled his skills. This heady mixture of sexual awakening, intrigue and betrayal, related - perhaps surprisingly, considering that Nigel was 54 - from the viewpoint of a callow youth, was a tour de force. The book also contains a classic example of the way in which the experiences of his own life informed, but did not exactly match, his books. All his novels are to an extent autobiographical, and much can be learnt of the man and his life by reading them. But to assume that Balchin is present in his fiction - that his emotions and grievances are the sum total of his material - is to mistake the case, misread the texts, and undervalue his craftsmanship, his imagination, and ultimately his achievement. Life was not kind to Nigel in the years that followed; his health broke down, partly due to his drinking, but also as the result of a serious gastric operation, which left him frail for a long time. His marriage to Yovanka was stormy and often difficult; he needed support and got it only erratically, while he failed to give her security and the social excitement she craved. They had two children, Charles and Cassandra, and he continued to see his daughters by Elizabeth, but he had never been very easy with children, and was the last man to relish the role of benevolent father and grandfather. Now in his late fifties, though physically aged beyond his years, he continued to write with great enthusiasm. His last two novels - In the Absence of Mrs Peterson (1966) and Kings of Infinite Space (1968) took him into fresh territory, while exploring his own experiences. In the Absence of Mrs Peterson is concerned with intrigue and adventure in Yugoslavia but, in passing, we are treated to as succinct a description (the narrator is a screenwriter) of the battle between artist and philistine as we are ever likely to encounter in print. He came full circle in his last novel, Kings of Infinite Space, not only returning to his roots but effectively bringing them up-to-date. This novel was, in effect his final interweaving of the human and the technical; his final consideration of the duality of Science and Art which had been a fundamental part of his whole life. In the end, despite his fascination with Science and all it could and should stand for, he gave the accolade to Art, and the invincible, intangible entity which has been called the human soul. Published a year before Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, the novel is narrated by Dr Frank Lewis who, at the age of 36, is plucked from his cosy Cambridge laboratory, seconded to NASA and subjected to training as an astronaut. Nigel, of course, was uniquely equipped to handle such a tale, which benefits both from his detailed technical understanding and his penetrating insight into the human psyche. As surely as he had recreated the world of the wartime research scientist in The Small Back Room, Nigel brought to life the world of the space race, and in doing so revealed how similar they remained. Nigel Balchin died in London on 17 May 1970 at the age of 61 - full and often damaging years, which had burnt him out before his time. He left behind an impressive collection of books, covering a wide spectrum in themes and techniques. His reputation died almost as soon, as he died, but he remains a discovery which many people make, and the popularity of a handful of his books, especially The Small Back Room, continues. This novel introduced to English fiction the workings of the empirical scientific mind. Indeed, it was largely through his work, and that of another contemporary, Nevil Shute, that the British, emerging from the War, had much of an idea how they had won it. In that it is a novel tied essentially to its time. But to the battle which Sammy Rice wages against himself no date can be attached. The struggle goes on. What would have pleased him are the tributes of fellow writers: of Dick Francis, who on one occasion named him his favourite author; of Elizabeth Jane Howard whose first novel he read and approved in manuscript, and who speaks of him as an example to modern novelists; and of William Golding, who applauded his instinct for character and plot. On his death, tributes appeared in both the London and New York Times. It may at first seem incongruous that a scientist - by definition a seeker after truth - should also be a teller of tales, and yet who better to subject mankind to the harsh unrelenting scrutiny of the microscope, especially when, as in the case of Balchin, the lens of that microscope has been coated with more than a dash of humanity. The writer, Rosalie Hooper, would like to express her grateful thanks to Justine Hopkins, Nigel Balchin's granddaughter, for her help.

Film gossip

13-May-2008 by David Webb

According to the CFC fanzine it is England Away by John King that is being made into a film with shooting starting over the summer. Cant see they would be doing two at the same time.

Human Punk

13-May-2008 by anonymous

hi, I see on John King's author biog that they are working on a film adaptation of Human Punk... I love that book and have always thought it would make a great film. Its a chance to link 2008 with the times of the late 70's - and when you really think about it there's a lot in common, more than first appear - culturally and artistically. The soundtrack would be a best seller too! A double album, then and now perhaps? I hope they go about making it in a 'punk' way too, from the writing, to the actors to direction - get some unknown talent in. And I definitely think it can be better than "This is England".....do we know who's involved in it yet?

Nigel Balchin any pointers ?

13-May-2008 by King Crombie

Just received a tip on Nigel Balchin who wrote the novel "The Small Back Room" was based on and many more besides (novels not rooms). Anyone read any of his stuff ? I haven't a clue. Any pointers much appreciated.

EBBSFLEET ANONYMOUS

12-May-2008 by anonymous

Does that mean there are 35,000 shares or 35,000 shareholders ? What i'd like to know is do you get a vote per shareholder or vote per share. I too will sign this post Anonymous, so that you mighjt not have to testify against me come a clampdown. keep the faith.

Congratulations to Ebbsfleet United

11-May-2008 by anonymous

Ebbsfleet United, formerly Gravesend and Northfleet, now owned by thousands of internet shareholders won their first trophy yesterday - the FA Trophy - at Wembley in front of 40,000 punters. The shareholders - all 35,000 of them - vote on team selection and everything. A great template for handing power back to the people. I am watching developments carefully as the internet has the ability to re-empower the people and force Governments to represent our interests - not theirs! I choose to remain anonymous at this stage as we don't want our plans scuppered

Hold Up Parrot Face

08-May-2008 by King Crombie

People that live in glass houses, etc.,etc. Not sure how much real damage Mr Pastry could have done when the brolly and bowler regulars were in every day attendance in the City. The flour graders on the other hand, may have been an advance column for damage "yet to come". They're almost like pre-rave, knee high, benevolent coke dealers - happy, friendly and covered in white powder !

The Rise and Fall of the Bowler

07-May-2008 by Freddy Parrot Davis

I blame the MacDougalls Flour Men and Mr Pastry

Bowler Battles

07-May-2008 by King Crombie

After all Patrick MacNee's hard graft to repair the damage done by Acker Bilk, John Cleese almost literally puts his foot in it ! Odd Job certainly deserves a mention in despatches.

Bowler Hats

07-May-2008 by Ministry of Silly Walks

Monty Python didn't help matters

Crikey Anonymous

06-May-2008 by King Crombie

Hope I dont catch you with your drawers/pants/boxers down. But I had noticed that I don't have a budgie in my front room and as for the bowler hat, I for one still feel that post Clockwork Orange it's very hard to pull off.

Things that have disappeared that you hadn't noticed

06-May-2008 by anonymous

* Wedding photo pages in your local paper * police phone boxes * steam-rollers * thrushes * chilblains * fixed wheels on bikes * the telephone on the left hand side of newsreaders' desks * bowler hats * the word 'crikey' * budgies in people's front rooms * tea cosies *

clubbers

05-May-2008 by ipat

Hi there Clubbers! ; ) Albert, I think I didn’t make my point well. When I said “I think thats a valid point but different.” to Jennifers post, I was making the point you far more eloquently made (re: 30 april You dont know what you are talking about ipat)! : ) That’s why we do indulge in this site, because it offers a different account and is a breath of fresh air amongst the dross out there. We agree, i should just take more time in making my point so it doesnt get misunderstood.

Of Love and Hunger

02-May-2008 by Albert Finney

I dont think you will be disapointed. It really evokes the feeling of what it must have been like in London and Brighton at that time. A world of spivs, dodgy salesmen, boarding houses and smokey backstreet pubs.

Nuff Said Spider

01-May-2008 by King Crombie

While waiting on your word, I swagged a copy of "Of Love and Hunger" on line and am looking forward.

Freudian slip

01-May-2008 by Mayor Boris

Biography, I should say...

Wrote his autobiography ?

01-May-2008 by King Crombie

Hold up Boris, Paul Willets wote Julian Maclaren-Ross's autobiography ? I'm not saying you're wrong, as I know nothing on the subject and have yet to read the book. Do you mean ghosted or just plain old wrote it ?

Of Love and Hunger

01-May-2008 by Boris (I'm bored today) Johnson

Paul Willetts who wrote Julian Maclaren Ross's autobiography told me once he interviewed a fellow vacuum cleaner salesman of his subject whilst doing his research. It is a great book. I remember these salesmen knocking on our door when I was a kid in the 1960s and tryin to charm my Mum into buying. Coming to think of it, in my pre-school days, there seemed to be a never-ending stream of people coming to the door. Brush salesmen, knive sharpeners, catalogue people, rag and bone men, pools coupon men, encyclopedia salesmen and on and on and on.

Of Love and Hunger

01-May-2008 by George Davis Is Innocent

The best vacuum cleaning sales novel ever wrote.

Of Love and Hunger

01-May-2008 by Albert Finney

Any thoughts on the great Julian Maclaren Ross novel?

I'm sorry

01-May-2008 by Jennifer

I'm sorry.

No offence meant Jennifer and ipat

01-May-2008 by Albert Finney

I do hope this is not an exclusive gentlemen's club and I hope I didn't appear too rude. I just wonder what your interest in London books and their publications is? As has been previously stated I feel there is a world of difference between the works of James Curtis and Gerald Kersh and those cheap books written by former 'gangsters' that do often celebrate a vile, violent lifestyle.

HARDLY SHOUTED DOWN

01-May-2008 by King Crombie

Jennifer, i do not think the replies of myself, IPat or Mr. Finney warrant the description of "shouting you down". To me they appear polite. considered and show a genuine concern for an area of interest. I can't comment on the content of television, as I make every effort to avoid watching it except for football,the Tour De France and those news stories that are better served by the moving image than the radio or written word. As for this being a Gentleman's Club, i have no idea. I don't think of it as a club of any sort. Having said that there are several regulars to this board that are no strangers to good manners.

This is like every other board.

30-Apr-2008 by Jennifer

I make a comment and try to provoke a debate and then get shouted down. Is this a gentleman's club, by any chance?

You dont know what you are talking about ipat

30-Apr-2008 by Albert Finney

When I spoke of 'lowlife' books I was writing in relation to novels written by very talented, interesting and often neglected authors (isn't that what this message board and infact what London Books is about?) Not about cheap money making 'true life' accounts by former gangsters and bouncers. The reason writers such as James Gilt, Alexander Baron, Robert Westerby, Gerald Kersh are interesting is that they write about a London that is not dominated the 'moral' middle class; that are about working class people who may at times be amoral (Shock, horror) but these books are well written accounts, almost historical accounts of people who lived in the slums of the East End, in the boarding house lands, who frequented the race tracks and seedy back street pubs. They are not a sanitised 'Daily Mail' version of the pre and post war period but they show the harsh reality of life for many people. These books are great forgotten literary works. Maybe you should try reading them before dismissing them. Try reading 'Night and the City' recently republished by London books or Robert Westerbys 'Wide Boys Never Work' (Soon to be republished by London Books) Alexander Barons 'Lowlife', Simon Blumenfelds 'Jew Boy' or even the novels of Patrick Hamilton before rushing to judgement.

values

30-Apr-2008 by iPat

I can quite agree Jennifer. There is a plethora of books that revel in the negatives of life. I think thats a valid point but different. Im sick of seeing books by this and that hardman as a cheap way of making a few bucks on the back of someone elses misery but its not different from reading Jordans bio really. An insight into the culture and the goings on is different from cheap bragging. It doesnt have to be 'low life' to get that but usually thats the ones available with a bit of charachter. Douglas Bader was a great account but so's the one about the gypo fighting to feed his familly through boxing fairs. ; )

30-Apr-2008 by Jennifer

Thank you, KIng Crombie. I take your point but don't you agree there is an unhealthy interest in the printed and visual media with criminals and criminality? On the TV we don't seem to able to do drama without it being murder, detective, police and the like. Our soaps rely on criminals and crime themes and Eastenders, particularly, seems to think that gangsters are as familiar a part of every community as the postman. Books are domimated by True Crime and Misery. Few films do not contain acts of violence. I guess that is what I was getting at.

Obsession, I think not...

29-Apr-2008 by King Crombie

Point taken Jennifer. Obviously there are many more forgotten authors than those remembered here, or anywhere else for that matter. Some of us that congregate in this arena happen to have a penchant for authors whose stories feature those who have fallen from grace and those who never acquired it in the first place. This in no way denotes that we have no other areas of interest, be they literary or otherwise. An interest yes, an obsession, I think not...

Why the obssession with 'low-life?

29-Apr-2008 by Jennifer

There are plenty of other forgotten authors from the last century that are worthy of rediscovery other than those obssessed with the underbelly of society. Howard Spring springs to mind. Fame is the Spur is an excellent tome which I couldn't even find in my local Library. Spring's grasp of the human condition is unmatched.

28-Apr-2008 by Shed Boy

Many of you will not have heard of Brinsworth House in Twickenham. But you will have heard of many of the people that have lived there over the years. Thora Hird died there recently, as did David Lodge and Hylda Baker a few years earlier. Chelsea supporter Richard O’ Sullivan and star of Man About the House has been staying there in recent months as has Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman and Charlie ‘Hello My Darlings’ Drake. Some might say it is a residential home for famous people you thought were dead. Whatever. The important thing is that the home has been around since 1908 and provides a dignified sanctuary for entertainers who have fallen on hard times or are unable to care for themselves or do not wish to be a burden to their own families in old age. They can gain strength, pleasure and nourishment from seeing out their days or recovering in the company of fellow entertainers normally in the twilight of their lives. More importantly the home is financed by the entertainers themselves through the Entertainment Artistes Benevolent Fund. This profession has always recognised that at any one time only a few of them will be earning big money and that you never know when your fortunes will change. It is an excellent ethos. Brinsworth House came into my mind when I was contemplating the problem facing our top professional footballers these days in terms of the money they are earning. Problem? I hear you say. Yes, I think it is a problem for them. Put yourself in their Pumas. If your club is prepared to pay you £92,000 a week you are going to take it. It is human nature to try and earn as much as you can for as long as you can and then rationalise to yourself why you are worth it. But they must carry a sense of uncomfortableness about it even a sense of guilt. They are not guarding police stations in Basra or developing vaccines for Bird Flu or performing heart transplants or running Vodafone. It is too much money for what they do and everyone knows it but few of us really blame them for taking it because we know that we would given the chance. Yet, they must wonder sometimes how and what they could do to put something back without being seen as jumping on bandwagons or seeking publicity or risking some bunch of wankers squandering it. I think an answer is for today’s footballers to launch their own Brinsworth House for the guys that have made all this possible for them in the first place and who better to get the ball rolling than our very own home-grown Chelsea lads? Imagine if our John, Frank and Joe, for example, pledged 1% of the salaries whilst their earnings remained above say £50,000 a week to acquire and run such a home. Imagine the genuine kudos and goodwill this would generate for the players themselves and imagine the happiness and comfort it could bring to all those ex-players from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and so on who could benefit from the recognition of the foundations they laid. No more sad stories of reading of medals sold and lonely old ages spent fretting over whether to put the extra bar on the electric fire in a cold winter. Imagine how the reputation of other players would suffer if they refused to support such a deserving scheme. It would be a relatively small price for players to pay for a big, meaningful and lasting legacy. If one assumes the average wage in the Premiership is £1.5m per annum and a third of Premiership players contributed this would raise in the region of £2m per year at a stroke. It would not be fanciful to think that three or four homes could be set up around the country to cover the geographical spread of ex-players. How about it Chelsea lads? Lead the way again.

Free

28-Apr-2008 by anonymous

Interesting documenatry on Sky Arts. Jeff, did you see it>? Paul Rogers, your hero is in Queen!!!!

The war

28-Apr-2008 by NW1

Point taken ipat about the second world war. It did rather interrupt things. In the case of James Curtis, from what I hear, he didn't produce hardly anything post-war to present to publishers. His daughter has said that he spent an inordinate amount of time on research for his 'new book' but never actually wrote it. Kersh, on the other hand, ploughed on until his death and Westerby worked for Disney among others.

"Lowlife"

27-Apr-2008 by King Crombie

Alexander Baron's "Lowlife" is absolute top shelf stuff and I would recommend it to anyone. However, I wasn't taken with the sequel "Strip Jack Naked" at all.

Wide Boys

27-Apr-2008 by Tony Arter

scheduled for October 16 2008 according to Amazon. Read somehwre that SPIV comes from the stamp used on parcels during the war Surplus Products in Vehicle. These parcels were subsequently stolen therefore leading to the acronymn SPIV and the term 'fallen off the back of a lorry'. My mum told me this so she could be wrong

Lost London Lowlife

26-Apr-2008 by Albert Finney

1. Alexander Baron "Lowlife" 2. Robert Westerby "Wide Boys Never Work" 3. Simon Bluemenfeld "Jew Boy" 4. Julian McClaren Ross "Of Love and Hunger" 5. Roland Camberton "Scamp"

late 30's authors

25-Apr-2008 by iPat

"it is strange how all these great 1930s authors seemed to disappear from view." N1, i may be stating the obvious (and not meaning to be patronising) but there was a bit of a shoot up around that time which saw a lot of talented people lost. Just wonder if they became war reporters etc which might lead to a whole new genre of writing subject from that time

"WBNW" WHEN ?

24-Apr-2008 by King Crombie

Great news. My search for an affordable copy could be coming to an end, but when ?

Westerby

22-Apr-2008 by Eyesteel

I've got Only Pain Is Real. I think it's his first novel. I knew it had a boxing theme and was very excited to track down a copy, expecting something along the lines of Curtis's There Ain't No Justice. So I was slightly disappointed when i discovered it had a not-very-convincing American setting. That said, it's not bad - but not as hard-boiled, nor as interesting as WBNW. Don't know if any of Westerby's later works have a London underworld setting…

Wide Boys Never Work

22-Apr-2008 by NW1

Surely not Eyesteel.. in 1937...I thought John Geiguld was the only gay person in those days? Wide Boys is a great book I wonder if Westerby coined the phrase Wide Boys? Anyone read his other books? I like his titles such as Only Pain is Real. I know he went to Hollywood but it is strange how all these great 1930s authors seemed to disappear from view. There's a book in the stories of these authors alone I'm sure.

Wide Boys Never Work

22-Apr-2008 by Eyesteel

I see that London Books is planning to reissue this brilliant 1937 novel later in the year - and I'd recommend it unreservedly. Some great scenes set in the worlds of used-car dealers, greyhound gangs and seedy gambling dens. Will the introduction address the implicit gay relationship between Jim Bankley and his thuggish young mate? As an example of London low-life fiction from that period, I'd say it's up there with Curtis…

He Kills Coppers

22-Apr-2008 by Harry Fabian Junior

Likewise, KC. It started well, didn't it? But got lost somewhere in the second episode. I liked The Long Firm but found the homosexual stuff overdone. And this is a theme that Arnott seems to labour. He's gay so was Ronnie Kray, so what?

Wholesale Jewelry

22-Apr-2008 by Richard Cannon

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To Be honest...He Kills Coppers (book)

21-Apr-2008 by King Crombie

I shall 'fess up to having ditched "He Kills Coppers" about a third of the way through. Too been, seen and done for me. Although I didn't mind "The Long Firm," I have my doubts about Arnott.

Zen, HKC's and Skinhead

21-Apr-2008 by iPat

Zen, really the first chapter is the relevant part and it was a drawn out read. He Kills Coppers: i struggled through it although i appreciated the quality of the production. I expect the book would be better. Skinhead. Finished it and loved it, some nice tounge in cheek references with the music and charachters. Took my time, relishing the tale and it was worth it. Liked the inclusion of other charachters from other tales so must go back to the other books to see if there are any more.

Fred in Blackpool

20-Apr-2008 by anonymous

Holiday?

Fred Sewell

20-Apr-2008 by COFFINDODGER

You're right not a mention on Google yet I remember the case well. He shot a senior plain clothes man in Blackpool and also had a period on the run.It was massive news with all the calls for hanging etc. I think he was a South London man so not sure why he was in Blackpool

Battersea Boy

20-Apr-2008 by Sheepskin Steve

Wasn’t there a book called Battersea Boy out years back? Title seems to ring a bell. I’ve read Battersea Girl by the way. Excellent book. I thoroughly recommend it. I was particularly interested in the character Titchy Thorogood. Nasty bit of work.

He Kills Coppers

18-Apr-2008 by Charlie Endell

Anyone been following this dramatisation on TV? Good period fare based on Jake Arnott's book of the same name. Obviously loosely based on Harry Roberts who gunned down three policeman in Shepherd's Bush in 1966. What puzzles me is that in an age where the true crime genre has been done to death (hasn't even Reg Kray's prison flunky even done a book?) there is nothing to speak of on the aforesaid Mr Roberts. I wonder why? He was not a gangster in a Kray or Richardson mould but no less interesting for that I suspect and the crime really did rock the country. There was another police killer just a few years later called Frederick Sewell and this was an enormous story yet that one seems to be completely forgotten.

Battersea Girl

18-Apr-2008 by anonymous

It follows the life mainly of Knight's grandmother whose own grandparents pitched up in Battersea after the Irish potato famine. She lived to be a 100 and died in 1988. The book is at its strongest in the period between the two world wars and certainly captures the flavour of the time.

'Battersea Girl" any pointers ?

18-Apr-2008 by KIng Crombie

Let's skip any witty replies like "about a girl from Battersea" etc. When was it set ? Is it fiction or a memoir ? Any pointers greatly appreciated

Battersea Girl

17-Apr-2008 by Howard

Fine book. Searched the web to see what other people have said and found this site. We lived in Battersea up until the 1970s and although the story is earlier in the century alot of what the author says is familiar to us.

We reply ...

15-Apr-2008 by Jimmy Jazz

I was thinking the same thing KC. I like to see the message board ticking over. I've just found two John King short stories , 'Last Rites' (in Rovers Return) and (The Beasts of Marseille' (in Fortune Hotel). If anybody knows of any more then i'd like to know. In my copy of 'England Away' it says in the author blurb that John is currently working on a novel and a book of short stories. Obviously the short story book hasn't yet seen the light of day. I wonder what happened to it ? Didn't 'The Football Factory' start out as a short story collection and then the editor at the publishing house suggested turning it into a novel ?

JUST POSTING THIS......

14-Apr-2008 by KIng Crombie

Every time I check this site, the Dassin obit glares me in the eye and I take my share of the blame,but... is anyone out there ?

Jules Dassin obituary

01-Apr-2008 by Alan Harvey

Jules Dassin, Filmmaker on Blacklist, Dies at 96 By RICHARD SEVERO Published: April 1, 2008 Jules Dassin, an American director, screenwriter and actor who found success making movies in Europe after he was blacklisted in the United States because of his earlier ties to the Communist Party, died Monday in Athens, where he had lived since the 1970s. He was 96. A spokeswoman for Hygeia Hospital confirmed his death but did not give a cause, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Dassin is most widely remembered for films he made after he fled Hollywood in the 1950s, including “Never on Sunday” (1960), with the Greek actress Melina Mercouri, whom he later married; “Topkapi” (1964), with Ms. Mercouri, Peter Ustinov and Maximilian Schell; and the 1954 French thriller “Rififi.” But before his blacklisting he had also carved out a successful Hollywood career making noir movies like “Brute Force” (1947), a prison drama starring Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn; “The Naked City” (1948), an influential New York City police yarn that won Academy Awards for cinematography and editing; and “Thieves’ Highway” (1949), about criminals who try to coerce truckers in California. Mr. Dassin’s last major effort before his exile was “Night and the City” (1950), a film shot in London starring Richard Widmark (who died last Monday) as a shady but naïve wrestling promoter and Francis L. Sullivan as a predatory nightclub owner. Some critics called it Mr. Dassin’s masterpiece. “Dassin turned Londontown into a city of busted dreams and nightmare alleys,” Michael Sragow wrote on salon.com in 2000. “He mixed the fantastic and the real with masterly ease.” The producer Darryl F. Zanuck had assigned the film to Mr. Dassin just as Mr. Dassin was to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He never did testify, but testimony by the directors Edward Dmytryk and Frank Tuttle, who recalled Mr. Dassin’s Communist Party membership in the 1930s, was damning enough to sink his career. Mr. Dassin left the United States for France in 1953 because, he said, he was “unemployable” in Hollywood. In Paris, unable to speak much more than restaurant French when he arrived, he encountered hard times and remained largely unemployed for five years. In need of money, he agreed to direct “Rififi,” a low-budget production about a jewelry heist. A memorable sequence is of the robbery itself, lasting about a half-hour and filmed without music or dialogue. Mr. Dassin also acted in the movie, under the name Perlo Vita, playing an Italian safe expert. He won a best-director award for the film at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. By the time he wrote and directed “Never on Sunday,” a comedy about a good-hearted prostitute (Ms. Mercouri), the anti-Communist witch hunt in the United States had been discredited, and he had been accepted again. Mr. Dassin also had a role in the movie, as a bookish American from — like Mr. Dassin himself — Middletown, Conn., who tries to reform the prostitute. His directing and screenwriting were nominated for Academy Awards. The movie was a moneymaker and its title song was a hit, though some critics found the script predictable. Ms. Mercouri became Mr. Dassin’s second wife in 1966, two years after he directed her in “Topkapi,” another film about jewel thieves, the prize in this case being gems from the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. Jules Dassin was born in Middletown on Dec. 18, 1911, one of eight children of Samuel Dassin, an immigrant barber from Russia, and the former Berthe Vogel. Shortly after Jules was born, his father moved the family to Harlem. Jules attended Morris High School in the Bronx. He joined the Communist Party in 1930s, a decision he recalled in 2002 in an interview with The Guardian in London. “You grow up in Harlem where there’s trouble getting fed and keeping families warm, and live very close to Fifth Avenue, which is elegant,” he told the newspaper. “You fret, you get ideas, seeing a lot of poverty around you, and it’s a very natural process.” He left the party in 1939, he said, disillusioned after the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler. In the mid-1930s, Mr. Dassin studied drama in Europe before returning to New York, where he made his debut as an actor in the Yiddish Theater. He also wrote radio scripts. He went to Hollywood shortly before World War II erupted in Europe and was hired as an apprentice to the directors Alfred Hitchcock and Garson Kanin. Soon he was directing films for MGM, including “Reunion in France,” a Joan Crawford vehicle with John Wayne in which her character comes to believe that her fiancé is a Nazi collaborator. His later movies were often joint efforts with Ms. Mercouri. They included “He Who Must Die” (1957), about life overtaking a Passion play in a village on Crete; and “La Legge” (1959), a noirish melodrama with Gina Lollobrigida, Marcello Mastroianni and Yves Montand. One film without Ms. Mercouri was “Up Tight!” (1968), a remake of a John Ford classic, “The Informer,” set in a poor black neighborhood, with a script by its star, Ruby Dee. It was Mr. Dassin’s first film in the United States since he had left. The year before, Mr. Dassin had directed the Broadway musical comedy “Illya Darling,” based on “Never on Sunday,” for which Ms. Mercouri was nominated for a Tony Award. The couple lived in Manhattan during the run. The same year, 1967, Ms. Mercouri, an ardent anti-Facist, lost her Greek citizenship for engaging in what Greece’s rightist government called “anti-national activities.” In 1970, Mr. Dassin was accused of sponsoring a plot to overthrow the junta. The charges were later dropped. When the regime lost power in 1974, he and Ms. Mercouri returned from exile, which had been spent mainly in Paris. Ms. Mercouri entered politics, becoming a member of Parliament and later culture minister. They had homes in Athens and on the Greek island of Spetsai. Ms. Mercouri died in 1994. They had no children. Mr. Dassin’s first marriage, to Beatrice Launer, from 1933 to 1962, ended in divorce. Their son, Joseph, who became a popular French singer, died in 1980. Mr. Dassin is survived by two other children from his first marriage, Richelle and Julie Dassin, an actress, as well as grandchildren. Toward the end of his life, Mr. Dassin ran the Melina Mercouri Foundation, which tried to induce the British Museum to return the Elgin Marbles, sculptures taken from the Parthenon nearly 200 years ago. In September, a museum is set to open at the foot of the Acropolis displaying plaster casts of the works. Mr. Dassin ended his directing career in his late 60s on a disheartened note, when his film “Circle of Two” (1980) — about an aging artist (Richard Burton) who is infatuated with a teenage student (Tatum O’Neal) — did poorly at the box office. Mr. Dassin never made another film. He had always been demanding of himself and often critical of his own work. In 1962, with his best films largely behind him, Mr. Dassin told Cue magazine: “Of my own films, there’s only one I’ve really liked — ‘He Who Must Die.’ That is, I like what it had to say. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely satisfied with it. I’d do it all over again, if I could.”

JULES DASSIN GONE TOO

01-Apr-2008 by King Crombie

Director Jules Dassin not only the director of "Night & The City," but also "Riffif", "Brute Force", "Thieves Highway" and many other films has died. A very talented man.

Sorry Richie

30-Mar-2008 by King Crombie

Sorry Richie, never read it. I was still in my second hand Richard Allen phase, at the time.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

28-Mar-2008 by richie4

Did anyone actually enjoy this book? I think we can admit it now

Cliff Goodwin's Sid James bio

28-Mar-2008 by King Crombie

Nuff said Mac, I'll pass on your regards to the lads. A few years back i read Cliff Goodwin's bio of Sid. Welll worth a read if you want to connect the dots and not too hard to find.

Sid James

28-Mar-2008 by McFurious

KC. Of course, comic actors - nobody touches Sid. I am old enough to remember him in programme called Taxi, where he was a black cab driver. Without getting all Kenneth Williams, I think the Carry Ons cramped his style. He was in some 1950s films like Joe Macbeth where he played boxing promoters, gangsters and the like. He and Michael Balfour, another great character actor, looked like they had spent their early demob faces living rough in each other's faces. Good call. Regards to the sunshine band.

Sir, I beg to differ...

28-Mar-2008 by King Crombie

Surely any connoisseur of the silver screen woul;d consider the talents of Sid James vastly superior.

Up to a point, Lord Copper

28-Mar-2008 by Claud Sam-Kydd

See where you are coming from Sheepskin Steve, but not the full picture. Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, George Cole, Anthony Hopkins etc. However, the greatest British actor of all time has to be Sam Kydd. His output was phenomenal and is the only person to have appeared in every British film made between 1936 and 1974. Sometimes these were accidental as when he walked f