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21-Jan-2012 by About Free Stuff

If you haven't heard yet, there is a wonderful organisation called Freegive ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ). Freegive Group connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's completely free to join at http://www.freegive.co.uk/group/index.php Freegive Ad Classified Directory lets you put your message in front of potential customers at the right place. Post your jobs, dating, services, room to let, flats, houses, pet wanted, pet offer, pets for sale, pet sitters, pets missing, pet shops, pet equipment, pets training, cars, vans, motorbikes, holiday, travel, events, gigs, nightlife, stuff for sale, volunteer, charity work and more ads. Get more responses to your ad for free at at http://www.freegive.co.uk/cf/index.php

"Santa Claus and Little Sister" by Dr. Brian G Snow

19-Jan-2012 by anonymous

A new novel dealing with teenage suicide, its signs, and prevention. Based on a true story. Amazon. Hope it makes a small difference in this world. Thank you.

Chet Baker's lost memoir "As Though I Had Wings"

19-Jan-2012 by King Crombie

Picked this up on the cheap, out of curiosity, it's a very slim read indeed. For those that might be interested Chapter 12 (all 8 pages of it) covers Chet's time in London in the winter of 1962/63.

5610000

16-Jan-2012 by gjgfkfdffditr

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George MacDonald Fraser "Quartered Safe Out Here"

10-Jan-2012 by King Crombie

Came across this by accident and although I'm not a Flashman reader I recognised the name. It is Fraser's personal memoir of fighting World War II in Burma. Although there is (for me) plenty to object to about the authors post war opinions on a multitude of subjects, when he keeps to the Campaign and his comrades, there is really some fine stuff. He certainly puts you in the time and place. Not exactly Alexander Baron, but a window into a regular soldier's war set in the jungle . Approach carefully !

2012

01-Jan-2012 by Jimmy Jazz

Happy New Year to you all.

Hapy New Year.

01-Jan-2012 by anonymous

From Jaques in Marseille.

Happy New Year too all!

01-Jan-2012 by anonymous

From Roger

Happy New Year too all!

01-Jan-2012 by anonymous

From Bernie

Happy New Year

31-Dec-2011 by Alan (not Abraham), Martin and John

To all.

A HANDSOME 2012 TO ALL

31-Dec-2011 by King Crombie

I am aware that this is not a Hallmark website, but in the absence of Seasonal Greetings or Good Wishes, I would just like to send my best to all at London Books, the usual suspects, writers and readers alike. Have a handsome 2012.

Free Classifieds, property, vehicles, business, travel, jobs, computers, mobiles, more

30-Dec-2011 by anonymous

Free Classifieds, property, vehicles, business, travel, jobs, computers, mobiles and more. Post your ad for free at http://www.freegive.co.uk/cf

Plough Boy

15-Dec-2011 by Martin

I have Plough Boy on my shelf, replete with Routemaster bus. A good book. Michael Davies was the young Ted who narrowly avoided the hangman. Two groups of Teds were showboating in front of some girls and a fight ensued in which tragically a kid was killed. That was by the fountain on Clapham Common. A decade on a similar gang killing took place on Wimbledon Common - this time involving skinheads . That caused some uproar . Clapham Common has been the scene of several murders before and since and is also famous as a hunting ground for badgers, or at least that is what a welsh mp claimed a few years back when the police apprehended him in the wee hours. He couldn't explain later why his trousers had to be removed in order to pursue the alleged badgers.

Plough Boy

15-Dec-2011 by Martin

Plough Boy - Tony Parker ?

14-Dec-2011 by King Crombie

Much obliged Mr Hawkins, I've done a bit of poking about and it looks like the book you mention might be titled "Plough Boy". I am in hot pursuit, so cue "Devil's Gallop".

Tony Parker

14-Dec-2011 by Harry Hawkins

I don't know the book below. But I think Tony Parker wrote a book about a Teddy Boy murder on Clapham Common. True story. One of the accused was repreived days before he was due to be hung in the 1950s. I can remember the cover - a red double decker bus cruising past the Common.

Tony Parker's "The People of Providence" ?

12-Dec-2011 by King Crombie

I've just come across a mention of this book, evidently about a South London housing estate. It's new to me, any pointers ?

Malcolm Gaskill's "Witchfinders"

11-Dec-2011 by King Crombie

Finally made it to the end, what a slog. Unless you're doing serious research, I would keep well clear of this one. A real chore to read.

Freegive - Free Community Forum

08-Dec-2011 by anonymous

The friendly general discussion community forums for all topics. We invite you to become a member, and begin sharing your views and opinions with others around the world. Freegive community forum is completely free and registration is simple - http://www.freegive.co.uk/forum

Barry Miles at the Sohemian Society

02-Dec-2011 by Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell

If You Can Remember The 60s, You Are Probably Miles A talk by Barry Miles. 1960s Britain - a decade characterized by unprecedented social and economic change - saw Barry Miles begin his impressive career as a student at the Gloucestershire College of Art. In the next few years he became established as a key figure of British subculture, making the connections that led to the birth of the notorious Indica Bookshop, the advent of the 1965 Albert Hall poetry reading, the rise of Europe's first underground newspaper the International Times and the subsequent Paul McCartney interview that secured Miles's reputation as a respected journalist. Thus firmly established as a major player in the media and artistic communities, he rounded off this extraordinary period of his life by running the Beatles' Zapple label and living in New York's Chelsea Hotel. Copies of Miles latest book London Calling: A Countercultural History of London since 1945 will be for sale on the evening. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, W1 Date 6th December, 7.30 pm Admission £3

As Long As There's Reading

02-Dec-2011 by King Crombie

I understand the upset and am a strict ink on paper man myself, but as long as folks read - that's all that really matters. I've heard that the paperback was once heralded as "the end" - turned out to be a shot in the arm, so who knows ? Do the words get read ? That's what matters !

Burning books

01-Dec-2011 by Book Lover

I see Ray Bradbury has been bullied into having his novel Fahrenheit 451 sold in the e-Book format. He held out for years but in the end it seems big business wouldn’t give him a contract unless he surrendered. What a disgrace. It’s sickly ironic this should happen to a novel that predicted a future without books.

WITCHFINDER GENERAL RADIO PLAY

28-Nov-2011 by King Crombie

A year or two back the BBC did a sharp little radio play about the making of "Witchfinder General". There was quite a bit of friction between director Michael Reeves and his star Vincent Price,

Witch finder General

28-Nov-2011 by Punch

I remember going to see this at the local ABC when I was a youth. I don't think it was an X, an AA I think, if anyone remembers the terminology? It was shocking. Violent and disturbing. Ahead of it's time. Vincent Price was supreme in his sadistic evil. Underrated and just as good as Straw Dogs that came out at roughly the same time and triggered a national debate.

Witch finder General

28-Nov-2011 by Punch

"Witchfinders" Malcolm Gaskill 2005

22-Nov-2011 by King Crombie

Carrot cruncher really I know, but it does visit "The Smoke". I'm struggling to get through this very well researched tome on the subject of Matthew Hopkins (aka "Witchfinder General") and his like.It makes me appreciate Michael Reeves patchy 1968 flick all the more. If there's a budding biographer out there, this story could be told better, i'm sure. Still I will do my best to soldier (ouch !) on.

Sohemian Event 14th November

11-Nov-2011 by London Central

Sohemian Society Presents Iain Sinclair on the writer Roland Camberton and his novel 1950 Scamp. London by night in the 1940s. The decaying back streets of Soho and the, then, sad but elegant squares of Bloomsbury provide the backdrop for a range of characters, making a living – or not making a living – in dubious way in this satirical novel. Ivan Ginsberg tries to escape his failure by setting up a literary magazine, Scamp. Iain Sinclair spent decades trying to trace the mysterious Roland Camberton, whose life was as strange as many of his characters. Roland Camberton (Henry Cohen) was born in Manchester in 1921 and was educated in Hackney. After RAF service he worked in various jobs. After his second novel, Rain on the Pavements he vanished almost without trace, publishing nothing more. Iain Sinclair is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography. His books include Rodinsky's Room, London Orbital, Lights Out For The Territory and Hackney: That Rose Red Empire. The Five Leaves reissues of both Camberton's novels, Scamp and Rain on the Pavement, will be available for sale on the night. Upstair's at the Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place, W1. 14th November, 7.30pm. Admission £3

The Jewish East End in the Radical 1930s / London Classics event

09-Nov-2011 by London Books

First published in 1935, Simon Blumenfeld’s deliberately provocative debut novel Jew Boy marked a break in the depiction of the Jewish East End. Between the wars the Jewish East End was home to a unique cultural network of libraries, political and literary organisations, music societies, education classes, dance halls and billiard halls that connected to each other in ways that have seemed almost impossible since. Blumenfeld captures this exciting new world and its relationship with an older, more traditional Jewish community in Jew Boy, seen as the founding work of what became a unique body of fiction, autobiography and drama in the literature of the 20th century Jewish East End. In this Bishopsgate Institute event, organised in conjunction with London Books, Ken Worpole discusses Blumenfeld’s novel and the representation of the Jewish East End with Rachel Lichtenstein on Tuesday 13 December, at 7.30pm. Tickets: £8, concs £6. You can book online at www.bishopsgate.org.uk/events. Nearest tube: Liverpool Street.

No Love For Johnnie (1961)

08-Nov-2011 by Frank Marker

I saw No Love For Johnnie on dvd the other day. Has anyone seen it? It stars Peter Finch as an ambitious Labour politician who falls in love with a younger woman. I found it very watchable not least for Finch's 'utter bastard' role and the classic sixties cast which includes Donald Pleassance as a sinister Peter Mandelsohn figure. Recommended.

Sohemian Event for December

03-Nov-2011 by Reginald Goss-Custard

If You Can Remember The 60s, You Are Probably Miles A talk by Barry Miles. 1960s Britain - a decade characterized by unprecedented social and economic change - saw Barry Miles, or simply Miles as he later became known, begin his impressive career as a student at the Gloucestershire College of Art. In the next few years he became established as a key figure of British subculture, making the connections that led to the birth of the notorious Indica Bookshop, the advent of the 1965 Albert Hall poetry reading, the rise of Europe's first underground newspaper the International Times and the subsequent Paul McCartney interview that secured Miles's reputation as a respected journalist. Thus firmly established as a major player in the media and artistic communities, he rounded off this extraordinary period of his life by running the Beatles' Zappa label and living in New York's Chelsea Hotel. Copies of Miles latest book London Calling: A Countercultural History of London since 1945 will be for sale on the evening. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, W1 Date 6th December, 7.30 pm Admission £3

Reissue of 3 Soho Novels

31-Oct-2011 by Frank Marker

Cast your mincepies on these three gems you discerning lot you: Scroll down to Forthcoming Titles, they are the first three on the list: http://www.fiveleaves.co.uk/

Stand Firm Mr Harris

28-Oct-2011 by King Crombie

I'm not saying CPO can win Chopper, but they can keep their dignity - a much undervalued item these days.

CPO vote

28-Oct-2011 by Chopper

The result was good but the fans are still facing a massive challenge from the businessmen running the club. We have the history, emotion and numbers, they have the money. One rich person can buy 100 shares and that gives them 100 votes, which is equal to 100 long-term supporters with 1 vote each.

To The Chelsea Pitch Owners Massive

27-Oct-2011 by King Crombie

It's not my manor and thus my team, but I tip my stingy brim low and slow to the CPO - it's nice to know that some things are still not for sale. Handsome.

Sohemian Event 14th November

27-Oct-2011 by FRANK MARKER

Ron Harris

27-Oct-2011 by FRANK MARKER

i remember Jimmy Greaves saying that when he was at Chelsea during a training session the coach went up to Ron Harris and said "Right Ron. Let's get back to the basics shall we. This is a ball. You kick it"

Chopper ?

26-Oct-2011 by King Crombie

Your last name wouldn't be Harris by any chance, would it ?

Save The Bridge

26-Oct-2011 by Chopper

The desperate lengths that Chelsea have gone to in order to win a crucial vote tomorrow, which will ultimately decide whether they can sell Stamford Bridge and move to a new stadium in west London, can be revealed today by The Independent. In voicemails left by the Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, and heard by The Independent, Buck asks for help from a waste disposal contractor at the club to put a shareholder in Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) who had asked awkward questions "on the sidelines". Since Buck announced the club's intention on 3 October to buy back the freehold of Stamford Bridge from CPO so they can sell the ground and move on, the club has faced concerted opposition from fans' groups. The Independent has also learnt that an extraordinary volume of shares has been sold in an open sale that closed on Thursday ahead of tomorrow's vote... FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE GO TO – www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/buck-takes-matters-into-own-hands-in-bridge-war-2375861.html

Sohemian Society / Jew Boy event this Wednesday

24-Oct-2011 by The Friends Of Wide Boy Willetts

Jew Boy, Simon Blumenfeld’s controversial 1935 novel, is due to be reissued as part of the London Classics series in mid-November, with a new 5,000 word introduction by Ken Worpole. As a pre-publication taster, the Sohemian Society is staging a Jew Boy evening this Wednesday. Set in the vibrant world of London’s Jewish East End in the 1930s, Jew Boy sees boxers mixing with anarchists and communists, and Yiddish actors and poets rubbing shoulders with gamblers and gangsters. The book is regarded as the founding work of the literature of the 20th-century Jewish East End. Blumenfeld’s life was as colourful as his characters. The son of a chicken-slaughterer, he left school early to box – he sparred with Jack ‘Kid’ Berg – and sold rolls of cloth on a market stall, later turning to journalism and playwriting. Blumenfeld died in 2005 at the age of 97, still a regular show-business columnist for Stage magazine. Jew Boy retains a vivid sense of life in tumult, providing a testimony to a unique time and place now firmly embedded in London’s volatile history. Ken Worpole will be talking about the novel and Blumenfeld’s life, while actor Callum Coates will read from the text. This event takes place on Wednesday, October 26th, 7.30pm, at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho, London W1. Copies of Jew Boy will be on sale on the night.

Special Ones

24-Oct-2011 by anonymous

Can well believe it

Save The Bridge

23-Oct-2011 by Shed 69

One of the fanzines says Chelsea gave 6,000 tickets to tourists so the ground wouldn’t look empty for a recent game!!!

Save The Bridge

23-Oct-2011 by Shed 77

The club have alienated so many real fans they can’t fill the ground they’ve got now let alone a new one. They whine about the Fair Play rules and needing money, well stop spending ridiculous sums on players who don’t produce and reduce the wages. They should invest in local English players. Man United and Barcelona have built their success on home-grown talent so why can’t we? If Stamford Bridge goes that is the final nail in the coffin of a club once known for the passion and loyalty of its supporters.

Save The Bridge

23-Oct-2011 by Chopper

Spot on, Tichy. Three things amaze me. First, shares were on sale until recently and those who are rich enough can buy 100 and have 100 votes. What happened to One Man One Vote? We live in England, not Soviet Russia. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Chelsea can get 20 people to buy up 100 shares each (2,000 votes) and get the freehold off the real fans. Second, the board of the CPO includes people who are being paid by Chelsea FC. This is totally out of order and a clear conflict of interests. They should resign. Third, what on earth is John Terry doing urging fans to vote to give our shares away? This isn’t about Roman - he could sell up or go bust tomorrow and the Chelsea fans have no say in the future of the club. There should be a vote of No Confidence in those running the CPO, new people appointed and a proper and fair process carried out.

Chelsea/CPO

22-Oct-2011 by Tichy Thorogood

Basically many moons ago when Chelsea FC were potless they appealed to fans to save them. This they did shelling out £100 each to buy the freehold of the stadium and the pitch protect against avaricious developers who were circling debt-ridden Chelsea. Now they want it back so they can move grounds and sell off the land. Here is a letter I sent to a fanzine: I had a nice letter from a Bruce Buck through the post the other day. The name rang a bell. At first a distant memory of a cowboy from Saturday morning pictures stirred and then I remembered he is currently Chairman of Chelsea Football Club. He hasn’t written to me before. He wants me to sell my shares in Chelsea Pitch Owners PLC. I remember now – about 20 years ago – in the depths of the worst recession then since the 1930s, queuing up outside the Bridge and handing over £100 – a fair chunk of my weekly wage - to become a Pitch Owner. My motivation and the thousands of others snaking back down the Fulham Road was to save the club in its hour of need. It needed our money. We loved our club. It was not a business transaction, for then Chelsea was still a “club” as opposed to a corporation. The game has, of course, changed. Buck, if I may call him that, wants me to sell my stake in the club and the ground to the Company. He’s offering me what I paid in 1992 - £100. But he’s not, he’s actually offering just over half what I paid (about £65) once inflation is taken into account. He has valued the entire CPO asset at around £10mn, including an £8.5mn loan advanced to the CPO by Chelsea Village plc, a few years later. Hmmm, a single terraced house on the Fulham Road just sold for £2.5mn (www.houseprices.com). But, I shouldn’t be thinking like this should I? Buck appeals to me as a fan that has the best interests of the club I have an emotional relationship with to roll over and do as he asks. It’s a powerful tool. We need to compete with the biggest in Europe. Mr Abramovich has done so much for us. Mr Abramovich may look elsewhere if we cannot meet his aspirations (as he apparently did at Spurs before he alighted on Chelsea). This may all be true, but why then have we Pitch Owners been ambushed and rushed in true City-style tactics with an offer document and an imminent meeting where the proposals can be voted through? Why, no dialogue? Why no reasonable time to seek and absorb legal and strategic advice? What efforts have been made to trace Pitch Owners that have moved addresses since 1992? Was there an offer to share the database of Pitch Owners so that an independent response and explanation of what the offer document means in layman’s terms could be communicated? Richard King and Rick Glanvill point out in the correspondence that they both work part time for the Company. Therefore, in my view, they are unlikely to be impartial. Don’t know about you, but this approach strikes me as arrogance at best and cynical corporate opportunism at worst. If the CPO were equally cynical they would hire their own city lawyers, public relations companies and investment banks. The power that resides within the CPO is obviously a prized asset. Undoubtedly, those advisers would urge the CPO to repay the £8mn loan. For £500 per pitch owner – medium term it would be likely to secure a huge return on investment. We won’t because, although we find ourselves in a potential windfall position, we want the best for our team. The Company want what’s best for the Company. Therein lies the conflict. Remember, the ownership of the team (and the ground, when we agree) will change a few more times in most of our lifetimes. These future owners will not be bound by any promises made by Buck and Co. It’s annoying and regrettable that the Company has employed these tactics. It reminds me of when Tony Blair took us war to in Iraq by manufacturing a bogus dossier. He did this because he had no confidence in his people to reason for themselves. Had he consulted, explained and educated I feel sure the majority would have backed him. His integrity is now forever tainted. Likewise, there has been no dialogue or negotiation here because the Company thinks half the surviving Pitch Owners are ageing, pot-bellied, tattooed addicts of Shameless, whose financial patronage they no longer attract and don’t particularly want, will vote against. A simple gesture such as offering all surviving Pitch Owners a free season ticket for the first season at any new ground would have done the trick. It would have shown a genuine respect for the past and offered genuine value to a group of people who made a genuine sacrifice. It would have drawn a line under the past and engendered a feeling of lasting goodwill. The one-off financial cost would have been less than £10mn in “lost” season ticket sales; on the other hand it could well have reconnected lost fans with the club. Instead, we are being offered a near 40% discount on what we paid and the thrill of having our names carved on a wall at the new ground. Big deal. If this goes through as planned and a new site is secured, it won’t be long before someone carves one word at the top of the list of names – MUGS. Think carefully before casting your vote and ensure you do cast. This will be the last time you have any meaningful say in Chelsea FC.

Interview

22-Oct-2011 by Jimmy Jazz

For those interested you can find a small interview with John King at http://benbrill.tumblr.com/post/7051809376/interview-with-john-king-london-books.

Special Ones

21-Oct-2011 by anonymous

What’s going on with this Pitch Owners row at Chelsea?

London Classics at Bishopsgate Institute - Soho Noir

19-Oct-2011 by anonymous

Soho in the 1930s was a district where high life intersected with low life, sleazy cafés coexisting with bohemian pubs and chic nightclubs. It was also a district were aristocrats rubbed shoulders with artists, immigrants, streetwalkers and criminals. Of the writers who evoked that world, Patrick Hamilton is by far the best-known. Yet the under-rated novelist James Curtis deserves to be ranked alongside him on the strength of recently rediscovered noir classics such as The Gilt Kid and They Drive By Night. Like the best American noir fiction, these portray desperate characters trapped by circumstance, their fates played out against a bleak urban backdrop. Novelist Cathi Unsworth and biographer Paul Willetts, whose books have sought to portray the seedy allure of mid-20th century Soho, will be discussing Soho writing in general and James Curtis in particular. Thursday, 20 October, 7.30pm. Tickets: £8, concs £6. Book online: www.bishopsgate.org.uk/events

Boho Books

17-Oct-2011 by Paul Duncan

AbeBooks have put up this list of BoHo books: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/alternative-lifestyle-artistic-greenwich-soho/bohemian-books.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-U111019-bohemeAQ-_-01cta&abersp=1

Pure Bred Chihuahua by Marco Zaffino

17-Oct-2011 by Marco Zaffino

Amazon.co.uk review: G.J.Hll This book is great. It is so nice to have a fast moving story that allows the reader the luxury of engaging our brains. The ideas explored are truly mind altering and made me see the world in a totally different way, what more can you ask for from a book?? The characters are so vivid, both recognisable yet operating out of our reality (or should I say the reality we limit for ourselves) seriously recommend buying this book, you wont be disappointed. I sincerely hope there is a Pure Bred Chihuahua 2. (thanks for this awesome message board)

More Sohemian Stuff

14-Oct-2011 by FRANK MARKER

Thanks KC. Just to whet your appetite we are also holding a talk on the 14th November with Iain Sinclair on Roland Camberton and his novel Scamp. Details to follow.

Korner - Shapiro - Bond

13-Oct-2011 by anonymous

Mr Marker, for some reason, that I suspect might be scarcity, the Graham Bond ("Mighty Shadow" ?) book now changes hands for "real money" and thus I've never had a go. But sooner or later at the Jumble - who knows ? PS "Jew Boy" top shelf stuff indeed !

Sohemian Society; Jew Boy

13-Oct-2011 by FRANK MARKER

London Books and the Sohemian Society present a talk on Simon Blumenfeld's Jew Boy. Speaker Ken Worpole. Copies of Jew Boy will be for sale on the night. Upstair's at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, London,W1. Date and time: 26th Oct, 7.30pm. Admission £3

Korner

13-Oct-2011 by FRANK MARKER

I wouldn't mind giving it a go. Harry Shapiro is a respected writer and does tend to cover the more interesting side of music. He did a rather good biog on Graham Bond back in the 1980s Korner had a rather interesting background, I think his father was an officer in the austro/hungarian hussars, or some equally dashing and romantic regimental outfit.

Harry Shapiro's "Alexis Korner" biography ?

12-Oct-2011 by King Crombie

Anyone had a go at this ? I would imagine that a fair portion of Mr Korner's story takes place in London and Shapiro has been about. A decent read or another dreary Rock Bio, that is the question ?

Hard Knocks

09-Oct-2011 by Michael Keenaghan

If you're interested in new London writing you might want to read my new Romford-set short story up at www.pulpmetalmagazine.wordpress.com

Morning Star Kersh review

06-Oct-2011 by Alan Harvey

Kersh is one of those forgotten authors probably due about now for a re-evaluation by younger generations. Clearly London Books agree and on the centenary of his birth they've republished the monumentally eccentric Kersh's last and arguably most compelling novel. In it he populates pre-first world war and interwar metropolitan England with a motley assembly of chancers - grifters, bohemians and emigres. His use of a mature, if at times over-ripe, style places him in a tradition of literary curiosities that includes crime writers, Ronald Firbank and the likes of Stephen Fry today. Unlike these examples, Kersh creates a more credible psycho-universe, especially in the compelling narrative of Tom Henceforth, a working-class lad made good-ish, Hungarian cafe owner and philosopher Steve Zobrany and Perp, the menacing underworld leader. The author effectively captures the interior voice of Henceforth in his wobbly career trajectory, his even more complicated creative life and his machinations around friends, foes and the attempted victims of his various scams. Kersh is at his most entertaining in the verbal set pieces which allow his characters to opine on big philosophical subjects. Altruism, for instance, is like "cutting off a dog's tail, eating the meat, and giving the bones to the dog. Altruism is making a fortune out of dead turkeys to celebrate the birth of Christ." The most gnawing absence is that of any real sense of the main social, political or economic issues swirling around the period. There are only fleeting mentions of the 1914-18 war - and they are mainly digressions on the scarcity of potatoes - little of the rise of foreign fascism and nothing at all about the blackshirt menace in London and the working-class resistance to it. So it's a reprint which reminds us not only of Kersh's undoubted literary talent but also his self-indulgent limitations.

The Angel and The Cuckoo

03-Oct-2011 by Woody Haut

Gerald Kersh has long been one of my favorite British writers. Night and the City, later made into a classic film noir by Jules Dassin, Fowler's End, about a cinema in north London, are two of my particular favorites. Kersh is capable of transporting the reader back to an era that London barely exists any more, but is instantly recognizable, before exploring it as few others have done. In fact, one of the pleasures of reading Kersh is to follow not only his intertwining narratives but where those narratives take often the reader geographically. Like Patrick Hamilton, Norman Collins, the late Emmanuel Litminov and Alexander Baron, Kersh's books are hymns to London, not the obvious places but its seedy cafes, cinemas and suburbs. The Angel and the Cuckoo is probably Kersh's most dense book, yet it is arguably his funniest- its humor invariably dark- taking place as it does in a pre-WW2 demi-monde with artists, criminals, conmen, singers, film people and writers rubbing shoulders. It's comprised of three love stories, linked by Steve Zobrany, the proprietor of The Angel and the Cuckoo, a cafe at the end of Carnaby Street which is frequented by the characters degrees of loucheness, including Zobrany’s compatriot Gèza Cseh, who starts a busboy in Vienna, but mutates into Baron Cseh, then goes to Hollywood; Tom Henceforth (“Henceforth henceforth,” he announces proudly), "an artist without an art" who has an affection for various illegal activities; Perp, the godfather of the Brighton underworld; and a variety of crooks, tarts, con-men, and a hack writing an in-depth article entitled “Would I Live My Life Over Again?” While geographically the novel takes the reader from Poland Street in Soho through to Oxford Street, south to Blackfriars, to the Farringdon Road, then back to Carnaby Street. This is another fine publication from London Books which comes with an informative introduction by Kersh biographer Paul Duncan, which alone is almost worth the price of the book. From it we learn that Kersh, who originally called the novel Poor Tom Henceforth, hoped the book, which he started writing in 1963, would be a success in America. In fact, he hadn't published a novel in the States since Fowler's End in 1957. This novel, his nineteenth, would be finished three years later, in 1966, and Kersh sent finished copies to the likes of Henry Miller, William Saroyan, Ellery Queen, JB Priestly, John Steinbeck and, strangely enough, Jane Fonda. However, even though Night and the City had sold over a million copies, The Angel and the Cuckoo would sell something like two-thousand. Yet it did receive a modicum of critical acclaim. Less than two years later Kersh would die from the cancer that had been eating away at him for some time. Long out of print, The Angel and the Cuckoo, though evoking a bygone era, has stood the test of time and, with its anarchic drift, so much more.

The Angel and The Cuckoo

03-Oct-2011 by Woody Haut

Bishopsgate

02-Oct-2011 by Steven Z

It was as well. Well done Paul.

The Angel And The Cuckoo

27-Sep-2011 by Steven Z

See you there Paul. Should be a great night.

Illustrated Talk on Gerald Kersh

26-Sep-2011 by Paul Duncan

Just a note to let everybody know that the talk I'm doing at the Bishopsgate Institute tomorrow will be illustrated with photos, clippings, documents, etc. gathered from over 15 years of research. I will also be showing book jackets from around the world. Hope to see some of you there.

A reminder! Kersh & The City / Bishopsgate Institute / 27 September, 7.30pm

25-Sep-2011 by London Books

Gerald Kersh is famous for his vision of 1930s London riddled with crime and corruption in Night and the City, as well as the nightmarish short story about a ventriloquist's dummy, which was filmed as a segment of Dead of Night, yet he produced so much more. He was the biggest-selling author in London during World War II, and conquered the post-war American magazine market, yet he died virtually penniless in upstate New York after writing his last masterpiece The Angel and the Cuckoo. To celebrate Kersh's Centenary and the new edition of The Angel and the Cuckoo from London Books, Paul Duncan, who has been researching Kersh for over a decade, will talk about Kersh's extraordinary life and work. Paul Duncan is the author of a dozen books on film and crime fiction, and has edited over 100 books, including The Ingmar Bergman Archives, for which he won the August Prize 2008 for Best Non-Fiction Book in Sweden. Tickets: £8, concs £6 Book online: www.bishopsgate.org.uk/events

Free screening of NIGHT MAIL on 6 October 2011

24-Sep-2011 by The Singing Postman

BRITISH POSTAL MUSEUM AND ARCHIVE To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the critically acclaimed 1936 masterpiece Night Mail we join Auden scholar and author David Collard as he explores the GPO Film Unit, showing a selection of films, including Night Mail itself. This much-loved film marked the second of five cinema collaborations between the poet W. H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten. The screening will include a variety of rarely-seen shorts showcasing the amazing range of styles adopted by Unit directors, including musical comedy, animation and drama. Event starts at 6.30pm and concludes at 8.00pm. Free entry. To reserve your place call 020 7239 2570 or e-mail info@postalheritage.org.uk.

The Angel And The Cuckoo

22-Sep-2011 by Steven Z

I finished reading this magnificent novel last night and loved every sentence. It reminds me so much of Mother London by Michael Moorcock. Great introduction by Paul Duncan as well. Thanks.

Piece on Kersh from today Indy

18-Sep-2011 by Alan Harvey

These days, London's Soho streets aren't so mean. The undercurrent of corruption is still there, but now it involves property speculators, not spivs and bookies. Once, though, London low-life writing involved getting in with the wrong people, rather than just hanging out in media clubs. Gerald Kersh, born in 1911, was the real deal – a bodyguard, all-in wrestler and cinema manager for whom fighting and sleeping rough was a way of life, and writing was as necessary as breathing. His first novel, the thinly veiled autobiography Jews Without Jehovah, upset several members of his family so much that they filed libel suits against him. The hero of Night and the City is a tough-talking Soho loser who fancies himself an American gangster. Unlikeable and self-deceiving, he fails to improve himself, although the book has a strong moral viewpoint. There were two film versions, one with Richard Widmark, the other with Robert De Niro. Both fall far short of the original. Kersh was buried by a bomb during the Second World War but bounced back as a quicksilver talent, writing short stories for the Evening News one day, producing character sketches, columns, articles and radio scripts the next. His wonderful short stories – which included a tale about a pilot who ages backwards and the Mona Lisa smiling to hide her bad teeth – were sometimes accepted as factually accurate. In these tales, which embraced every possible genre, resided his fame. But he should really have been lauded for Fowler's End, about a venal, hilariously Falstaffian cinema owner. Most critics ignored this masterpiece, although the ever-perceptive Anthony Burgess called it one of the century's finest comic novels. Kersh's other great novel is The Thousand Deaths of Mr Small, about a man held back by all that he learned as a child. One by one, Mr Small's hopes are removed until he is left immobile. Kersh himself achieved a lot, but his rambunctious life, punishing working hours, and natural nostalgie de la boue usually left him on the run from creditors or in hospital. At his death in 1968, Kersh had left us with a dazzling gallery of criminals and artists, characters filled with love and loathing, and carrying the seeds of their own destruction. It's a mystery that he is not regarded as a great British writer of the 20th century. The good news is that London Books is republishing his best works.

London Brakes

16-Sep-2011 by anonymous

London Brakes by John Muckle (Shearsman, 2010) is an 1980s-set novel about despatch riders in London which some people here might enjoy.

One Eye Grey - Penny Dreadfulls ?

12-Sep-2011 by King Crombie

Anyone had a go at any of these ? Brought to my attention by Lost Steps. I'm concerned that they may be in the horror mode, which is not my speed. Any pointers ?

Kersh & The City / Bishopsgate Institute / 27 September, 7.30pm

07-Sep-2011 by London Books

Notable Abodes

05-Sep-2011 by Herbert Chapman

This site at www.notableabodes.com is shaping up nicely. Check out searching Soho as a town and London as the county. Some interesting people living cheek by jowl over the years

Don't Be Shy Mr Joseph

31-Aug-2011 by King Crombie

Don't be shy Mr Joseph, just set your stall out and give it a go. What can be more London than that ?. And we don't want to see it vanish do we ! I'll have a copy for sure

New London book

31-Aug-2011 by anonymous

Hi there, "Vanishing London", my new book on London's disappearing cultural and physical landscape, is now available to buy, with foreword by Robert Elms. http://tiny.cc/ooro2 Cheers, Paul

"Low Company"

25-Aug-2011 by King Crombie

Eddie Fez has been spot on with his take on this one. Where it's hot it's hot, where it's not it's not. I struggled through the final third and gave up on using the dictionary to decipher the perpetual stream of overlong words and phrase. But Benney's observations of the "wide" and their world, made it worthwhile for me. But buyer beware, it's no lean read.

The Angel and The Cuckoo.

25-Aug-2011 by Alan Harvey

Gerald Kersh's 1966 masterpiece is now in the SHOP. Not avalaible elsewhere until Sep 15. If you liked Night and the City, this will into disappoint.

Well spotted...

20-Aug-2011 by Eddie Fez

KC, that's that one cleared up then! The book has its faults, but there aren't many like it.

For Eddie Fez

19-Aug-2011 by King Crombie

Mr Fez, am enjoying "Low Company" and could not help but note that the Con Collins' Falstaff Club's radical/free thinking barman Louis refers to all those wide - as "Angels In Undress". Page 195 of my 1936 Peter Davies edition.

"Low Company" Mark Benney (1936)

14-Aug-2011 by King Crombie

Have just started this and I must say, that despite the over generous portions of unnecessarily long words, it kicks off well. Review to follow.

The Golden Vision

11-Aug-2011 by King Crombie

It's a must see, for anyone interested in football fan/ terrace culture. I have it on a boot dvd (ouch) , it fell off the back of a moving van !

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10-Aug-2011 by anonymous

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Brian Glanville

08-Aug-2011 by FRANK MARKER

Faber Finds has reissued two football novels by journalist Brian Glanville, 'Rise of Gerry Logan' and 'Dying of the Light'. Could be interesting?http://www.faber.co.uk/author/brian-glanville/ Keeping on the footie theme, next month the NFT are showing Ken Loach's 1960s drama/doc about Everton supporters, The Golden Vision,

Thieves Like Us

04-Aug-2011 by Eddie Fez

I was given a copy of Thieves Like Us years ago, purely on the basis of a lurid cover illustration. I took it on a day trip some time later and have a fond memory of reading it in one go while stuck somewhere in rural Sussex, surprised by how good it was. The archetypal "couple on the run" novel? The Nicholas Ray adaptation is a worthy one. Never seen the Altman version. Anderson seems to have been an intriguing character. Perhaps his sole other effort "Hungry Men" is worth a tickle.

Below By Me

31-Jul-2011 by KIng Crombie

Thieves Like Us

Edward Anderson "Thieves Like Us" USA 1937

31-Jul-2011 by anonymous

Not London, not even British, but well worth a mention. This American novel, for me really captured the Depression Era Bank Robber phenomenon. It has a nice rhythm and puts you on the spot. If you're interested in American 1930's bankrobbers it's worth a dip.

Gurney Slade

25-Jul-2011 by Frank Marker

Sorry, the date of the NFT screening of the above is 11th August. Details can be found here http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/events/the_strange_world_of_gurney_slade

Strange World of Gurney Slade

25-Jul-2011 by Frank Marker

Network dvd are releasing Tony Newley's eccentric comedy, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, next month. In conjunction with the dvd release the NFT are showing 2 episodes from the series supported by related material.

OK

21-Jul-2011 by Paolo

Hands up, Eddie. I meant Bill Withers. Googie, I remember in a ITV series in the 1970s called Within Thse Walls about a prison governeress. A forerunner of Bad Girls. The convict in Rains on Sundays was an Australian actor called John McCallum, who Google later married. I think he had something to do with the kids's progarmme Skippy. Which brings me to Flipper. I lived in South London at the time and was incredibly jealous that I didnt have a jetty with a chattering dolphin at my beck and call.

RIP Googie

21-Jul-2011 by Eddie Fez

Worth noting here her performances in Night and the City and Pink String and Sealing Wax amongst others. A little respect please Paolo, though I have to admit that made me chuckle! PS Twopence Coloured is a bit of a bore. Always good to see more Hamilton in print though.

Always Rains On Sunday

21-Jul-2011 by Paolo

Googie Withers, who played the housewife in mourning for a more exciting life in It Always Rains On Sunday has just died. She was in her 90s and living in Oz. When I was young I thought her name was Australian slang for erectile dysfunction.

"Always Rains On Sunday"

21-Jul-2011 by King Crombie

Well something must have occurred between the book and the flick, because the picture is a cracker !

La Bern

20-Jul-2011 by criscpop

I read !it always rains on sunday" and was very disappointed. A sneering - look down your nose - aren't the working classes dreadful kind of book I thought

Patrick Hamilton reissue

20-Jul-2011 by criscpop

Twopence coloured from 1929 is reissued on Friday by faber finds

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18-Jul-2011 by anonymous

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18-Jul-2011 by anonymous

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John Braine "Room At The Top"

09-Jul-2011 by King Crombie

Braine can most certainly write an he captures the place and time of 1950's milltown Northern England well. On top of that he produces a classic character in "on the make"Joe Lampton. The book focuses primarily on Joe's ladies, lusts and loves and although it is an easy read, I found I had to give it a rest every so many pages. I'm sure to the masses it was quite racy in 1957. I shall have to take another look at the flick.

Penpal

06-Jul-2011 by Harry F

No elderly gents on here Marie . . . try Bebo

Penpal

06-Jul-2011 by marie

Is there any really lonely elderly gent who would like a penpal (email) to correspond with?

Cheers

30-Jun-2011 by Jim Holz

Thanks for the continued suggestions. Lots of good ideas here. I appreciate the efforts.

More Boxing

30-Jun-2011 by King Crombie

Prompted by Messrs. Marker and Fez, I recall there are several mentions of boxing in Raphael' Samuel's "East End Underworld: Chapters in the Life of Arthur Harding" which covers 1890's through to the 1930's.

Fisticuffs

29-Jun-2011 by Eddie Fez

There was a monthly series of pulp boxing novels published by Aldine in the 20s-30s. From Orwell's "Boys Weeklies": "And the periodical proper shades off into the fourpenny novelette, the Aldine Boxing Novels , the Boys' Friend Library, the Schoolgirls' Own Library and many others" Sir Harry Preston's Memories may well be of interest, covers the transition to more organised boxing. Bit on the early side, but George Borrow wrote about boxing in Lavengro and The Romany Rye. Have also seen quoted passages on boxing from Louis Golding's memoirs and Gilbert Frankau's Masterson. Kid Lewis' son wrote a biography of him but I haven't read it.

Fisticuffs

29-Jun-2011 by Eddie Fez

Boxing

28-Jun-2011 by FRANK MARKER

There's James Curtis's 1930's novel There Ain't No Justice, later adapted into a film starring Jimmy Hanley - it was recently screened at the NFT

PRIZE FIGHT IN "HOOLIGAN NIGHTS" BY CLARENCE ROOK 1899

27-Jun-2011 by KIng Crombie

I'm pretty certain there's a prize fight ("on the cobbles") in Rook's "Hooligan Nights". I've passed my copy along, so I can't check. Not exactly what you wanted I know. There's wrestling in "A Kid For Two Farthings", which doesn't help much either.

Looking for Works About or Containing British Boxing Culture in the First Half of Twentieth Century

27-Jun-2011 by Jim Holz

A wonderful forum and publisher. Happy to see this culture and literature is being kept alive. I have been researching the emergence of contemporary boxing culture in England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries - particularly its connection to working class culture. Although there are certainly prominent examples at the turn of the twentieth century from A.C. Doyle and G.B. Shaw, I have found it difficult to find examples of boxing novels from later in the century. Although a quick perusal of the London Books offerings has provided a number of ideas, I was wondering if any of you out there knew of other good examples. These could be novels that center on boxing or just works which touch on the subject. Anything related to boxers or the prize ring would be helpful. This is a useful and worthy history, one that should not be lost. Although there is reason to criticize the ability of works such as these to glamorize or popularize criminal lifestyles, they none the less shed light on an aspect of English/British culture that is relevant and worthy of study. This perspective, although seedy or dangerous, has had just as much importance in shaping our contemporary culture as any utopic vision of the future. The legacy of hooliganism embodied within English boxing history is something that should be celebrated and understood, not merely condemned. Any help you might be able to provide in this endeavor is greatly appreciated.

Screening of Wide Boys

23-Jun-2011 by Alan Harvey

Sanctum Soho Hotel - Monday 27th 7pm Soho Incident' (1956), otherwise known as 'Spin A Dark Web' or '44 Soho Square', is one of those rare, almost lost, Brit Noir gems of forgotten films. Set mainly in Soho, with great footage of Berwick Street Market and other landmark streets, this film is crackled but nevertheless a must for all Sohoites and fans of London. Based on the 1937 book 'Wide Boys Never Work' by Robert Westerby, who, according to slang historians, coined the phrase 'wide boy'. This may or may not be true but his punchy, imaginative narrative certainly gives us a glimpse into the world of racketeers, razor gangs, swindlers and prostitutes that characterised Soho and the mean streets of London between the wars. This evening is brought to us by London Books and tickets will include a copy of Westerby's 'Wide Boys Never Work'.

Room at the Top

23-Jun-2011 by frank marker

The film version with Laurence Harvey as Joe Lampton is always good value. It was probably L H's finest hour, playing a character who was not far removed from his own ambitious persona. I also thought Donald Wolfitt in the role of Susan's father was the very epitome of an old fashioned 'Listen to me lad. I pulled me sen up by me bootstraps' northern patriach, who has finally arrived with the house-on-the-hill and social cache of marrying the upper class woman. I've always wanted to read the sequel, Man at the Top, which follows the successful Joe Lampton's life down south.

room At The Top - John Braine

21-Jun-2011 by KIng Crombie

Can't think why I hadn't had a go at this earlier, but Iam now. Kicks off nicely, review to follow.

KINDLY P*SS OFF FREE GIVE

19-Jun-2011 by KIng Crombie

We're trying to have a nice little chat about a very particular type of reading here. We're not F*cking with anyone else's business and I don't see why, when you've got a whole F*cking World Wide Web, that you have to come over here and F*ck with us. You're either greedy or stupid and probably both. Just P*ss Off & Leave Us Alone.

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A pleasure...

08-Jun-2011 by Eddie Fez

Mr. Crombie! That's a US retitle, I suppose a misguided attempt to make it sound sexy? There's even a US PB edition with a painted cover illustration, pulp style. With reference to La Bern/ Hitchcock, perhaps worth noting that few writers were happy with his adaptations, due to his tyrannical approach...comparable examples being Patrick Hamilton, and Jack Trevor Story as noted below. Tho Frenzy is more effective as a film than Rope or The Trouble with Harry. Also Robert Hamer wrote poetry before making films, there's a poem from his Cambridge days in the Penguin "Poetry of the Thirties".

AKA "Angels in Undress" ?

07-Jun-2011 by KIng Crombie

Much obliged Edward. From the little bit of poking about I've done it would appear that "Low Company" was also published under the title "Angels In Undress". Baffles me ? Anyway I'm on the hunt for a copy.

Low Company

07-Jun-2011 by Eddie Fez

"It was, as I say, in 1910 that I emerged to do battle in a dim private world of napkins, worm cakes and gripe water..." Low Company is Mark Benneys' memoir of his youth, subtitled "concerning the evolution of a burglar". Moves from his estranged childhood in the thrall of his glamourously "wide" mother, through the Soho club scene, to bungled burglaries and spells in various "institutions". It was near enough a bestseller in its day and isn't too hard to get hold of. There is a recent-ish reprint but this is very expensive. Benney was a jazz lover and also fancied himself as a poet; he wrote in a rather "high" style unusual to the subject matter, which is perhaps why he's not so well remembered. He ended up a professor of sociology. I recommend it, the two chapters on the club scene are incredibly well caught, and his analysis of the "wide" life is unique. Hamer wanted to film the book, but failed in the wake of the "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" debacle.

Mark Benney's "Low Company'

06-Jun-2011 by KIng Crombie

I'm not familiar Mr Fez, what's the SP ? By the way "it Always Rains" is one top shelf flick.

La Bern

06-Jun-2011 by Eddie Fez

The only La Bern novel I've read is Brighton Belle- servicable at best, though it's a shame it wasn't filmed as several of his novels were, it could have made a good Butchers style B feature. Intended at some point to read It Always Rains on Sunday as the film is great, Robert Hamers best, in lieu of his failure to bring Mark Benney's Low Company to the screen. The Box productions adaptation of Night Darkens the Streets, Good Time Girl, is quite entertaining too.

Sohemian Event

24-May-2011 by Frank Marker

Restless Revolutionaries - A History of Britain's Fight for a Republic Speaker Dr Clive Bloom (author of Restless Revolutionaries) From regicides to revolutionaries; from fascists to anarchists; from Tom Paine to Tom Wintringham, this talk is a history of noble ideals and crushing failures. Restless Revolutionaries takes us on a journey through British history, exploring our often rocky relationship with the ruling elite, whether that it is the government of the day or the monarchy. Clive Bloom reveals our surprising legacy of terrorism and revolution, reminding us that Britain has witnessed centuries of revolt, through three bloody civil wars in Ireland, the bombing campaigns by the IRA, two Welsh uprisings, one Lowland Scottish civil war, uprisings in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet and seize London and numerous attempts to murder the royal family. From the 1970s to the present day over 23,000 British subjects have fought and died for the ideal of a fair republic. Venue & Date Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub, 25 Rathbone Place W1 7.30pm, 15th June Admission £3

Back

21-May-2011 by Alan Harvey

Thanks for your patience, if there is anyone left out there! Of all the message boards in all the world the spammers wont leave us alone.

Arthur La Bern

20-May-2011 by KIng Crombie

So back to business, I finally got round to "Goodbye Piccadilly Farewell Leicester Sq." and must confess I was a bit let down. I somehow expected more, perhaps because La Bern was unhappy with Hitchcock's take on it.

Hip Hip Hooray

20-May-2011 by KIng Crombie

London Books' News & Chat is back - now there's a Reason To Be Cheerful.

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Max Wall

11-Apr-2011 by Frank Marker

He also appeared in Waiting for Godot.

Max Wall - "Fool On The Hill"

10-Apr-2011 by KIng Crombie

Been meaning to read his autobiography " Fool On The Hill" for some time. Anyone already had a go ?

Max Wall

10-Apr-2011 by Dee Licious

Anybody catch the docunentary about Max the other night. I only knew him via Freddie Starr impressions in the 1970s, but was pleased to discover he was a many-faceted entertainer who could out-act all the luvvies while maintaining a healthy does of cynicism of all around him. DRank a lot ofGuiness too.

Sohemian Event 12th April

07-Apr-2011 by Frank Marker

Bright Particular Stars Speaker: David McKie (author of Bright Particular Stars) Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, W1 12th April, 7:30 pm Admission £3 In Bright Particular Stars, David McKie examines the impact of twenty-six remarkable visionaries on twenty-six unremarkable British locations. From Broadway in the Cotswolds, where the Victorian bibliomaniac Sir Thomas Phillipps nurtured dreams of possessing every book in the world, to Kilwinning in Scotland, where in 1839 the Earl of Eglinton mounted a tournament that was Renaissance in its extravagance and disastrous in its execution, he has created a vivid patchwork of arresting narratives that together illuminate some of the most secret - but most extraordinary - byways of our national and local history. Some figures, including Mary Macarthur, who helped the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath win the right to a fair wage in 1910, were good to the point of saintliness; others mixed the admirable with the morally dubious: the composer Peter Warlock rented a cottage in the Kentish village of Eynsford where he composed a gentle song cycle, but set net curtains twitching by his hard drinking and naked motorbike riding. In Bright Particular Stars quiet, unassuming streetscapes are transformed in to beguiling, eccentric and uproarious sites of action which - through the eyes of David McKie - are once more filled with the great triumphs and failures of the visionaries that have each, in their own way, helped shape our island's rich and chequered history. David will be signing copies of Bright Particular Stars after his talk. David McKie has worked for the Guardian as a political reporter, deputy editor and chief leader writer. In recent years, he has written the Smallweed and Elsewhere columns.

Can But Try Mr Harvey

07-Apr-2011 by KIng Crombie

In the words of my dear departed Aunt Rene "Can But Try" Mr Harvey. The Exchange & Mart crowd are a persistent bunch of sods, but all in all you keep very tidy gaff.

Find Out Who Lived Where And When

06-Apr-2011 by Alan Harvey

This is an interesting new site where you can search by person, road, area or category. Plenty of Soho, old authors etc. The site owners hope it will grow and believe that every street in every town will eventually have a claim to fame or notoriety as more people add people and place. Take a look www.notableabodes.com

Spam

06-Apr-2011 by Alan Harvey

Sorry about Spam. Its a pain. We block emails it comes from, but then more get through. Not sure what we can do to eliminate it. We were having a good run. ..

What?

04-Apr-2011 by Jimmy Jazz

Bohemians post aside.Whats with all the Spam?

Sohemian Society: In Conversation with Dudley Sutton

04-Apr-2011 by Frank Marker

The Sohemian Society presents Dudley Sutton: DIGGING UP THE DIRT + Q+A an evening of memories, poems, songs, inspired by Bohemian Soho from 1949-2000 as part of THE SOHEMIA SOCIETY series, at THE WHEATSHEAF 25 RATHBONE PLACE, LONDON W1T 1JB: 5tth April, 7.30. Admission £3

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Hmm

03-Apr-2011 by Jimmy Jazz

Just finished Morvern Callar by Alan Warner. Liked the writing but didn't think there was much of a story/plot. Dunno, maybe its just me ...

Above & Beyond Mr Fez

24-Mar-2011 by KIng Crombie

Your response is "Above & Beyond" Mr Fez and thus I tip my stingy brim low and slow. I shall give Jack a go.

Jack again!

23-Mar-2011 by Eddie Fez

This is hardly a satisfying answer, but I'd say Jack was a one-off. The best I can do is Julian Maclaren-Ross, though more in terms of the life/persona than the writing. Still, there's some similarity between Live Now, Pay Later and Of Love and Hunger. I'd say LNPL has enough "low-life" detailing to overcome correspondences with The Amorous Milkman et al if that isn't yr kettle of coconuts! I've picked up bits at random and he wrote a lot - novels, journalism, stories, film, TV, etc. His friendship with Michael Moorcock might provide a handle on his pulpier and further out moments, as well as his sheer velocity of output. He turned out his books very quickly and it does tend to show, tho not necessarily to their detriment. I don't think he ever wrote his "masterpiece", he's one of those writers where every fan has their own favourite. Think a man in a bedsitter, ducking the bailiffs, juggling two wives and a bit on the side while trying to finish a novel, a script and a few short stories by the end of the week. Certainly not a "literary" type. The last one I gave a go was Dishonourable Member, not one of his best , but I still enjoyed it.

Another ? Mr Fez.

23-Mar-2011 by KIng Crombie

Many thanks for the swift reply Mr Fez, but I'm a little put off by the association with 70's sex comedies. Are there any other writers you might place JTS alongside ? Just trying to get a handle, as my initial tip came from Iain Sinclair book ? For the record the lower case j in my initial post was a typo, no disrespect intended.

Jack!

22-Mar-2011 by Eddie Fez

Live Now, Pay Later is the most easily available and perhaps best known Jack Trevor Story novel, the first of a trilogy about chancing "tally boy" Albert Argyle. Prefigures British sex comedies of the 70s, I'd say a decent place to start. Downriver aka The Screwrape Lettuce is a good one, more of a satirical / speculative fiction number. There's also The Trouble with Harry, made into a Hitchcock film JTS hated. An interesting, dissolute character.

jack Trevor Story - Any pointers ?

21-Mar-2011 by KIng Crombie

I've yet to have a go at Jack Trevor Story and have a list of titles, any pointers ?

Zigger Zagger

21-Mar-2011 by Frank Marker

Oh was it a series? I thought it was a one-off Play for Today?

Zigger Zagger

20-Mar-2011 by Len

There is a small booklet out there about the making of Zigger Zagger where Mr Terson recalls casting the first play. Her recalls that a young actor turned up and auditioned. His name was Bill Kenwright and Terson describes him as a mad Liverpool fan. Is this the same Mr Kenwright who is now Chairman of Everton FC and who appeared in Coronation Street in the 1960s as a fresh faced young actor

Much obliged Frank Marker

18-Mar-2011 by King Crombie

Once again I have Mr Marker to thank. I had no idea "Zigger Zagger" was a short lived series on the box. 1975 according to IMDB. It would appear that the central characters from the play remain, but my guess is that the plot was jazzed up considerably.

Zigger Zagger

18-Mar-2011 by Frank Marker

I vaguely remember it on the telly KC. Do you remember around about the same time a Ken Loach work called The Golden Vision? It was a drama/doc following a family of devoted Everton fans. If I remember correctly the grandfather's ashes were spread across Goodison Park. The Golden Vision was a reference to blonde-haired Everton striker Alex Young. I think extracts are available on YouTube

"Mooney & His Caravans" Peter Terson 1968

18-Mar-2011 by King Crombie

Tucked away at the end of my Penguin "Zigger Zagger", a slice of life that for me holds up far better then the headliner. Well worth the short dip. A tip of the stingy brim to Mr Terson.

"Zigger Zagger" Peter Terson 1967.

17-Mar-2011 by King Crombie

Had this on my "To Do"list for some time and now it's done. Not much to be gleaned from this, almost fifty years later, but I'm sure it was an eye opener for those unfamiliar with football hooligans and terrace culture at the time. With a large "terraced" cast it must have been fun to perform, or go see. At the back of the Penguin is another shorter, play "Mooney & His Caravans". I think I'll take that for a spin too.

There Ain’t No Justice

16-Mar-2011 by London Books

It’s a blip, probably due to an old page being reinstated. We’ll get it added again. Thanks for pointing it out.

Edith Sitwell

16-Mar-2011 by Frank Marker

and looked like the effigy on a medieval tomb. ;)

Edith

15-Mar-2011 by King Crombie

If anyone does have a go, please post a review. The little i know of Edith is from Virginia Nicholson's top shelf "Among The Bohemians". She was tall, stylish and a big booster of the modern arts.

Edith Sitwell

15-Mar-2011 by Frank Marker

Edith Sitwell 15-Mar-2011 by George Bowling Worth a read, friends? It could be if your leaning is towards posh people who are totally bonkers. If you get the chance check out her Face to Face interview with John Freeman. I get a strong sense from her that she could be a very over-bearing character who would brook no opinion if it deferred from her's.

Nipper

15-Mar-2011 by Alan Harvey

Smashing new book out about a boxer called Nipper Daley. He was fighting as a boy and retired as a teenager. Dripping with early 20th century nostalgia and a poignant story, well told. In his time he was as famous as any British pugilist today.

Coral Island

15-Mar-2011 by Barry M

Read this as a kid. By R.M Ballantyne. My wife says her teacher told her that Golding based Lord of the Flies on it. Nonsense?

Edith Sitwell

15-Mar-2011 by George Bowling

Worth a read, friends?

now you see it....

12-Mar-2011 by criscpop

Anyone noticed that "there ain't no justice"is missing from the coming soon section of this website? What's happening guys?

People are giving TV, exercise bike, sofa, computer, pushchairs, baby toys and more away for free

07-Mar-2011 by anonymous

If you haven't heard yet, there is a wonderful organisation called Freegive Group ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ). Freegive Group connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills and, at the same time, helping someone in your community by gifting them the item you no longer need. Another benefit of using Freegive is that it encourages poeple to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process. By using Freegive, not only are you able to get rid of your item with the minimum of fuss; you will also be doing your part in stopping another reusable item ending up in a landfill. It's completely free to join and everything posted must be free. Freegive group is active in all London boroughs. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfg.htm

SEND OUT THE DOGS

24-Feb-2011 by Michael Keenaghan

...read it up on 'The Beat' writing website here: www.the-beat.co.uk/send-out-the-dogs

Send Out the Dogs

24-Feb-2011 by Michael Keenaghan

I am an underground London writer. Read my new story that spans the life of a British soldier in South Armagh (via Borehamwood) in the the 80s, to his time in the Met police from the late 80s to the present.

Alfie Burke AKA Frank Hanna

22-Feb-2011 by King Crombie

I've been told he wrote an ITV Play Of The Week under the alias Frank Hanna, titled "Where Are They Now" broadcast 30th March 1964

Alfie Burke

22-Feb-2011 by Frank Marker

Public Eye was marvellous. It was the series that made Alfred Burke's name with the public after years of being being a jobbing actor, albeit a thoroughly professional one who always turned in a good performance. On one of the dvd reissues of PE he is interviewed about his time on the series. He came across as a thoroughly likeable man and unlike many in his profession appeared to be totally unaffected by luvvieness. Not sure if he put pen to paper, but according to is obit he did pen a Play for Today in the 1960s

Alfred Burke

22-Feb-2011 by Patricia

I know very little about Mr Burke. I just remember that my parents never missed an episode of Public Eye and they relished it because they felt it was the most "real" series on TV at the time. It was sharing air time with the likes of Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars and the like so I can see what they mean.

Alfie Burke - Pen To Paper ?

21-Feb-2011 by King Crombie

RIP with much respect Sir. Does anyone know if Mr Burke ever put pen to paper ?

Alfired Burke

21-Feb-2011 by Frank Marker

RIP Alfie Burke...

Seconded, Mr Jazz

16-Feb-2011 by King Crombie

A very nice chat Jay. I liked the way that song lyrics were cited as a writing influence - it can be a under valued arena, but you do have to "step lightly". Pop stars and the like, do tend to get a bit carried away when taken seriously.

Jay - nice interview

15-Feb-2011 by Jimmy Jazz

Jay - nice interview with John King. Interviews with John are rare so it's nice to get a recent one. Sounds like the new book is finished. Rough release date anyone?

Sohemian Event 23rd Feb

14-Feb-2011 by Frank Marker

Sohemian Society presents Electric Eden Rob Young, author of the acclaimed Electric Eden (Faber), reading and in conversation with Paul Murphy on Britain's visionary music tradition, from folk revivalists to pastoral composers, urban folkies and psychedelic voyagers. Venus: Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place, W1 Date and time 23rd Feb 7:30 pm Admission £3

Dan Fante

11-Feb-2011 by Bruno

Dan is John Fante’s son, though his writing is more like his friend Bukowski. I highly recommend Dan Fante’s books.

Interview With John King

10-Feb-2011 by Jay Slayton-Joslin

Hi Guys, Did an Interview with John King at my website - www.jayslaytonjoslin.com - he gave some fantastic responses to some questions and is truely worth checking out. Subscribe if you enjoy. Best wishes,

Dan Fante

10-Feb-2011 by Frankie Machine

Is he related to John Fante?

86’d

10-Feb-2011 by Bruno

Don’t forget Dan Fante. I just finished reading his 86’d.

Nelson Algren

10-Feb-2011 by Frankie Machine

He’s one of the great American writers along with Selby and Bukowski.

"Never Come Morning" done and dusted.

09-Feb-2011 by King Crombie

Algren finishes as her starts, never flinching.

Nelson Algren - "Never Come Morning"

01-Feb-2011 by King Crombie

Yankee I know, but I'm just over half way and what a top shelf read this book is ! Written in 1941, it's a tough take on the small time hoodlums, cheap whores, bent cops, drunks and assorted losers of Chicago's Polish North West Side. Been meaning to tackle Algren for some time and well happy I got started. A nice affordable paperback published by Seven Stories Press.

Five Leaves

28-Jan-2011 by loafing oaf in all night chemist

...and also the Roland Camberton novels Scamp and Rain on The Pavements.

Barons court, All Change publisher

28-Jan-2011 by Loafing oaf in all-night chemist

The publisher is Five Leaves Publishers - who also reprinted Alexander Baron's great novel King Dido.

Sweet News, Mr Marker

27-Jan-2011 by King Crombie

Any idea who the publisher will be ? Not that it matters, I'm just happy at the pospect of an affordable copy.

Baron's Court, All Change (1961)

26-Jan-2011 by Frank Marker

FYI, 'Baron's Court, All Change', Terry Taylor's classic beatnik modernists into mods novel is due to be reissued this November.

Human Punk film/Tv adaptation

19-Jan-2011 by parker

hi all, a while back there were rumours of an adaptation of John's Human Punk - is this still on the cards? Having re-read the book over xmas, it would be great as a film or Channel 4 tv drama. Would shane meadows direct i wonder??

Bm & Monty ?

14-Jan-2011 by KIng Crombie

Maybe it's the fFreakbeat Tizer chasers ? Steady lads !

BM

12-Jan-2011 by monty

I saw them too walking down Frith Street. Wasn't Tom Bosley the dad from Happy Days with them too?

Jazz Woodbines bm ?

12-Jan-2011 by KIng Crombie

Best go easy on the Jazz Woodbines bm, It's only January !

I have not Mr Marker

12-Jan-2011 by KIng Crombie

But the title and author are now noted, cue 'Devil's Gallop".

the three wise men

11-Jan-2011 by bm

A strange experience happened to me the other night when I was slumming it in soho. I had just emerged from a Italian restuarant and was buttoning up my jacket when I would swear that I saw Ronald Kray, Elvis Presley and Martin Knight (London books writer) getting out of a Rolls Royce and quickly disappearing in to a Penthouse. When I walked over to the Penthouse building and read some the various names on the front door I realised that they had rang and entered the premisies of THE GOD SQUAD!!! What a srange world we live in.

Books

11-Jan-2011 by Frank Marker

Just finishing Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Excellent read and thoroughly recommended for people who want to know what it was like to resist the Nazis in war torn Berlin. About to start London Blues by Anthony Frewin. I imagine you've al;ready got this one under your belt King Crombie?

Sohemian Event 18th January

11-Jan-2011 by Frank Marker

Capital Affairs 1950s London and the making of the of the Permissive Society Speaker Professor Frank Mort During the 1950s a series of spectacular scandals profoundly disturbed London in ways that had major consequences. Upper-class intrigues, macabre serial killings, and homosexual affairs exposed pleasure and danger at the heart of the metropolis. High and low society collided in a world of social and sexual extremes. Patrician men-about-town, young independent women, go-ahead entrepreneurs, Westminster politicians, homosexual men and West Indian newcomers were centre stage in encounters that reshaped public and private behaviour. Frank Mort is Professor of Cultural Histories at the University Of Manchester. He is author of ‘Capital Affairs: The Making of the Permissive Society’, ‘Cultures of Consumption’ and ‘Dangerous Sexualities: Medio-moral politics in England 1830’. Recent reviews of Capital Affairs: 'In vivid illustrations and elegantly crafted sub-plots Capital Affairs paints a finely grained picture of a society in flux.' --Frank Trentmann, Sunday Express, 20th June 2010 `Capital Affairs is a valuable alternative social history of 1950's and 60's Britain' --Nichi Hodgson, Standpoint, June 2010 `...a provocative study that...shows the Fifties as a precursor for most of the ideas of the Sixties.' --Barry Miles, Mail on Sunday `Mort's analysis is outstanding...he melds broad analysis with telling tales of individuals... A proper history book...I adored it.' -Jonathan Wright, Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 27th June 2010 Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place W1 18TH January 7:30 pm Admission £3

porn videos

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Ahoy There

06-Jan-2011 by KIng Crombie

It's about time somebody posted, so I'll dip in. Anyone swag any good reads over the holiday ? I landed Roy Adkins' "Nelson's Trafalgar", not London Books manor I know, but still a fine read thus far. A handsome 2011 to you all.

Happy Xmas one and all

25-Dec-2010 by Alan

From the London Books mob,

No Mean City - surely there's better.

18-Dec-2010 by KIng Crombie

Fought my way to the end of this 1935 Gorbals' classic ("Over 500, 000 Copies Sold" claims the cover) and cannot recommend it. Despite it's authenticity, it's a poorly written book. Surely someone has written something better on between the Wars Glasgow slum life than this ?

Tosh Berman

18-Dec-2010 by Alan Harvey

Nice clip on the news page from Tosh Berman of Book Soup championing London Books Classics. Looked him up and see he starred in an Andy Warhol movie and that his father, a film-maker, was one of the faces on the front of the Sgt Pepper album. Praise indeed.

Kersh and Curtis

18-Dec-2010 by Arthur Brown

They very likely did. Both authors publishing same-genre books in the same year. Both commercially successful for a while. Both filmed. Both drank. Both used same Soho pubs.

Kersh and Curtis

18-Dec-2010 by DS Dan

The piece also mentions James Curtis. Did they know each other?

Today's Guardian

11-Dec-2010 by Lembit

Fine piece on Night And The City.

Power to your elbow

07-Dec-2010 by Claire Hamill

Thank you London Books for producing so elegantly some of the lost treasures of the literary world. While other publishers play safe in reviving classics of the costume drama genre you have excavated real visceral quality. I wait with keen anticipation for what come off your gilded production line next. I am an independent bookseller and know just how hard it is for small quality publishing houses to keep afloat in the face of limited retail exposure and the contraction of the book-reading public. Rest assured my little concern will continue to place your evocative covers front of shop and I personally will take satisfaction every time a customer walks away with a Kersh, a Westerby or a Curtis knowing they have some suprisingly inspiring and enjoyable few hours of reading ahead of them.

No Mean City -A. McArthur/H.Kingsley Long

01-Dec-2010 by KIng Crombie

Just over a third of the way through this Gorbals "classic" and I must say, thus far it's not as good as I had expected. Authentic for sure, but hardly "King Dido" - maybe it will fix up......

Get free Furniture, Clothes, TV, Sofa, Laptop, Bed, table and other household items (London)

26-Nov-2010 by anonymous

Get free furniture, table, TV, Sofa, Laptop, Bed, Baby stuff, Clothes and other household items in London - http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfg.htm

Vic Mackey (No Justice)

21-Nov-2010 by anonymous

I've just finished watching the very last episode of The Shield. Vic Mackey, a vile character, 'Tony Soprano with a Police Badge'. Nevertheless very effective at bringing down LA's murderers drug dealers etc. (They say it takes a rat to catch a rat!!!) Nevertheless he was the ringleader of the pack, but yet when the end came Lem gets murdered by Shane who commits suicide and Ronnie is destined to spend the rest of his days in jail. But yet Mackey the ringleader who commited and orchestrated all the vile acts gets a job with the feds, £23k p.a for 3 years plus pension and health insurance. Oh dear he has to spend his days behind a desk wearing a suit. But spare a thought for the rest of the strike team who followed him blindly. Now they say if you go around doing bad you get it back double, karma its called!!!. Well in this instance that cant be justified fully since the end of Mackey did'nt justify the means.

Roland Camberton

19-Nov-2010 by Frank Marker

What a shame. I shall just have to enjoy his Rain on the Pavements which I'm about to start now. What a fascinating bunch those post-war Brit writers were.

Roland Camberton

18-Nov-2010 by anonymous

I'm afraid his unpublished book is lost, so unless some bloke with a literary metal detector finds it in a field somewhere it will stay unpublished.

British Road Books

13-Nov-2010 by KIng Crombie

While in the manor of the wanderer, I recently snared a nice hardback copy of W.H. Davies "Autobiography Of A Super Tramp" (first published 1908) . Will post a review when I get to it and through it !

Roland Camberton

11-Nov-2010 by Frank Marker

Sorry that should have read 'unpublished book' on his travels through the Uk.

Roland Camberton

11-Nov-2010 by Frank Marker

Thankjs for the info re Houseman's. As I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Scamp (his descriptions of his rat infested flat are quite something) I will certainly be ordering Rain on the Pavement. I would love to have read his, unyet, published book on his 'road' book of his tramp through the UK.

Rain on the Pavements by Roland Camberton

10-Nov-2010 by Ross Bradshaw

Previously mentioned here as being delayed, it is now available from London bookshops and www.fiveleaves.co.uk. By the way, have people noticed that Housmans in Kings Cross now has a huge London section?

Sohemian Society Frank Norman

05-Nov-2010 by Frank Marker

A Talk on the History Of The London Orphan with special reference to Soho legend Frank Norman Paolo Hewitt Paolo will give a reading from his latest work in progress, But We All Shine On - The Remarkable Orphans of Burbank Children's Home as part of his talk. Tuesday November 23, 7.30pm at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1

peeping tom

03-Nov-2010 by Frank Marker

interesting doc on peeping tom. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vkws5

Paul Willetts on Paul Raymond at the Richmond upon Thames Literature Festival

29-Oct-2010 by Richmond upon Thames Literature Festival

Paul Willetts & Virginia Ironside Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond, Soho’s Billionaire King of Burlesque Tuesday 9th November, 7.30pm The Bingham Hotel £7 (£6) “A normal, healthy chap likes to see a pretty girl without any clothes on.” (Paul Raymond) For almost forty years, Paul Raymond was one of Britain’s most scandalous celebrities. Best known as the owner of the Raymond Revuebar, a world famous strip-club frequented by the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and the Krays, he enjoyed equal success as a theatre impresario, property magnate and porn baron. Paul Willetts and Virginia Ironside discuss this atmospheric and amusing book, following Raymond from his strict Catholic upbringing to his death in 2008, by which time his isolation, paranoia and extreme wealth had earned him the reputation as England’s answer to Howard Hughes. Paul Willetts is the author of two previous works of non-fiction, Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia and North Soho 999, the latter described by Mark Gatiss as “absolutely gripping”. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The TLS, The Spectator and other publications. “Not since John Dickie’s Cosa Nostra have I read anything that exerts such hypnotic fascination for its sometimes repellent subject.” (The Observer) Book online at www.richmondliterature.com Or call 020 8831 6494

Cult novels

28-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

And of course besides the internet and book fairs there's always the well informed bretheren on this message board to defer to.

another listings book

28-Oct-2010 by CALLAN

I know what you mean KC, I'm a also a bit wary of books of this nature. The publishing world does appear to be going through a period of 'top 100' books. Easy to put together too I suppose? It's much more fun if people seek these books out off their own backs, whether it be via internet searches or visits to book fairs, rather than be 'informed' by another lazy publisher.

500 ESSENTIAL CULT BOOKS ...

28-Oct-2010 by KIng Crombie

Why does the title and concept of this book, rub me the wrong way ? I don't know why but it does, perhaps the flaw is mine ?

Rosie Hogarth

27-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

Yes Rosie is on her way to me right now. Nice to see London Books are bringing out another James Curtis novel. This time set in pre-war Notting Dale. 500 Essential Cult Books: The Ultimate Guide, compiled by Gina McKinnon and Steve Holland, could be a nice stockign filler for christmas. Nice cover anyway/

26-Oct-2010 by criscpop

Has anyone encountered Cheapjack by Philip Allingham (brother of Marjory)? Looks worth a go..

more releases

26-Oct-2010 by criscpop

I've had "scamp" too - although "rain on the pavements" seems further delayed. "Rose Hogarth" by Alexander Baron is also out on 5 leaves publishing. Can someone from London Books let us know what the ETA is for "there ain't no justice" and "jew boy please?

Roland Camberton

20-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

I've just received the republished Camberton novel Scamp. Maclaren-Ross gave it a pretty awful review, but then he doesn't come across as a very sympathetic character in the book, where he is lightly disguised as Angus Sternforth-Simms, former commercial traveller and general bore. One of Sternforth's story stories is given the wonderful title of "Gotcha!'. A real JMR title if ever there was one. The book has kept the original John Minton front cover. Onwards and Upwards!!

frank norman

14-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

You may like to know Paolo Hewitt will be giving a talk on Frank Norman at a Sohemian Society gathering on the 9th November.

May Day

14-Oct-2010 by Shorty Mathews

You are selling well in Brighton, chaps! Browsing in the excellent Waterstones there yesterday and a table devoted to London Books on display dominated by a tower of May Days. A strange paperback among them though - Barry Desmond is a Wanker - written by Martin Knight. Played safe and snagged a copy of May Day.

Nice To See...

14-Oct-2010 by KIng Crombie

Nice To See Things A Little Less Exchange & Mart !

Frank Norman

12-Oct-2010 by Harry Fabian

Couldn't concur more, Harv. Didn't he marry a QC who had defended him in a trial or was that Jimmy Boyle? Have a faint memory of him being interviewed by Bernard Braden on Late Night Line Up and there was an interesting whiff of menace about the man.

Frank Norman

12-Oct-2010 by Harvey

Ever thought about republishing his stuff? Good writer. Stand On Me probably his best but Barnado Boy runs it a close second. The toast of the glitterati for a while and their favourite bit of rough. He used to drink in The Chelsea Potter in the lates 1960s and I spoke with him on a couple of occasions.

Useful iPhone app

11-Oct-2010 by Michael Ferguson

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Thought this was a book site

08-Oct-2010 by KIng Crombie

Don't want to come across as a Copper, but isn't this a book site ? Nothing against people looking for work (as long as it's not on my behalf) or giving stuff away (again, as long as it's not mine). But horses for courses, no ?

Post your ad for free - London, England and UK

08-Oct-2010 by anonymous

http://www.freegive.co.uk/directory.htm - Post your jobs, general jobs, full-time, part-time, evening, weekend jobs, work wanted, business services, flats, houses, room to rent, house to share, parking, storage, garage, office space, house for sale, home swap, estate agent, pets, cars, vans, motorbikes, holiday, travel, travel partners, events, gigs, nightlife, volunteer and charity Work ad for free. Visit freegive directory at http://www.freegive.co.uk/directory.htm

Give or get unwanted items for free in your own town - London

08-Oct-2010 by anonymous

If you haven't heard yet, there is a wonderful organization called Free Give Group ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ). Free Give Group connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills and, at the same time, helping someone in your community by gifting them the item you no longer need. Another benefit of using Freegive is that it encourages poeple to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process. By using Freegive, not only are you able to get rid of your item with the minimum of fuss; you will also be doing your part in stopping another reusable item ending up in a landfill. It's completely free to join and everything posted must be free. Freegive group is active in all London boroughs. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfg.htm

Sohemian Event 19th October

06-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER 7:30pm MEMBERS ONLY: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond Soho's Billionare King of Burlesque a talk by Paul Willetts Upstairs at: The Wheatsheaf 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho (off Oxford Street, nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road) Entrance: £3 For almost forty years, Paul Raymond was one of Britain’s most scandalous celebrities. Best known as the owner of the Raymond Revuebar, a world famous strip-club frequented by the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and the Krays, he enjoyed equal success as a theatre impressario, property magnate and porn baron. Paul Willetts’s atmospheric and amusing book follows Raymond from his strict Catholic upbringing to his death in 2008, by which time his isolation, paranoia and extreme wealth had earned him the

Sohemian Event 28th October

06-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

Rockin at the 2i’s Coffee Bar A talk by Andrew Ings London in the 1950s was vibrant with artists, musicians and intellectuals. Right in the heart of the city, Soho was like a village community filled with cafes, pubs and clubs. And on the tiny stage of one of these - the 2I's Coffee Bar - many legendary musicians began their careers. Andrew will describe how the dark basement of the 2i's at 59 Old Compton Street became a focal point for British skiffle and emerging rock 'n' roll. The Vipers were the first skiffle group who really 'hit the spot' and took up residency at the 2I's bar. Tommy Steele was the undoubted star of its early line up, while Cliff Richard performed at the 2I's as part of The Drifters. Adam Faith's band, The Worried Men, became a regular fixture at the 2I's, where they also appeared on the BBC's live music series the Six-Five Special in the late 1950s. Artists such as Marty Wilde, Vince Taylor and Terry Dene all made their debuts there and became part of the British history of rock 'n' roll. Composer Lionel Bart could also be found in the 2I's, serving customers, while future producer Mickie Most was employed as a singing waiter. Aspiring musicians came along hoping to be spotted by impresarios and promoters such as Jack Good, Larry Parnes and Don Arden. Hence the 2I's became the bridge between musical talent and finding fame and fortune in potential record deals. Andrew Ings has written many articles for a range of titles for over 20 years. These have included theatrical reviews for a number of newspapers and magazines such as Arts East, Centre Stage, the Jazz Rag and the Guardian. He has also written a number of sketches for the stage and his first book was published in 2001. Andrew has broadcast on the arts, focusing on the theatre in particular, and was a contributor to a weekly radio programme on the arts for more than three years. He currently works freelance for a number of theatres in London. He is also an advisor to the Mountview Academy of Theatrical Arts. Peter Parker’s Rock n Roll Club 4 Denmark Street WC2 28th October: 7.00 PM Admission: £3

Sohemian Event 12th October

06-Oct-2010 by Frank Marker

MI6 A talk on the History of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Speaker Michael Smith Michael Smith talk will cover the period from the service’s creation in 1909 to the start of the Second World War in 1939, an era which saw Britain’s spooks involved in a variety of acts of torture, murder and mayhem that make today’s controversies seem almost mundane. Yet SIS managed to produce an astonishing amount of intelligence, despite perhaps understandable official suspicion and a continuous squeeze on budgets. Michael Smith is the award winning defence correspondent of the Sunday Times. He served in the Intelligence Corps before joining the BBC and then the Daily Telegraph. Smith has reported from wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and broken many exclusive stories, most notably the Downing Street Memos, which exposed government lies over Iraq. He is the author of many books, including the number one bestseller Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park and Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews and Six: A History of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Pub Rathbone Place W1 12TH Oct .7:30 PM Admission £3 MI6 A talk on the History of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Speaker Michael Smith Michael Smith talk will cover the period from the service’s creation in 1909 to the start of the Second World War in 1939, an era which saw Britain’s spooks involved in a variety of acts of torture, murder and mayhem that make today’s controversies seem almost mundane. Yet SIS managed to produce an astonishing amount of intelligence, despite perhaps understandable official suspicion and a continuous squeeze on budgets. Michael Smith is the award winning defence correspondent of the Sunday Times. He served in the Intelligence Corps before joining the BBC and then the Daily Telegraph. Smith has reported from wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and broken many exclusive stories, most notably the Downing Street Memos, which exposed government lies over Iraq. He is the author of many books, including the number one bestseller Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park and Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews and Six: A History of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Pub Rathbone Place W1 12TH Oct .7:30 PM Admission £3 M16 A talk on the History of Britain's Secret Service. Speaker Michael Smith Michael's talk will cover the period from the service's creation in 1909 to the start of World War II, an era which saw Britain spooks involved in a variety of acts of torture, murder and mayhem that make today's controversies seem almost mundane. Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place W1, 12th Oct. 7.30 PM. Admission £3

Painter and Decorator available in London

05-Oct-2010 by Bern

Hello Im a British born and bred painter and decorator of over 20 years standing. I live in London and I have just finished a job and Im currently available to do plastering work in or near to South and central London, and also Surrey ONLY Yours ever RING Bernard 07852569720 NO AGENCIES

"SOUR SWEET" by TIMOTHY MO.

05-Oct-2010 by King Crombie

Just finished this, which was much touted when published in 1982 and yours truly wasn't paying attention. A tale of "working poor" London Chinese immigrants and Triads set in the late 60's or early 70's. It's far from hard boiled, but it did give me a different take on Gerrard Street and it's culture. I'm glad I read it.

Thompson

30-Sep-2010 by FRANK MARKER

Just found out he was a Bristolian. His name does have an american ring to it. It's all in the intial! Also found out Sidney J Furie directed Leather Boys

Lee J Thompson

30-Sep-2010 by FRANK MARKER

Was J Lee Thompson one of those blacklisted american directors who came over to the UK to find work and inject a hard edge into late 50s early 60s Brit movies? I have a feeling he also directed Leather Boys?

Steve Chibnall "J.Lee Thompson" Book

27-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Back to books, Steve Chibnall (something of an authority on the British flick) wrote a handsome little book on director J.Lee Thompson, published about 10 years ago. Not sure if it's still in print, but well worth a dip.

Top Shelf Flick

27-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Been a fan of Tiger Bay, for some time. Hayley's debut and one of the best screen debut's ever. Director J lee Thompson nails post war Cardiff location.

Tiger Bay

27-Sep-2010 by Harry Fabian

Anyone catch this yesterday afternoon? Good street and early multi-racial scenesof 1950s Cardiff. Young Hayley Mills at her Whistling Down The Wind best and Horst Bucholz who went on to be in THe Magnificent Seven. Music by Laurie Johnson who penned The Avengers theme.

Norman Wisdom

24-Sep-2010 by Pinky

Hugely underrrated artist. I think the one where he is a road-digger but is also the doppleganger for a Nazi general is the best. The scene of pre-coital singing with Hattie Jacques cracking. Like Bob Monkhouse he could be a bit "affected" in interview but a real talent. His comedy was of its time but I can remember sitting in the Odeon in 1964 watching A Stitch in Time and the place was rocking and howling as one with laughter. Does that happen today?

"On The Beat"

23-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Poking about, it would appear that "On The Beat" is the flick.

Norman

21-Sep-2010 by Frank Norman

Yes it was possibly Norman's finest and only comic moment. He actually played two roles in the film, the hairdresser/villian and an undercover cop playing him. The scene where he is taught how to act like the ctimper by camping it up it up by the senior policeman is pure comedy gold.

Correct Laurence

21-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Not sure of the film's title, but yes Norman Wisdom did play Mr.T.W., who gave it the thumbs up !

teasy weasy

21-Sep-2010 by Laurence

Didnt norman wisdom play him in a film as a seedy italian hairdresser with ganster connections? just read rejoice rejoice abnout the 1980s - a good read

Apologies, that should read "aimed at"

17-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Yet another mistake should read "not sure who the book was aimed at ?".

" Raymond - The Outrageous Story of Teasie Weasie"

17-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Not sure who this 1975/6 auto-biography of the hairdresser Raymond of Mayfair aka Mr.Teasie Weasie - but it comes across flat a la a serial tabloid job. It's smutty, name droppy(?) and little else. Obviously a man with a considerable ego, but one doubts little depth. He gives over 30 pages to horse racing and only 3 lines to his father's suicide.

Pete Storey

15-Sep-2010 by Frank Marker

Yes anon, Peta was the bastard's bastard! Apparently he's now living in bucolic bliss in France with his partner along with 4 cats, 2 dogs and a few goats.

Remains

14-Sep-2010 by Michael Keenaghan

Read my story of music, tragedy and growing up in Tottenham. It's up on the fiction section of www.3ammagazine.com

Peter Storey

13-Sep-2010 by anonymous

I was at a party in London about 10 years ago and the host was trying to get a cab for an inebriated Alan Hudson and his wife. Eventually a minicab arrived and it was Peter Storey. Hudson took one look at him and said: 'You will go to any lengths to get me....'

Gooner Spills the Beans

12-Sep-2010 by Frank Marker

I see Pete Storey has brought his autobiography out.

reply 2 king crombie

11-Sep-2010 by freindly 1

what though if u watched em slowly peel off their robes right down to the finale then unexpectedly there was a wood pecker not a fury nest id have a few words to say ? would u answers on a post card plze ......take care king :)

TIE '86

09-Sep-2010 by Finchley Boy

Very good article and banter in the comments on some of the inconistencies in the first episode of Shane meadows spinoff. http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/is-this-england/ Sabotage Times is very good site actually, has some fine writers.

TALK ???

09-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

It never occurred to me that you might be able to talk to them, I thought you just watched them take their kit off

pantie,s inferno

08-Sep-2010 by anonymous

does this walk conclude with talking to a bird ?

PANTIES’ INFERNO PAUL RAYMOND AND THE BIRTH OF BRITISH BURLESQUE

06-Sep-2010 by The London Adventure

Presented by Paul Willetts Saturday 25th September 2010, 3pm Meet your guide – a tall, shifty-looking bald gent’, clutching a copy of Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond – outside the front of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, close to the junction between St. Martin’s Place and Trafalgar Square (nearest Underground stations: Charing Cross and Leicester Square). From this unlikely starting point, you’ll be transported through the history of British burlesque, encompassing nineteenth-century nude shows, not to mention the 1940s heyday of the Windmill Theatre, home of Revudeville. You’ll also hear about the louche world of West End strip clubs between the late 1950s and the early 1970s. At the heart of this flourishing club scene was the luxurious Raymond Revuebar, founded by Paul Raymond (1925–2008), a suave, dryly-humorous former blackmarketeer. The Revuebar, which offered London’s answer to the Folies Bergère, attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, the Kray twins, and the Beatles, who filmed part of The Magical Mystery Tour there. Steering a course between corrupt coppers, psychopathic gangsters and moralising politicians, Raymond used his club to bankroll even greater success as a West End theatre owner, pornographer and property magnate, ultimately earning the title of Britain’s richest man. Besides chronicling the evolution of burlesque in this country, “Panties’ Inferno” tells the story of how Raymond ushered his own ritzy brand of sexploitation into the mainstream, in the process becoming one of twentieth-century Britain’s most influential figures. The walk will last approximately two hours, concluding in the Blue Posts Pub on Berwick Street. Paul Willetts is the author of Members Only, the newly-published biography of Paul Raymond. He has also written two previous works of non-fiction, Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia and North Soho 999, the latter described by Mark Gatiss as “absolutely gripping”. Alongside these, he has edited four much-praised collections of writing by the bohemian dandy, Julian Maclaren-Ross. He also devised and worked as co-photographer on Teenage Flicks, a jokey celebration of the football game, Subbuteo, featuring reminiscences by Jonathan Meades, Will Self, David Baddiel and others. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The TLS, The Spectator and other publications.

MOSCOW RULES JOHN LE CARRE’S SMILEY’S PEOPLE

06-Sep-2010 by The L0ndon Adventure

Presented by Benedict Newbery Saturday 6th November 2010, 3pm Meet your guide – a slightly furtive and unremarkable-looking man dressed in a black coat and cap, clutching a copy of Smiley’s People and secret instructions graded FLASH – outside the front of The Freemason’s Arms, Downshire Hill, Hampstead Heath, London, NW3 1NT (nearest Underground stations: Belsize Park and Hampstead). From this starting point, you will be taken to the edge of Hampstead Heath and there briefed on the events leading up to the start of the case. This will include a brief summary of the action in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, followed by background information on Karla – “Smiley’s black grail” – his flawed running man Kirov and developments in Paris and Hamburg. The party will then join Mostyn at the tin pavillion before investigating the scene of the grisly murder – the killing of an elderly émigré General that brings George Smiley out of retirement. You will then be taken to the place where Smiley discovers the all-important proofs, hidden by the General moments before his death, and from there to the safe house where Lacon and Strickland await. While Strickland is writing up the D-notice for the press, you’ll be appraised of the likely agents of the murder, before heading to South End Green, where Smiley interrogates the taxi driver who drove the general before he died. The walk will last approximately two hours, concluding in the Magdala Pub on South Hill Park, Hampstead. Benedict Newbery is a lifelong fan of George Smiley and all those who sail in him, as well as being a journalist and poet. His poems have been published in Magma, Succour, the delinquent, South Bank Poetry, Borderlines, Plectrum, Carillon, and Straight from the Fridge. He regularly performs his poems at events in London. He also makes poetry films and in 2008 he storyboarded and co-directed the film of his poem “Cul de sac”, which was shortlisted for the 2008 ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. In addition to his day job, Benedict is an occasional copy editor and poetry review writer for Nude Magazine. He led the Moscow Rules walk in July 2009 on behalf of the Sohemian Society. Find out more at www.benedictnewbery.com

SÉANCE ON A W11 AFTERNOON: JACK THE STRIPPER’S LADBROKE GROVE

06-Sep-2010 by The London Adventure

Presented by Cathi Unsworth (author of Bad Penny Blues) Sunday 17 October, 3pm. Meet in front of Holland Park Tube Station, where on the night of 17 June 1959, 21-year-old Elizabeth Figg vanished into the back of a long black car, the first of eight victims of a fiend the press would dub ‘Jack The Stripper’. Follow her footsteps back in time to a red light Ladbroke Grove soundtracked by the Ouija board of Joe Meek, where in rackety basement clubs and bedsit studios, the Pop Artists shaped new worlds, slumming aristocrats rubbed up against the rude boys and Spiritualists tuned into the ether… While all the time, a phantom killer stalked the tapping feet of the working girls from the pubs of Portobello and behind the twitching curtains of Peter Rachman’s Powis Square. The walk will last approximately 2 hours, concluding at The Earl of Lonsdale, Portobello Road. Cathi Unsworth is the author of three pop-cultural crime novels. Find out more at www.cathiunsworth.co.uk

can anyone help.?

04-Sep-2010 by friendly 1

poem. who is author? WHEN GOD HAD MADE THE EARTH AND SKY*THE FLOWERS AND THE TREES*HE THEN MADE ALL THE ANIMALS AND ALL THE BIRDS AND BEES-AND WHEN HIS WORK WAS FINISHED *NOT ONE WAS QUITE THE SAME *HE SAID "ILL WALK THIS EARTH OF MINE *AND GIVE EACH ONE A NAME "-AND SO HE TRAVELLED LAND AND SEA-AND EVERYWHERE HE*WENT A LITTLE CREATURE FOLLOWED HIM UNTILL HIS STRENGTH WAS SPENT* AND WHEN ALL WERE NAMED UPON THE EARTH *AND IN THE SKY AND SEA THE LITTLE CREATURE SAID DEAR LORD THERES NOT ONE LEFT FOR ME!* THE FATHER SMILED AND SOFTLY SAID "IVE LEFT YOU TILL THE END * IVE TURNED MY OWN NAME BACK TO FRONT -AND CALLED YOU DOG, my FREIND ----THNKS ID aprreciate any answers sorry bout grammar and punctuation not enuff time.

To Sir With Love

03-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Lyrics by Don Black, who appears to have been a journeyman film-biz wordsmith, also wrote the words to Michael Jackson's "Ben" and some 007 stuff (not Desmond Dekker).

East End Story

03-Sep-2010 by Harry Fabian

Dont know about that one KC and I will look it out, I always wondered what happened to Braithwaite...and eerily I was just listening to Lulu singing To Sir With Love on my Ipod. "From crayons to perfume" is the clumsy lyric that I like.

"An East End Story" by Alfred Gardner 2002 ?

03-Sep-2010 by King Crombie

Anyone familiar with this ? Mr Gardner went to the school that was the centre piece of "To Sir With Love". Best known to most of us via Lulu or Sidney Poitier, the book was written and published in the late '50's. Mr Gardner's book was perhaps self published (Gardner Books 2002) and supposedly takes issue with E.R., Braithwairte's memoir. Your starter for ten Bamber.

Charlotte St

02-Sep-2010 by FRANK MARKER

Flasher have you been to Charlotte St recently. I think you'll be sorely disappointed. It's now full of mineral water sipping media types working on their next projects. The last truly liberating incident to happen down there was when George Melly stamped on his mobile phone in frustration in not being able to get to work. Btw, Paul Willetts is a mild-manner gent from Norwich way

Members Only

28-Aug-2010 by Flasher

Calm down Desmond. Put it away.

Members Only

28-Aug-2010 by Barry

Silk stockings? I like the sound of that!

Members Only

28-Aug-2010 by Flasher

Paul Willetts wears a 40s spiv suit and lurks in the night-time doorways of Fitzrovia, tape-recorder in one hand, a pair of silk stockings in the other. I’ve seen him. His stomping ground is in and around Charlotte Street and the Wheatsheaf pub, home to tarts, gangsters and a wide range of perverts and drug fiends. Beware the spiv Willetts.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Smut Boy

I hear he's even sleazier than you'd expect. Stands to reason: you've gotta be pretty sleazy to want to write about Mr Raymond.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Smut Boy

I hear he's even sleazier than you'd expect. Stands to reason: you've gotta be pretty sleazy to want to write about Mr Raymond.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Barry

That’s a bit rich coming from someone who calls himself Flasher. Paul Willetts is a respectable author who prowls Soho in the cause of his art! I’ve never met the man but can’t believe he is as sleazy as people say.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Flasher

Put it away Barry. This Willetts character seems like a sleazy chap.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Barry

Sounds good! I will have to buy this book.

Members Only

27-Aug-2010 by Smut Boy

A pal lent me his review copy the other day. Very funny book. The author really DID interview loads of old strippers. (Not in mind condition, I expect.) My favourite story involved a white horse which was trained to remove an artiste's bra with its teeth. Strange but true....

Members Only

26-Aug-2010 by Barry

I read that as well Flasher. The article praises the author’s diligent research. Does that mean Willetts spent a lot of time ‘interviewing’ the strippers and tarts who worked for Raymond? Good work if you can get it.

Members Only

26-Aug-2010 by Flasher

Big review of the new Paul Willetts book in today’s Evening Standard.

Post ads for free on London Freegive Group

24-Aug-2010 by Beck

London Freegive: http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfreegive.htm - Post your job, car, van, motorbike, pet, property, local business services, freebies, flatshare, house for sale or room to rent ad for free in London. It's completely free to join. Visit London Freegive at http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfreegive.htm

MEMBERS ONLY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PAUL RAYMOND, SOHO’S BILLIONAIRE KING OF BURLESQUE

21-Aug-2010 by Serpent's Tail

(Serpent’s Tail / published on 2 September / £11.24, including P & P from Amazon) “A normal, healthy chap likes to see a pretty girl without any clothes on.” For almost forty years, Paul Raymond was one of Britain’s most scandalous celebrities. Best known as the owner of the Raymond Revuebar, a world famous strip-club frequented by the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and the Krays, he enjoyed equal success as a theatre impresario, property magnate and porn baron. With his fur coat, gold jewellery, customised Rolls-Royces and taste for busty showgirls, he was often portrayed as the cartoonish personification of nouveau riche vulgarity. Yet he also embodied the entrepreneurial instincts that could transform a Liverpool lad into Britain’s richest man—a man so prosperous he was the victim of a terrifying extortion plot. Paul Willetts’s atmospheric and dryly amusing book follows Raymond from his strict Catholic upbringing to his death in 2008, by which time his isolation, paranoia and extreme wealth had earned him the reputation as England’s answer to Howard Hughes.

ok i sky + it

17-Aug-2010 by 12...beatnik n other

ill review it asa,,poss lol bye fellow literature lovers

BBC 3 or 4 tonight

16-Aug-2010 by Jim Bankley

At 9pm programme on the novel between the wars. Dont know if it covers any of this stable but should be interesting neverthless.

is there anybody out there?

14-Aug-2010 by the nutty proffesser 12 n annonaymous..lol

hello to all think its time i helped start the jigsaw n explain a few things my name is ..? jr if your reading m8 if you other nosy sams r still lookin to get me in your web mickey mouse wears a watch with your face on it n the dials r worded in alphabetical order starting from a ..assholes...b...bullies c...enuff bad language this is a highbrow web page anyways if u accept my apologies then thanks but if not im sorry .....if you think im nuts QUOTE-"those that dance are often thought mad by those who cant hear the music"............goodnight folks ttthhhaaats alll :)

yellow n blue

12-Aug-2010 by 12

=.? plz just say hi safe n well also reference to the climate change between suggested locality n say south africa ill get it u helped me find closure n i will forever b grateful thank you

you talking to me.?

12-Aug-2010 by anonymous

im confused but im also 24 hours without sleep refer to me as beatnik and ill get it , but if u r n your talking about conspiracy theories then no im not refering to that because theory is subjective im talking fact if u wanna no more ill happily tell but in 30 years time ill still b misunderstood just b aged 61 lol dont take offence i got skin like a rhino it's pretty hard to offend me i just had my tounge in my cheek as opposed to up somebody's ass xcuse my francais ..parlez vous francais.non porqoui,? o well i hoped seeing as this is a site dedicated to literature somebody would b well read enough to have got my reference.....fidelety ..william wordsworth poem ..dogs.. ok well if im way off the mark ill stick my neck back in my shell go back to my corner and b quiet :) the pen is mightier than the sword unless you have a biro that wont work then u can proceed to chop it to pieces with a sword lol im going now bye folks

Ah well

10-Aug-2010 by Frank Marker

Nope still don't get it. Perhaps you'll be seen as a misunderstood genuis in thirty years time. Can I offer my sincerest apologies now if you are Now about grassy knoll in Dallas.....

beatnik wtf

09-Aug-2010 by anonymous

well in reference to my last post it was a neck out of the shell sort of thing but if you wanna pigeon hole me or any one else then i got a hole i suggest a hole to put your comments and if any birds do live there and they aint pigeons their shitehawks if u wanna battle let it commence if you understand youll take no offence. but human company i dont desire i prefer the furry life force that lies by the fire,if by chance u dont get me..check out a poem named fidelity .find the author n ill reply otherwise dont even try THE TIMES THEY R A CHANGING

Ref Beatnik

04-Aug-2010 by Frank Marker

I think it's heartening to see this messageboard offers a service to people who decide to hit the keyboards after closing time,

BEATNIK'S RIGHT ON

04-Aug-2010 by King Crombie

Nice to see a Beatnik, make a post on London Books ! "Cool To See Yer Man" (copyright Stanley Unwin).

i think self sufficientcy (spelt wrong)

02-Aug-2010 by anonymous

dissenfranchises power and those in power dont want that happening obviously . some might say that to become self sufficient is easy u reap what u sow but you try to become totally self sufficient and i bet u the paper its written on mysteriously catches fire £$ corrupt the weak and and provide temptations to the pure of heart but you cant fool all of the people all of the time the days of repression are quickly deteriorating and soon the loser will later to win GET OUT OF THE WAY IF YOU CANT LEND A HAND THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING :)

Complete Control ?

02-Aug-2010 by King Crombie

Messrs. Marker and Hilly - for my tuppence worth, I think it's all about control. All the individuals you mention of yester-year, would say (within reason) what they wanted to say. Today the only people hired are those that are going to say, exactly what they were told, or had agreed to say. It's a bit like working in tele-marketing (no pun intended) - they're hired to stick to the script.

Fings aint wot they used to be

30-Jul-2010 by Frank Marker

Yes Hilly I agree. Where are the characters? I think it's the fault of the media training they receive. All that naturalness and spontaneity is just sucked out of them. I hate to get all dewy eyed but does any remember the 1970 World Cup panel of Dougan, Crerand and Allison?

contact me please ..daves nephew in your story

27-Jul-2010 by anonymous

contact me please at green

contact me please ..daves nephew in your story

27-Jul-2010 by anonymous

contact me please at green

million little pieces

25-Jul-2010 by anonymous

james frey is the author

Good night Mr Higgins

24-Jul-2010 by Hilly

So Alex, has after a dogged refusal to do so, died. Pain in the neck often but a charismatic, straight-talking individual -like Mr Clough referred to below. Where are they now? People who say what they think. People who think, even. There are certainly none in broadcast sport.

Ouch !!

24-Jul-2010 by anonymous

Should read "is' not "ss", shabby I know !

A ?

24-Jul-2010 by King Crombie

No I haven't, but as a casual observer, ss Mr Fray the author or part f the title ?

anybody read a book called million little pieces by mr frey

23-Jul-2010 by anonymous

anybody read a book called million little pieces by mr frey.?

Damned United

23-Jul-2010 by Frank Marker

Anyone catch Damned United on BBC4 last week? Not as dark as David Peace's book, but more of a big love affair between Ol' Big Ed and Peter Taylor. It was still a very engaging film though, with Martin Sheen turning in another bravura performance. I love the fact he can play both Kenny Williams and Brian Clough, two character who were poles apart ,although maybe Clougie in a roundabout way had a bit of campness about him too. Wouldn't have said that to his face of course! Being a bit picky here, but I thought the chap who played Johnny Giles was far too tall, he would have been more suitable in the Joe Jordan role, sans teeth. Just finished Baron's Low Life. What a marvellous book. According to the Iain Sinclair's introduction there was talk of adapting it into a film with Harry Corbett as Harry Boas.

hunting marco

22-Jul-2010 by anonymous

HAS ANY ONE READ A BOOK TITLED HUNTING MARCO POLO

Apology

22-Jul-2010 by T Blair

Yes, quite right KC, that man just brings out the worst in me.......

Let's Watch The Language

22-Jul-2010 by King Crombie

I'm all for free expression, but let's watch the language. I'd hate to see this gaff, degenerate into the currency of daily off- hand verbals. We're all guilty so no pointy fingers, but I like to think of London Books as Best foot forward ( preferably with a shine on).

Peter Swindleson

21-Jul-2010 by T Blair

I'd rather have my toenails pulled out with rusty pliers than put a tenner in that slimefucker's pocket,

Political memoir

20-Jul-2010 by Lord Prescott Of Hull

Has anyone invested in the Peter Mandelson book yet? I heard him on the radio yesterday and he sounded like he’s pulling a few punches.

Could Be A Gap In The Market

11-Jul-2010 by King Crombie

Perhaps London Books will take note, of the Harry Roberts shortage. I'm sure there's someone scribbling or tapping away as I post this.

Good call KC

09-Jul-2010 by Hill, Ben

Now every tom, dick and fred has a book about and there are 436 about Brothers Kray and Richardson alone. But Arry, as far as I know, none, Strange - one man, three police, no books. Why?

Ouch !!

09-Jul-2010 by King Crombie

Obviously that should read "He Kills Coppers" no offence Tommy !

HARRY ROBERTS - IS THERE A BOOK

09-Jul-2010 by King Crombie

Current events "up north" have brought Harry Roberts back into the picture. Anyone know if there is/was a book on the subject. No I don't mean "He Kills Coopers".

Patrick Hamilton's & Hitchcock's "Rope" on tv.

03-Jul-2010 by anonymous

On film4 this Wednesday.

Freegive UK - Find your local community recycling group near you

26-Jun-2010 by Recycling

Items we throw away such as bed, television, clothes, furniture, printer, toys, sofa and computer can pass to someone in your community. Recycling is an effective way to cut down on the use of these limited resources as well as promoting community involvement in the process. If you haven't heard yet, there is wonderful organization called Free Give Group ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ). Free Give Group connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills and, at the same time, helping someone in your community by gifting them the item you no longer need. Another benefit of using Freegive is that it encourages poeple to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process. By using Freegive, not only are you able to get rid of your item with the minimum of fuss; you will also be doing your part in stopping another reusable item ending up in a landfill. It's completely free to join and everything posted must be free. Freegive group is active in all England regions. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/england.htm Freegive group is active in all London boroughs. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/londonfg.htm Freegive group is active in all Scotland towns. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/sco.htm Free give group is active in all United Kingdom and other countries across the world. Find a group near you at http://www.freegive.co.uk/groups.htm This is a great idea! Encouraging people to reuse and recycle things by giving them away and not sending them to the garbage bin! I think freegive ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ) is a great way to build a bond in the community and it's always good to recycle. I think it's a fantastic idea and everyone should join! Please pass the word around to your friends, family, church members, workmates and help Freegive Group grow bigger and stronger.

Chime of a city clock

22-Jun-2010 by bill londonsoul

I hadn't heard of this book, Frank, but the Nick Drake connection reeled me in. I'm glad it did : I'll definitely give this a go - Maclaren-Ross, Orwell, Hamilton, Kersh...etc. The New Statesman's given a fair review, The Times is irritated by the "outmoded idiom".Although I reckon anyone who's a real fan of this stuff (the originals) is fairly immersed in the period and sees this as conversational quirks, rather than irritants. Now, to find an independent book seller to order it from....

Bookshop

20-Jun-2010 by Frank Marker

I think you're right KC. In this day and age Corporate Communism rules. Although having said that the Borders flagship store on Oxford Street closed down last years. I can't say I was that sad to see it go. Has anyone read DJ Taylor's Patrick Hamilton/Maclaren-Ross pastiche novel, At The Chime Of A City Clock?

Can't Be Any Money...

18-Jun-2010 by King Crombie

Surely there can't be any money in running a bookshop can there ? I would have thought that most were a break even labour of love at best. Am I wrong ?

Cliosures

15-Jun-2010 by Frank Marker

Sad innit. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did in Kensington. The shutters are going down on the shops on the Portobello Road too. The whole place will become a soulless retail outlet for trustarfarians.

Another one bites the dust

14-Jun-2010 by Melanie

The Persephone Bookshop on Kensington Church Street has closed, I'm sad to note. It was a delightful shopping experience bringing the ethos of London Books and precious few others to the High Street. Amazon, are the culprits, the staff told me. What are we doing to our culture?

Shekels for old rope

11-Jun-2010 by Frank Marker

That should have read "What! Another effing one?!"

Shekels for old rope

08-Jun-2010 by London Central

What! Another one!!

This Fucking Life

05-Jun-2010 by Michael Keenaghan

Read my new North London crime story here... www.the-beat.co.uk

God’s Lonely Men

03-Jun-2010 by Vince

God’s Lonely Men are the core of the original Lurkers, Pete Stride, Nigel Moore and Manic Esso. They have just released a new single called Now Is The Winter. Google them and you will find their site

Malayan Swing

02-Jun-2010 by anonymous

Who are GLM?

Pete Haynes and Malayan Swing

01-Jun-2010 by Vince

I thought he came across very well on the radio. Malayan Swing is a great book and it was interesting to hear the author talking about it like that. Good choice of music as well, plenty of Lurkers plus Nirvana and the Ruts. The GLM song was right up there also.

Pete Haynes tonight

01-Jun-2010 by Alan Harvey

London Books author (Malayan Swing), Pete Haynes aka Manic Esso, is on Hayes FM tonight between 8.50pm and 10pm. It is 91.8 on the dial or you can pick it up on the Hayes FM website.

"Black Swine In The Sewers Of Hampstead" ?

25-May-2010 by King Crombie

Just picked this up for a few pennies - by Thomas Boyle and subtitled "beneath the surface of Victorian sensationalism" -published 1989. Any previous ?

There Aint No Justice

21-May-2010 by Roger de Courcey

I was fortunate enough to nip in and see the showing of this 193os British film from the James Curtis novel of the same name at the NFT2 yesterday. Great melodrama suitably "softened" for delicate pre-war audiences. Still, plenty to relish with some good realism and humour. Delightful to discover that Mr Grimsdale from the Norman Wisdom comedies was once a young man; here playing a spivvy boxing promoter. The star Jimmy Hanley was the real-life husband of Dinah Sheridan matriach of the film The Railway Children and a nice cameo from Bombadier Billy Wells, the ex-boxer who made a less violent living in later life as the man who banged the J Arthur Rank gong at the beginning of their movies. Present in the audience was Curtis's daughter Nicolette and rumoured the daughter of a former girlfriend of the enigmatic author.

Party's Over DVD

18-May-2010 by Frank Marker

Just watched Olly Reed as the leader of a gang of beatniks in a little known film from 1965 called The Party's Over. Highly recommended.

How to Reducing, reusing and recycling London’s unwanted items

12-May-2010 by Vicky

Items we throw away such as bed, television, clothes, furniture, printer, toys, sofa and computer can pass to someone in your community. Recycling is an effective way to cut down on the use of these limited resources as well as promoting community involvement in the process. If you haven't heard yet, there is wonderful organization called freegive ( http://www.freegive.co.uk ). Freegive connects people who are giving and getting unwanted items for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills and, at the same time, helping someone in your community by gifting them the item you no longer need. Another benefit of using freegive is that it encourages poeple to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process. By using freegive, not only are you able to get rid of your item with the minimum of fuss; you will also be doing your part in stopping another reusable item ending up in a landfill. It's completely free to join and everything posted must be free. Freegive group is active in all London boroughs. Find a group near you. Visit Free Give home page at http://www.freegive.co.uk This is a great idea! Encouraging people to reuse and recycle things by giving them away and not sending them to the garbage bin! I think freegive.co.uk is a great way to build a bond in the community and it's always good to recycle. I think it's a fantastic idea and everyone should join!

"Guttersnipe" - Gerald Kersh - BE WARNED !

10-May-2010 by King Crombie

Skip this one. Kersh comes across as an aged Saloon Bar bore, you'd be better off reading last week's Daily Mail !

Sohemian Society on Lost Steps

07-May-2010 by Frank Marker

For anyone interested in our activities here's an interview we gave to Lost Steps recently: http://www.archive.org/details/LostSteps-TheSohemianAsociety

Weller London Documentary

06-May-2010 by Bill Londonsoul

Did anyone see this documentary coinciding with the release of Paul Weller's latest album? Called "Find the torch" it was made by Julien Temple, and I've heard people say it was maybe Temple or Weller's attempt to make a "London Nobody Knows". Obviously, it couldn't hope to imitate that, but - despite some bizarre and irritating comment - in my opinion it's not the worst addition to London film. Here's a link to it on Ch 4's player. http://redirectingat.com/?id=120X382&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.channel4.com%2Fprogrammes%2Fpaul-weller-find-the-torch&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.modculture.co.uk%2Fforum2%2Findex.php%3Ftopic%3D14624.10

Andrew Whitehead

06-May-2010 by Frank Marker

Hello Andrew I heard your informative talk on London Fiction on Lost Steps recently. Thanks to you I tracked down a copy of Angel Pavement which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

London Fictions - and Alexander Baron

05-May-2010 by Andrew Whitehead

Trying again to post the site addresses: http://www.andrewwhitehead.net/london-fictions.html http://www.andrewwhitehead.net/alexander-baron.html

London Fictions - and Alexander Baron

05-May-2010 by Andrew Whitehead

I hope this embryonic webpage on London novels will be of interest to those who come to this site ... and there's another about Alexander Baron

May Day

05-May-2010 by King Crombie

Obviously, a "must read" for some of us. Looking forward to it.

REVIEW OF MAY DAY FROM CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL, May 1 2010

04-May-2010 by anonymous

A new edition of a 1930s novel offers a unique view of a time Published: 29 April 2010 by DAN CARRIER JOHN Sommerfield said it was best not to look back at novels “written in early youth, later in life”, but found himself surprised when asked 50 years later to write a preface to an edition of his 1936 work May Day. “It turned out to be not the sort of book I’d vaguely remembered it to be, and definitely not the book I’d intended it to be at the time of writing,” he said. The author, who lived in Kentish Town, reflected on a London of the 1930s he had eloquently created in the book that has been republished this week, and compared it to the world half a century later. The story draws together the lives of a series of different people over the last three days of April: Sommerfield uses these sketches to create a holistic overview of a fiery political situation on the streets of London during the build-up to a massive May Day demonstration. “You don’t have to be a social historian to realise how much the world has changed in 50 years – probably more than in any comparable period,” he wrote in 1984 when re-reading the piece for the first time in decades. “Of course, a lot of things have stayed the same. Not quite the same, but nearly so. “The material circumstances and social climate of everyday life in this country now would seem unbelievable to the people depicted in May Day. Whatever the book was then it has become a historical novel – worth reading now, I hope, in relation to our own times.” The book helped cement John’s reputation for a talent of marrying observation with strong writing. He noticed the little things, and it means the London of the period comes alive. “It’s very vivid,” says Football Factory author John King, whose publishing house London Books has produced the new edition and has written the foreword. “He weaves a thread – it is very experimental, and a unique way of writing.” Sommerfield’s political attitude emerges through his use of people from all social stratas, and how he treats them as equals. “He writes about London through a massive cast of characters,” says Mr King. “And he judges every one fairly. He just treated people as people.” By doing this, he shows that an exploitative system is ultimately no good for anyone, rich or poor. “He was living a political life,” says John. This led Sommerfield to fight in the International Brigades in Spain soon after the book was published. His machine-gun unit was at the siege of Madrid, where his friend, the poet John Cornford, died. He too was reported dead – The Times even ran an obituary. But he returned, and wrote Volunteer In Spain, drawing on his experiences. When war against Germany broke out, Sommerfield worked fitting out Spitfires in Burma and India for the RAF. His nature was such that he once made a complaint to the officers on behalf of those he worked with about the lousy state of the food – at the base in Karachi, he was taken into an office and shown a large file that had been collected on him. After the war Sommerfield settled in Kentish Town and it was here in the 1950s he wrote the novel North West Five, a love story, and worked for the Mass Observation Movement. He continued to write up to his death in 1991. Sommerfield was a regular at the Fitzroy Tavern, by Fitzroy Square, and was a contemporary of George Orwell, Julian Maclaren-Ross and Dylan Thomas. But what really sings out of the pages of May Day, says Mr King, is Sommerfield’s essentially progressive and hope-filled attitude. “He was an optimistic and up-beat person all his life,” he says. “That was is nature, and that’s in May Day – it is optimistic book. He wrote that it was a time of great idealism, and captured how a lot of people were inspired by May Day, inspired by thoughts of overthrowing a system of exploitation.” And May Day’s symbolism is not lost on Sommerfield. “He also links it with Spring,” says Mr King. “Everyone is looking for love in the book, too. He charges the older idea of May Day and the changing seasons with political meaning.” Sommerfield said: “…when I wrote it I’d have probably said May Day was socialist realism. Now I’d call it early 1930s communist romanticism. I’m not in any way apologising for the book’s enthusiastic, simple-minded political idealism. Because it was genuine idealism.” Mr King says the author was being modest: “It is good to be romantic and idealistic. He reflects what was going on – it is alive and immediate.”

Sohemian Event

04-May-2010 by Frank Marker

Sorry, I should have given a title for our talk on the 12th May. It's called Violent London.

Sohemian Event 12th May

04-May-2010 by Frank Marker

12th May 7.30 PM The Wheatsheaf Pub Rathbone Place W1 Admission £3 Almost as soon as it was built, London suffered the first of many acts of violent protest, when Boudica and her followers set fire to the city in AD 60. Ever since, the capital's streets have been a forum for popular insurrection. Through the centuries the city became an underground world of radicals and subversives from Wat Tyler to the Anti-Globalization Movement via the Gordon Riots, the Cato Street Conspirators, the Suffragettes, Mosleyites and the IRA. This is the story of an alternative London, as well as an alternative political history of the British Isles, outside parliamentary processes, sometimes popular, sometimes conspiratorial, in direct confrontation with the forces of the state, its police, military and secret service. It's a story of political activism expressed in street fighting and slum warfare, in assassination and bombing, peopled by a fascinating array of demagogues and democrats, lunatics and libertarians, bigots and social revolutionaries. It is also the story of the growth of London as a capital and as a major city. Clive Bloom is Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies at Middlesex University,

"Guttersnipe" - Gerald Kersh

03-May-2010 by King Crombie

I've done three of the seven "little novels" and thus far nothing to recommend.

The best sleeping meds

02-May-2010 by somalire

Hello there, we offer u the best sleeping meds, for the list feel free to contact us at: somalire@hush.com

alan sillitoe

30-Apr-2010 by PERRY BOY

thanks to mr sillitoe a whole new world of literature was brought to my attention.for many years i would just read biographies and the occasional ian rankin novel then i saw the film saturday night and sunday morning.brilliant.not realising it was actually a novel first i sought out the book and after the first two pages it was like year zero.from sillitoe came characters i could totally identify with and a world that seemed a lot less complicated.through a little research on the web i was introduced to more excelent authors who like the great man were writing about the world i knew and eventually i stumbled across this website which again has opened up a load more avenues for me to persue. alan sillitoe R.I.P

"Guttersnipe" - Gerald Kersh

29-Apr-2010 by King Crombie

About to have a go at Kersh's "Guttersnipe" (First pub. 1954) a present from a pal. It appears to be a collection of "little Novels" according to the faded black and pink dustjacket - seven of them in all. I'll post a review in due course.

Alan Sillitoe

26-Apr-2010 by Frank Marker

Very sad to hear this. He gave a wonderful talk to the Sohemian Society last year. A sprightly and sharp man who looked as though he could go on forever.

alan sillitoe

25-Apr-2010 by anonymous

A sad day for his friends and family. A lovely, principled man. His recent book A Man of His Time, written in his 70s every bit as powerful and entertaining as his early work.

Alan Sillitoe died today 82 RIP

25-Apr-2010 by iPat

Novelist Alan Sillitoe died today at the age of 82, his family said. The Nottingham-born writer, whose novels marked him out as one of the Angry Young Men of British fiction who emerged in the 1950s, died at Charing Cross Hospital in London.

Boots Clean

20-Apr-2010 by King Crombie

I would think e-bay or Amazon would turn it up. If not try Bookfinder.com, - it shouldn't be too pricey. It's Kersh's memoir of being a Guardsman, fairly irreverant and a bit on the incorrect side, which considering the time is only to be expected.

Boots Clean

20-Apr-2010 by King Crombie

They Died witheir boots clean.

19-Apr-2010 by shugoneill@hotmail.com

Does anyone know how I could get hold of a book ," They died with their boots clean " by Gerald Kresh, I Would be very grateful if somebody could point me in the right direction.

"There Aint No Justice"

16-Apr-2010 by King Crombie

According to IMDB Curtis worked on the screenplay too !

James Curtis

15-Apr-2010 by Frank Marker

Thought you fellas may like to know the NFT are showing There Ain't No Justice. Adapted from the James Curtis novel, the film is rooted by director Tennyson's eye for documentary detail in a very real London. NFT2 , 20th May, 18.20.

Sohemian Event 28th April

13-Apr-2010 by Frank Marker

Wilde's last stand : decadence, conspiracy and the First World War Speaker Philip Hoare Author of Wilde’s Last Stand Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place, W1 28th April 7.30 pm Admission £3 In 1918 the "Vigilante" newspaper claimed that the German Secret Service held a book containing the names of 47,000 British establishment members who were sexual perverts. It was claimed Britain was losing the war because the Germans were blackmailing these figures and thereby sapping the country's strength. The "Vigilante" was exploiting popular belief that Britain had become a decadent state still in thrall to the perverted cult of Oscar Wilde. The extreme right wing politics of the newspaper's publisher were becoming dangerously popular and in the sensational libel trial that followed many high society members were drawn in. Wilde's devoted "friend" Robbie Ross and his one time lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, both became embroiled in the bitter battle over Wilde's reputation. This is a tale of a bizarre scandal, made all the more unusual by having occurred during the final year of World War I. It is a portrait of a decadent homefront, telling of transvestites in the trenches, of drug clubs in London, and of the roots of British fascism, discerning the seeds of intolerance which would inform the troubled years to come.

Wide Boy

13-Apr-2010 by Eddie Fez

An entertaining little Tafler second feature- he sells nylons out of a case. Bootleg nylons being a key element of British crime films! Steve Chibnall was showing a digital copy recently to promote his British B Film book so perhaps a release is forthcoming. Like a lot of such films an ABC broadcast currently does the rounds.

Author Event D.J. Taylor

13-Apr-2010 by Richard@BG

DJ Taylor who wrote the introduction to "A Start in Life" will be taking about his new novel "At the Chime of the City Clock" a piece of 1930s inspired London noir fiction at Bethnal Green Library on May 4, 6-7pm. . It's free with glass of wine or two thrown in. 2 mins from Bethnal Green tube.

FAO Martin Knight

12-Apr-2010 by Darran Goulder

I received your email from info@london-books.co.uk but for some reason my replies do not get though. Please email me again from a different email address so we can communicate about the Website. Thanks Darran Goulder

Sam Selvon's "The Lonely Londoners"

11-Apr-2010 by King Crombie

Just blew the dust off this, a gift from some time back. I had no idea it was written in 1956. It's a happy go lucky read, I could imagine it as a West Indian Ealing Comedy. Anyone read of any of Selvon's other work ?

Eric Spear

31-Mar-2010 by Harry Fabian

Continuing the game of links: Eric Spear wrote the music for the film Fabian of the Yard. A man called Anthony Beauchamp worked on this film and he was also a society photographer and his picture of James Curtis features on early editions of The Gilt Kid.

Thanks KC

31-Mar-2010 by Michael

I took a look at IMDB. Notice that the man who wrote the score for Wide Boy was one Eric Spear. He wrote the Coronation Street theme tune.

SORRY SYD

30-Mar-2010 by King Crombie

That should read Sydney Tafler.

WIDE BOY - TRY IMDB

30-Mar-2010 by King Crombie

if you go on the Internet Movie Database site and punch in Wide Boy in the search box, there's some info. A Merton Park Studios Sidney Taflet job. IMDB is always a good starter the box or the big screen.

Wide Boy

30-Mar-2010 by Michael Riley

Today's Telegraph carries an obituary of a 91-year-old actor, Martin Benson. Notice he was in SOHO INCIDENT, the adaptation of Wide Boys Never Work in 1956. Also says he was in a movie called WIDE BOY, 1952. Anybody know anything about that?

DJ Taylor

29-Mar-2010 by Shabby Tiger

http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/03/novel-ross-taylor-called Above a link to review of new DJ Taylor novel that should be up LBers alley. . .

Sohemian Society

26-Mar-2010 by Frank Marker

I'm not sure if any of you Brit Grit readers will be interested in our next talk, indeed,I may well be barred from this board, but here goes anyway The Sohemian Society Presents A Talk on Somerset Maugham. Speaker Selina Hastings: Author of The Secret Life of Somerset-Maugham. The Wheatsheaf Rathbone Place London W1 14th April, 7.30 pm Admission £3

psychogeography

24-Mar-2010 by barry m

The title originates from the French artist and playwright Guy Debord who discussed, among many other things, how working people have become alienated from their roots in cities. Will Self has given psychogeography (found on google)a rebirth and living in London he is aware how it can help release the individual from physical constraints and open up a creative understanding of his environment and is ideal for walkers.

Barry MIles on Lost Steps

20-Mar-2010 by KIng Crombie

Wlell worth a listen. Miles provides a few more pieces of the puzzle. Much obliged MR Marker

Z Victor Two to Z Victor One

14-Mar-2010 by KIng Crombie

King Crombie here Frank, will definitely give Barry Miles an earball on Lost Steps. Much obliged for the tip.

May Day

13-Mar-2010 by Harry Fabian

Looking forward to May Day. Like the cover showing on Amazon. Good book. Have the 1972 edition here. Im hoping for a real general strike on May Day 2010 and expect London Books are too, to boost sales.

Anyone out there?

12-Mar-2010 by Frank Marker

Hello! Anyone out there? Come in Larry Heliotrope, King Crombie, Dean Street Dan and Anon. Oh well, I thought you may like to know there's an interview with Barry Miles about his latest book, London Calling, on Lost Steps...http://www.loststeps.org.uk/Miles.php

Sohemian Event

03-Mar-2010 by Frank Marker

The Sohemian Society Presents A talk on Alexander Baron - novelist of London 's street life & politics. Speaker Ken Worple Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 7.30 The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place ..... Admission £2.50 The Guardian described Alexander Baron (1917 - 1999) as 'the greatest British novelist of the last war and among the finest of the postwar period.' Jewish-born in Hackney, Baron was amongst those idealists who tried to fight in Spain, who got caught up in political and literary life in London, fought in several major wartime battles, and who, after the war became the author of a series of gripping novels about war and London life in the East End, and in Soho. Three of the most famous are 'From the City, from the Plough' (1948), 'The Lowlife' (1963) and 'King Dido' (1969) Our speaker Ken Worple knew Baron and has written a biographical introduction to a new edition of 'King Dido' published by Five Leaves Press.

Terry Thomas

02-Mar-2010 by Lizst

I read one years ago. Strangely, I could never understand why he was so well regarded and never found him funny,

"Bounder" Terry Thomas Bio ?

02-Mar-2010 by KIng Crombie

Not my regular terrain and so I wondered if anyone who pokes about on London Books site had read this Terry Thomas biography ?

Much obliged Frank Marker

23-Feb-2010 by KIng Crombie

Kops on Lost Steps, I'm on the case (cue "Devil's Gallop").

Bernard Kops

23-Feb-2010 by Frank Marker

interesting interview with Bernard Kops on Resonance's Lost steps show. http://www.loststeps.org.uk/Broadcasts.php

King Dido: Thumbs Up!

20-Feb-2010 by Frank Marker

I thoroughly enjoyed it KC. Who can forget Dido's nemesis Inspector Merry and their final showdown at the end of the book. For anyone interested in Baron and other forgotten London writers from the 1930s there's an excellent study by Ken Worple, who wrote the intro to the reissued King Dido, in his book Dockers and Detectives.

King Dido (Alexander Baron) - done

19-Feb-2010 by KIng Crombie

It's been a while since I had a go at historical fiction, but I lapped up this pre First World War, East London novel up. As my previous will show, I consider Baron neither hard boiled ,or black hearted - he is for certain a compassionate man. Still this is a tough tale of hard people in difficult circumstances and well worth a dip.

Sohemian Society

08-Feb-2010 by Frank Marker

The Sohemian Society presents The grinning shadow that sat at the feast: In commemoration of Hector Munro, 'Saki' A talk by Professor Tim Connell Tuesday 16th February 2010, 7.30pm The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho , W1 (off Oxford Street ; nearest tube station: Tottenham Court Road) Admission: £3 Hector Munro was a journalist better known for his satire and biting wit, written under the pen name Saki. He foresaw the outbreak of war and wrote about it in 1913 with When William Came. Although over-age, he volunteered for service at the outbreak of war with the Royal Fusiliers (a City regiment) and died on the Somme . But why did he refuse a commission, why did he not join the Intelligence battalion to stay out of the trenches - and why did he choose the pen-name Saki? A 100-year literary mystery is about to be solved.

bedsit land

03-Feb-2010 by Field Marshal Montgomery

I 'm well informed that sparrowhawk has been seen living in a Rotherham city centre bedsit with Elvis Presley and Ronald Kray!!!

Said article

03-Feb-2010 by Herpes Howard

Notorious Epsom drug smuggler's whereabouts a mystery Exclusive By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton » The whereabouts of a notorious drug smuggler from Epsom remains shrouded in mystery, after apparently false reports of his death were leaked to this newspaper. Martin Knight, Philip Sparrowhawk and Howard Marks The Epsom Guardian received a tip-off that former Tadworth resident Philip Sparrowhawk had died of a heart attack in Vietnam at the beginning of this year. However, there has been no confirmation of Mr Sparrowhawk’s death and attempts to find him have failed. Mr Sparrowhawk – former business partner of druglord Howard Marks – lived in Thailand with his wife Pao for the past five years. The mystery began with an email from a John Rose, who claimed the former drug smuggler, and author of Grass, had died of a heart attack. He also claimed a funeral had been held for him in Danang, Vietnam, and his ashes had been scattered at sea. However, close friends of Mr Sparrowhawk believed the claims were a hoax. Writer Martin Knight, Grass co-author, said: “His relatives have completely dismissed this claim. One of them said this was the fourth time he’d heard these rumours. “My gut feeling is he’s alive and either he, or someone else, wants people to think he’s dead. The strange thing is I haven’t been in touch with him since before Christmas. His Facebook page has also disappeared.” Mr Rose claimed Mr Sparrowhawk had been found at a flat in New China Beach and taken to Benh Vien Mat (an eye hospital) in Danang. One of Mr Sparrowhawk’s former neighbours, from Tadworth, said: “Philip used to live here with his wife and daughter, but one day they just moved out. “He used to work in Epsom as a taxi driver. All I know is that after they left, the bailiffs cleared the property.” Mr Sparrowhawk comes from a family of bookmakers from Epsom and made a small fortune from street trading, which he bet on a horse called Njinsky, the winner of the 1970 Derby. With money from the bet, the former smuggler and Mr Marks opened a business and soon after started smuggling drugs from Thailand. Mr Sparrowhawk was arrested by the US Drugs Enforcement Agency in the 1980s and served several jail terms in America. The only post in a Twitter account believed to be his, from November 10, 2009, read: “Still trying to live in a warm country without being molested by the United States of Bullying.”

Sparrow

01-Feb-2010 by Matt Holgate

Sparrow is with me on the Isle of Wight.

Will the real Martin Knight please stand up?

01-Feb-2010 by The Jolly Cooper

Opening my local rag over a battered haddock and chips on Friday, I was intrigued by an article on page five concerning the possible demise of local Epsom lad and international drug baron Phillip Sparrowhawk. Having read Sparrowhawk’s autobiography “Grass” (co-authored by London Book’s very own Martin Knight) while holidaying with the misses in Cancun circa 2004, I found Knight’s idea that Sparrowhawk might have done a Reggie Perrin highly amusing and well in line with some of Mr Sparrowhawks previous escapees (didn’t he have a go on Mother Teresa?). While I was vigorously consuming this latest account in the life and times of Mr Sparrowhawk my eyes were drawn to the image of him Howard Marks and Knight, however this is where I was baffled, for the image clearly bore no resemblance to the Knight I had meet myself when attending a book signing hosted by him and his strong men. Which begs the question? Did I meet Knight? Is Knight Sparrowhawk? The man I meet was short Jack Nicholson figure where as the photo (Sorry but London Books does not allow photo’s to be attached) shows night being a rather burley skin headed unshaven figure. Living in Epsom the topic of Knight came up in my Sunday Bridge game, when discussing Knight the subject he became an enigma apparently going under various titles, upon describing what I knew of him one friend swore he had known him (Knight) for years but under the name John Hay other names that popped up for our esteemed master of the pen included Budda, The King and Garry Wesmond. Strange? Can anyone post any light on this or the Sparrowhawk affair?

Found It...Vernon Sewell !

27-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Found it on line, looks kosher to me. Directed by veteran British director Vernon Sewell who also in charge of the fim version of "Wide Boys Never Work" - "Soho Incident" (AKA "Spin A Dark Web".

The Wind Of Change DVD ?

27-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Frank, is this a kosher DVD ? If so, where from ?

Baron

26-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

I've just finished From the City, From the Plough. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very realistic and powerful insight into the squaddies hopes and dreams on the eve of the D Day landings. I have now started on the 2nd part of Baron's war trilogy, There's No Home. For your further interest I also spotted this b-feature now available on DVD: Winds of Change/ Traitors: Set against the Notting Hill race riots of the late 1950 s THE WIND OF CHANGE is a gripping kitchen-sink drama focusing on the relationship between a father (Donald Pleasence), a world-weary yet liberal man who spends all his spare time looking after his rabbits, and his rebellious, unemployed son Frank (Johnny Briggs). Frank is bigoted racist who believes the black immigrants are taking all the British jobs, though he doesn t seem too concerned in trying to get one himself. When Frank and his gang of teddy boys beat up a black man who later dies of his injuries, he must face the consequence of his actions.... Picture and Sound remastered by BBC Post Production. SPECIAL FEATURES BONUS FILM THE TRAITORS (1962) Espionage film starring Patrick Allen (62 Minutes)

King Dido (Alexander Baron) - kicked off.

23-Jan-2010 by king Crombie

I've finally kicked off "King Dido" and if the first two chapters are anything to go by, it will be top shelf read.

Cardinal and the Corpse

18-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

I am quite intrigued by the Cardinal and the Corpse too. There's a brief 5 minute snatch of it on Youtube but that's about it. I guess your best bet for a showing would be the NFT.

The cardinal and the corpse

16-Jan-2010 by anonymous

Ive been wanting to see this film for a long time now ,just wondering if anyone knows where i could find a copy or if London books have any plans to show it in the near future.Thanks.

John Sommerfield

13-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

I see London Books reissue of May Day by John Sommerfield is available for pre-order on Amazon. Nice cover lads.

Lost Steps

13-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

Very glad you enjoyed it KC. It's a veritable treasure trove of interviews, I'm very pleased I came across it. I can also recommend the Classic London literature and the Battle of Stepney Green (Siege of Sydney Street) podcasts, the latter will be of particular interest to you KC as one of the interviewees, Phil Ruff, is currently working on a book about the subject.

Lost Steps Top Shelf

13-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Courtesy of Mr Marker, to whom I doff my stingy brim low slow, I listened to the Lost Steps show on Alexander Baron. Top shelf stuff indeed and it's well on the cards I will give them a regular earball.

Nice one Frank

12-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Nice one Frank, I shall chase it up at first chance (cue "Devil's Gallop"). If anyone at London Books wants to delete the 5 posts below, between Larry and myself - be my guest. Hardly riveting reading.

King Dido

12-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

King Crombie Just found this podcast about Baron and King Dido http://www.loststeps.org.uk/Baron.php

Sorry…

11-Jan-2010 by Larry Heliotrope

… I meant 'post it into the space for the address'

It doesn't come up on a Google search yet

11-Jan-2010 by Larry Heliotrope

But if you copy http://lostlondonlit.blogspot.com/ and paste it into the space it should work

DIDN'T WORK EITHER

11-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Maybe it's because I use Google, anyway can't say I didn't give it a spin, even tried searching through Gilt Kid and Angel Pavement. Nothing for me - good luck anyway. it's not kosher to go on about my technical failings here.

It does exist, honest!

11-Jan-2010 by Larry Heliotrope

Just copy and paste the url…

Can't find it Larry

11-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

The title says it all. Had 3 goes too.

Lost London literature - new blog

11-Jan-2010 by Larry Heliotrope

Some of you might be interested in the blog I've started up on Lost London literature. The emphasis will be very much on the likes of Curtis, Westerby and other low-life fiction, but also encompassing Arthur Morrison, JB Priestley, Compton Mackenzie, David Stuart Leslie and others. (Any suggestions welcome.) I'm aiming to deal with one book every week or so. So far I've covered The Gilt Kid and J B Priestley's Angel Pavement. Feel free to leave a comment! http://lostlondonlit.blogspot.com/

King Dido - not yet

09-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

Frank, I haven't got to it yet. Mine is a 1969 hard cover Macmillan first, with a torn dustjacket (red stencil lettering and anink illustration of a sharp dressed geezet in a brim). No introduction and the dedication reads "FOR MY WIFE".

King Dido

08-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

Btw King Crombie, what was your opinion of King Dido? I have just received my copy, it includes an excellent introduction about Baron written by Ken Worple

Thanks

06-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

And a Happy New Year to you King Crombie.

Count Me In

05-Jan-2010 by King Crombie

I'm up for both of the Camberton's, - "Scamp" and "Rain On The Pavement",, as i've never managed to trawl, reasonably priced copies. PS Happy New Year Mr. Marker.

Scamp

05-Jan-2010 by Frank Marker

Thanks Criscpop, I'm certainly looking forward to getting my hands on Scamp.For anyone interested here's an article about the author by Ian Sinclair: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/30/fiction

Roland Camberton

22-Dec-2009 by criscpop

Five leaves publications (the people who have just republished King Dido) have announced on their blog that they are going to reissue Roland Camberton's scamp and rain on the pavements with the original John Minton covers. Details to be announced...

Done and Dusted Dan,

16-Dec-2009 by King Crombie

Can't see how any bookshop that isn't a part of a chain or a big numbers merchant can survive. Surely any small time enterprise that has to "pay the rent" is done for. I do know someone who runs their shop at a loss - they own the premises and are doing quite well on other fronts, so for them it's somewhere between a hobby and a charitable concern. By all accounts it doesn't lose that much, just can't pay it's own fare. The future I suppose is on line, which is not so shabby, but does eliminates the accidental purchase.

Bookshop closures

10-Dec-2009 by Dean Street Dan

Any views on what the future will bring?

The Houndsditch Murders And The Siege Of Sidney Street ?

09-Dec-2009 by KIng Crombie

Anyone had a go at Donald Rumbelow's book ? Looks well interesting, but I'm otherwise engaged and backed up. Still., just wondering ?

Gypsy Joe

06-Dec-2009 by Alan Harvey

Pleased to see that one of our titles: Gypsy Joe was The Observer's Sports Book of The Year in today's paper.

'King Dido" - Alexander Baron

04-Dec-2009 by KIng Crombie

Just swagged a nice, reasonably priced 1st of King Dido. The jacket's a bit torn and creased, but all there. I won't get started until the New Year, as I'm up to my neck already. Still, once sorted I will post a review.

Sohemian Society Events

27-Nov-2009 by London Central

THE SOHEMIAN SOCIETY PROUDLY PRESENTS Tuesday December 1st, 7.30pm Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho QUENTIN AND PHILIP A talk by Andrew Barrow Andrew Barrow will give a talk based on his book about his friendship with Quentin Crisp and Philip O'Connor. Andrew first met Mr. Crisp in 1971 and their friendship lasted until Mr. Crisp's death. Through Mr. Crisp, Andrew Barrow met the wild, much-married "genius" Philip O'Connor. The two men had known each other since the beginning of World War II when they both inhabited the same select corner of Low Bohemia. O'Connor was as ill-mannered as Quentin was polite but, like Quentin, he would enjoy huge success with a volume of autobiography. FRIDAY DECEMBER 4, 7.30pm at County Hall, in The Debating Chamber 'DREAMING OF FITZROVIA' The Movieum of London is presenting a series of rehearsal readings between Decemeber 1st and 6th, including a new play by Matt Phillips, directed by Laurence Moody: 'The odd couple face their fears and desires in darkest Shepherds Bush'. Please come and support this up and coming Sohemian Society writer. County Hall is on the South Bank, next to the London Eye. Nearest tube station: Waterloo.

26-Nov-2009 by red farmer

Mark benny?

Much obliged Frank Marker

16-Nov-2009 by King Crombie

I caught the Tony Kay Radio 4 play, all thanks to you Frank. It's not quite "Damned Utd", but still of value for sure.

Wheatley

10-Nov-2009 by Frank Marker

600 pages of it! The Channel 4 Doc about Wheatley and his dodgy politics is still available on You Tube

Denis Wheatley

09-Nov-2009 by Roger Andout

I'm on the enormous Wheatly biography, just issued. I see Paul Willetts of London Books gets a namecheck. Will report back when done.

Freddie Mills

09-Nov-2009 by The Monocled Mutineer

There was a book recently that featured Randy Turpin and Freddie a sort of double biography and it could have been written by James Morton who co-wrote Frankie Fraser's books. The strongest evidence that he did not commit suicide was that he shot himself with his left hand when he was right-handed. I think he came from Bournemouth and as did Benny Hill.

Swan and Layne

09-Nov-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Yes, Matt Le Tissier recently admitted to throwing a game. Agassi has done the same. Jockeys are at it all the time. MPs have turned it into an art form. These people who see little wrong in fiddling and cheating now are mainly wealthy. Swan and Bronco and the others were catching the bus to home games. They had nothing. They took their punishments and disappeared from the game. By today's standards they showed dignity and I feel sorry for them.

Scandal

09-Nov-2009 by frank Marker

Hi Geoff The film was called The Fix with Jason Isaacs as Kay with Coogan playing a journo, I think? Interesting what you say about the harsh treatment meted out to the Wednesday trio as the real Tony Kay ends the play by stating exactly the same point.

Peter Swan

09-Nov-2009 by Geoff Binns

A few years back there was a TV dramatisation with Steve Coogan in the role of the investigative reporter. It was good. Swan actually went back to Sheffied Wednesday after his bird and retired gracefully. He also did a book. Compare their punishments to some of the ones given out today.

1960s Football Scandal

09-Nov-2009 by Frank Marker

Anyone catch the afternoon play on Radio 4 last Friday? It was a drama about the early 1960s match fixing scandal featuring the Sheffield Wednesday players Tony Kay and Peter Swan. It's still available on listen again. Worth catching.

Part two...

08-Nov-2009 by Michael Keenaghan

Good point. Okay here goes again. My name is Michael Keenaghan. I am a writer of short London Fiction. Sample my stuff here... www.myspace.com/michaelkeenaghan

Did I miss something....

08-Nov-2009 by King Crombie

Or is just my age ? Why post anonymous when your setting out your stall ?

London tales...

07-Nov-2009 by anonymous

I am a writer of short London fiction. Sample some of my stuff here: www.myspace.com/michaelkeenaghan

David Seabrook's "Jack Of Jumps"

06-Nov-2009 by King Crombie

Poking about on the subject of Freddie Mills this "black cat crossed my path". Any pointers (on either book or Mr Seabrook) ?

Much obliged Frank Marker

06-Nov-2009 by King Crombie

Much obliged for both those tips Mr Marker. Will be following on both, cue "Devils Gallop".

More Mills

06-Nov-2009 by Frank Marker

KC Further to the book recommendation there's also a two part doc on YouTube you may care to view called Freddie Mills Death and the Krays

Mills

06-Nov-2009 by Frank Marker

Hi KC Try 'Fighters - The Sad Lives and Deaths of Freddie Mills and Randolph Turpin' by James Morton.

Freddie Mills Book, which one ?

06-Nov-2009 by King Crombie

i've been plotting to read something on the boxer Freddie Mills and the circumstances around his demise. Any pointers ?

The Looked After Kid

30-Oct-2009 by Wild Bill

I look forward to reading it. Any idea what it is about or when it is out? The Looked After Kid was one of the most moving books I have ever read. Hewitt always seems to have his fingers in a lot of different pies

The Looked After Kid

28-Oct-2009 by Junco

Saw Paolo Hewitt is bringing out a follow up to this superb book. Excerpt on his blog http://paolohewitt.blogspot.com/ Top writer/top bloke (for a Spurs mod).

President Blair

28-Oct-2009 by Young Billy Curtis

From Griffin to Zebedee in ten easy posts. I must have had some of that acid because I turned on the radio this morning and they were talking about a European President and how Tony Blair is going to get the job. Talk about surreal.

Greens and The Magic Roundabout

27-Oct-2009 by Grocer Jack

Greens are said to be very good for the brain, while acid on an empty stomach can lead to confusion.

Re: Greens

27-Oct-2009 by Crump

I never did like my greens. I think it's significant that when Milky Way wanted to market their inferior product to kids drunk on Fudge, they placed a red car head to head with a blue one. This was during the 80s, thus the blue car won. The red car, a symbol of big government and three day weeks even ate the trees, the only bit of green near the course.

Greens

26-Oct-2009 by anonymous

You should vote Green. They cover the issues that really matter!

Politicians

26-Oct-2009 by Postman Pat

I don’t believe the BNP are the answer either. What I was trying to say is that people are attracted to them for other reasons than their racial politics. What we really need is a new form of politics with none of the present politicians involved.

iT GOES BEYOND THE bNP

26-Oct-2009 by Jacqui Smith

The key issue is not whether large scale immigration is beneficial or not it is that a policy has been actioned to move Britain to a multi-cultural society driven by rapid large scale immigration and nobody ever asked anyone. THis has not been in any manifesto, ever. If the British people think ir is right or wrong so be it but let them decide NOT turds like Hain and Straw et al who are passionate in their belief they know best.

Balti

26-Oct-2009 by anonymous

Postman Pat, you make some good points about the EU but the BNP are not the answer. Yes Straw was shown up, but Griffin was totally lost once he started squirming about the Ku Klux Klan and holocaust denial. The fact is the BNP leadership and their main activists have a strong history of extreme right wing activism and they may bang on about the things you talk about to attract disillusioned white working class ex Labour voters but their real agenda is faciscm by the back door. You dont have to much digging to find Nazi/Strasserites/Anti Semites/Odinists/Loyalist paramillitaries/C18 and all kinds of weird nutcases involved in all their major positions and committees. These people are against mixed race relationships, they think Britain should be white only, they think the holocaust was faked by Zionists, they think blacks are mentally sun normal and they ultimately believe in re-patriation and worse in some cases. Just because they have some nice suits and try and position themselves as anti establishment doesn't mean they've changed their real agenda. I also think that there is an underclass in this country who have grown up through 2 or sometimes 3 generations of of entire families living on benefits and who tend to be in the poorest white estates of this country and it would be naive to deny this. To admit this is not an attack on the working class but more on a succession of Labour and Tory Gov'ts policies form Ted Heath onwards. Until only very recently immigrant labour was the main source of people who would clean offices, serve food and pick fruit, work in hotels etc.

The Londoners Nobody Wants To See

24-Oct-2009 by Pride Of London

Talk at the Bishopsgate Institute, London EC2, November 24, 2009. Picture Hauntology: Tracking The Londoners Nobody Wants To See. Have you ever met a morrie, a boiler or a deviator? Had your drum done over by a screwsman or seen a Joe Ronce putting out girls on the bash? Using the underworld slang of their times, a handful of writers recorded a forgotten London of spielers, speakeasies, dogtracks and moody gaffs. James Curtis, Robert Westerby, Patrick Hamilton and Derek Raymond had an ear for the street and an eye for those swept under by the dark currents of criminality. Through the socio-realist crime fiction from the 1930s to the 1990's Cathi Unsworth retraces the steps of those writers whose sympathies for the dispossessed mirrored their own close proximity to the London of the lost. The talk will be held at the Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4QH. Event starts at 7.30pm Tickets cost £7 or £5 concessions. Advance booking is required.

Workers

24-Oct-2009 by Postman Pat

What do you mean by immigrants? Our membership of the EU means that anyone in the EU can work and live here. In many cases the bosses can exploit these workers, as they will accept much lower wages than British workers, thereby putting native workers on benefits. There are 2.5m British workers out of a job now and it’s scandalous to say they are lazy or don’t want to work. This attitude suits big business, which knows no loyalty and is always looking for a way to exploit ordinary people. Then there are the foreign workers at the top of the chain, and there are a great number of them in our major cities and especially London. These people are here solely for the money and they drive the financial institutions who, again, exist only to make a profit. These wealthy foreigners push up house prices and buy new buildings for investment, leaving many British people homeless. They add nothing to Britain. A responsible level of immigration always adds to the flavour of a country, but right now it is out of control. We need to get out of the European Union which is a totalitarian state in the making and exists only to consolidate the power of the multinationals. We are seeing gerrymandering on a massive scale. How long before anyone who lives in a country is entitled to vote? The name England has even been erased from the European map. The fascists couldn’t beat us in the war so now they are doing it through laws and lies. It is appalling that none of the major parties are taking this on, though not surprising, as they only exist to prop up the ruling class. People are attracted to the BNP because they are talking about these problems. People vote for the BNP despite their racial stance, not because of it. If the BNP got rid of the racial angle they would win the next election and I for one would vote for them.

RE: Griffin

24-Oct-2009 by Crump

I thought he came across as a kind of Evil Ray Stubbs.

LARGE SCALE IMMIGRATION HAS TO CONTINUE

23-Oct-2009 by Graham Greene

Without large scale immigration our economy would collapse completely. We do not let people move here as an act of benevolence, but simply to assist and partake in the usually crap jobs a consumerist society has in abundance. If you live in a big city you will understand my point. How often do you see British office or shop cleaners? More often than not these immigrants are doing the jobs us Brits do not want to do.

BBC Slight Entertainment

23-Oct-2009 by Lord Copper

The hysteria surrounding Griffin's appearance was because the political class KNOW that millions of people do agree with some of his points. They know that the oxygen of publicity could spell the end of their efforts in social engineering and their nest-feathering lives. STRAW was found out last night. He disowned being BRITISH and said that LARGE SCALE IMMIGRATION will continue. They are worried in the same way they are worried about allowing a referendum on the EU. We are idiots, remember, and must NOT be allowed to make up our own minds on ANYTHING. They know best:. By doing nothing we allow the likes of BLAIR./BROWN/STRAW/JAQUI SMITH/BLEARS etc decide our destiny. Somethings gotta give.

Question Slime

23-Oct-2009 by Leroy

Spot on YBC. What qualifies someone who sang Blanket on the Ground to take the ethnic high ground? The most honest thing Nick Griffin said was that seeing men kissing in public unsettles him...if he added that, however, seeing women do the same did not...then we get into interesting territory. Straw admitted there are no plans to control immigration and I found that the most revealing comment of the night. This has nothing to do race but proves that the ruling class are not fit custodians of this country's scarce resources.

Question Time

23-Oct-2009 by Young Billy Curtis

It was an ambush that backfired. The panel and audience were hand-picked and unrepresentative of ordinary people and spent their time shouting at Nick Griffin. I thought he handled it well, though he didn’t get much chance to speak. The lowest point came when Bonnie Someone mocked the existence of an English people - imagine if Griffin had said that about another ethnic group! Who is she anyway? He is going to have a lot of sympathy this morning. The elite are so far up their own arses that they actually think they embarrassed him when they only embarrassed themselves.

Griffin

23-Oct-2009 by Roger Andout

was never going to change the course of politics getting on Question Time. He is shifty and reptilian. He will never be able to disown the Nazi bagggage. But, imagine if someone from a new party with no so-called right wing credentials emerged who simply believed that Britain is great and carried no shame about our past, who beleived that we should control our borders, that our people must decide on whether we remain in the EU, that it is wrong to sexualise our children before they are 11, that if you commit crime you should be punished, that people should work if work is available and they are capable, that the tolerant, low-key Christian culture of this country is not a bad thing, that the white-working class are generally NOT racist good-for-nothing oafs, that Britain has an enviable record of assimilating different cultures and races and any groups that do not want to assimilate and reject our traditional values should not be welcomed and encouraged, that the BBC has become a hypocritical monster, that Nelson, Drake, Livingstone et al should be taught in our schools again, that stops pretending that the disabled sports are more exciting than able-bodied ones, that allows pubs to decide whether they want to be smoking or non-smoking and allow punters to make the choice, that forces MPs to abide by the same laws that we do then they would have had a revolution on their hands. This is not right-wing and BNP dressed up in sheep's clothing it is simply what a significant amount of the population feel.

God bless the King

22-Oct-2009 by Paul

Nice one for the tip off, will check it out. Good news, managed to contact Sillitoe's agent. Fingers crossed...

Stilltoe Desert Island Discs

22-Oct-2009 by KIng Crombie

Paul, don't know if it's what you're looking for, but Stilltoe was on Desert Island Discs a few months back. I thought it gave a glimpse of the man behind the dust jacket. Haven't a clue if the Beeb archive that show or not, but might be worth a poke about.

Re: Sillitoe

21-Oct-2009 by Paul

Sorry, that is not a good start. No question mark and the word dodgy was probably not a good choice, I meant getting on. Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

Alan Sillitoe

21-Oct-2009 by Paul, Stourport

Having read the recent re-issue of A Start in Life and noticing the great man's involvement in the whole London Books manifesto, I was wondering, could someone put me in touch with Mr Sillitoe. I am a dodgy mature student who has decided to cover his career as my dissertation topic and would love the oppurtunity to get in touch.

Dennis Wheatley

21-Oct-2009 by MK

Quite true, I still have the letter. It was the first letter I had seen written on headed paper and I remember his address was Cadogan Square. I even went to look at his mansion block. Strange most 10 year-old kids would have been hero-worshipping Bobby Charlton or Jimmy Greaves and there I was stalking Dennis Wheatley. I still have the letter and will dig it out but remember he said "write about what you know" and said something like there is no point about writing about Red Indians or something like that if you've never met one. Begs the questions was DW a satanist?

Dennis Wheatley

20-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

A biography on Dennis Wheatley, entitled The Devil Is a Gentleman, written by Phil Baker has just been published today. I hope to get the author to talk about his subjecy at a future Sohemian Society gathering. I remember reading DW's autobiography, all three volumes of it, many years ago. An interesting man. I also remember Martin Knight of this Manor telling me at a past Sohemian event that he had written a letter to D W asking for his advice on 'becoming a writer'? His answer was amusing , yet practical. Can you remind us what it was Martin?

Crime

17-Oct-2009 by iPat

Have finished Welsh's Crime novel. Got to say it was a good read despite the uncomfortable subject matter.

Sohemian Event

16-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

The Sohemian Society Presents The Frock-coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels A talk by Tristram Hunt Monday 26 October 2009, 7.30pm Admission £3 Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Rathbone Place, W1 Friedrich Engels, in addition to being an early and key propagator of socialism and feminism, a close friend and financial supporter of Karl Marx, a Manchester factory owner, was also a fox-hunting bohemian. One visitor in 1891 described him as ‘a tall, bearded, bright-eyed and genial septuagenarian’ who was a ‘generous and delightful host’. A bon viveur to the end, Engels enjoyed wine and beer, women and song. As Tristram Hunt observes in his new biography, Engels’ writings – from his impassioned critique of industrial capitalism in Manchester in the 1840s (The Condition of the Working Class in England) to his polemical introduction to Marxism in the 1880s (Socialism: Utopian and Scientific) – were more accessible than Marx’s theoretical writings and had a major impact on the labour movement in the twentieth century. Engels seems to have been equally at home with the illiterate Irish Burns sisters who became his lovers, with the Cheshire hunt, in which he participated with gusto, and with the trade unionists and socialists who flocked from all over Europe to his north London salon in the 1880s and 1890s (usually to be greeted in their native language). Hunt provides a comprehensive account of Engels’ life and work. He gives him full credit for his important contribution to the emergence of Marxism, from his collaboration with Marx in The Communist Manifesto of 1848 to his contributions to Capital (including the laborious tasks of editing and publishing Volumes 2 and 3 after Marx’s death) and his continuing defence of Marxism against both bourgeois critics and radical vulgarisers up to his death in 1895. Dr Tristram Hunt is one of Britain’s best known young historians. Educated at Cambridge and Chicago Universities, he is lecturer in British history at Queen Mary, University of London and author of Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City. Copies of The Frock-coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (Allen Lane) by Tristram Hunt will be available at the meeting for £25.

King Dido

16-Oct-2009 by Richard@BG

It is published by Five Leaves.

WILL HAY - does anyone know about this

15-Oct-2009 by BenjaminGirth

Graham Rinaldi new book about the 1930s comic, hardcore fans are rightly pleased. But there are some strange omissions. No mention of Hay's role in the German race to develop atomic weapons. Hay was an accomplished astronomer becoming a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1932. He discovered a white spot on Saturn in 1933 with a modest 6" refractor telescope winning international recognition. What theories did Hay formulate on planetary alignment? Gravitational calculations are serious science, immensely complex and still the stuff of supercomputers. But in the 1930s they were more fiction than fact. Theories were developed that the earths' axis was vulnerable to comets and meteors colliding but also man made explosions that could push the earth out of alignment. Even very minor fluctuations would end life on the planet. Hay had serious expertise on comets. Hay was an pioneering private pilot (he gave lessons to Amy Johnson) who would have been able to fly anywhere in Europe even after 1934 when he is reported to have lost interest in aviation (page 119). Flying is a passion, not something you just give up on. He was able to write in reverse, the sort of mind that can manage complex codes. He was polyglot, a translator and a fluent German speaker. The German intelligence and scientific communities would have taken an interest in any off Hay's theories. Hitler had a love of British films and the slapstick / astronomer / comedian's movies would have been available for him to view. Would Hitler have enjoyed meeting Will Hay? How sophisticated was the British Secret Service in creating "back channels" to top Nazi scientists (See Christopher Andrew: Defence of the Realm) is a matter for research if the records are ever made available. Interestingly Hay spoke Norwegian, Norway being crucial as a source of heavy water needed for atomic fusion. Hitler interfered in, and had deep fears about, the development of certain technologies, rockets in particular and he did not support the development of atomic weapons. How did Hitler arrive at these opinions, which would have produced war-winning weapons? The "nightmare dreams argument" looks like crude intelligence service disinformation. Was he was warned about possible consequences and if so by whom? Intelligence operations are never clear cut, typically ragged. The "defection" of Rudolf Hess begs many unanswered questions. Hess and Hay were from the perspective of astrology (Hess) and astronomy (Hay) both fascinated with Saturn. Frank Foley and two other MI6 officers were given the job of debriefing Hess as was the psychiatrist John Rawlings Rees who worked at the Tavistock Clinic. That is where the connections are to be found. Who got access to Hitler and formed his views on atomic weapons? Then Val Guest comes into the story. Working on film screenplays for Gainsborough Pictures he became a close colleague of Hay. In 1961 he co wrote (with Wolf Mankowitz) and directed the 1961 film "The Day the Earth Caught Fire." The premise was atomic weapons tests impacted on the Earth's stability, shifting the rotational axis propelling us towards the sun. Humanity was to endure an agonising death. Was this the stuff of Hitler's nightmare? Certainly there is no doubt at all Will Hay would have been very interested in this film.

Sohemian Event 14th October

13-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

Author Paul Du Noyer will be discussing his latest book In the City: A Celebration of London Music with the Sohemian Society. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, W1T 1DG. Admission £3. Underground: Tottenham Court Road. 14th October, 7.30pm. 0207 306 4625

Richard

13-Oct-2009 by Alan Harvey

Its fine to put the King Dido details up.

"Saint Spiv" Ronald Duncan.

12-Oct-2009 by KIng Crombie

I must confess I was mugged by both the title and a handsome book jacket illustration, but what a struggle to read ! It was a test of my will to make it through the last thirty pages. Ronald Duncan was by all accounts very important in the development of the Royal Court and I can only hope it was for better fare than this. My 1961 Dennis Dobson version is presented as a novel, but I've discovered it debuted as a play in 1950 and has also gone under the alias's "St. 'Orace" and "Nothing Up My Sleeve". A thumbs down for sure.

King Dido - excellent news!

12-Oct-2009 by King Crombie

Do we know who the publisher is ? I've been looking a reasonably priced copy for some time.

KIng Dido -re issue launch

12-Oct-2009 by Richard@BG

Something that I thought might be of interest. Alexander Baron's King Dido is being re-issued. There will be a launch at Bethnal Green Library (Bethnal Green Tube) on Friday 23rd October 7-8.30pm. Ken Worpole is giving a short talk about East End writing, refreshments will be served and it is free. All welcome

Not fit for purpose

06-Oct-2009 by McFurious

is the latest pathetic buzz phrase. John Reid said it a few years ago when talking about his own Health Department and now they're all at it.

Profuse Apologies.

05-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

Yes it is an awful term. Sorry KC. My hated one is Human Resources.

No offense taken Frank, but....

05-Oct-2009 by King Crombie

No offense taken Frank, as I'm sure none was intended, but I'm not sure I care for the term "messenger" ? Brings to mind some herbert on a motorcycle plowing down the middle of Berwick St. market, or some old geezer marching down Bishopsgate with a large manilla envelope in tow.

Recommended; Seasonal Suicide Notes

04-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

Try to get your loved one to slip Seasonal Suicide Notes by Roger Lewis into your christmas stocking. It's an excellent read - and antidote - for jaded 40-something blokes, who, I suspect, comprise most of the messengers on this site.

Peter Denyer

02-Oct-2009 by Frank Marker

He also played one half of a gay couple in the early 80s comedy, Agony. I personally found it quite an irritating series, not helped by the fact that Maureen Lipman starred in the lead role as agony aunt Jane, it was however one of the first series on TV to show a gay couple living a normal and domestic life, without a hint of Inman/Grayson 70s campness.

Dennis Dunstable

02-Oct-2009 by H. P. Source

Just read that Peter Denyer died this week. He played Dennis Dunstable in Please Sir! The character started out as just the class thicko but developed into a more complex boy with social difficulties and a particularly poor father. Later he was in Dear John, written by John Sullivan who would later bring us Del Boy. Please Sir! has not aged well but at the time was a real crowd-pleaser. Sadly, among the kids Craven (Malcolm McFee) and Maureen (Liz Gebhardt) have already passed on.

"eavy and 'airy"

28-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

Recall Frank, how can I ever forget, left me scarred for life. A lot of them even looked worse than they sounded, which was quite an achievement. Dodgy with a capital D.

Heads, Hands and Whoops a Daisy

28-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Sorry, I stand corrected. Heads, Hands and Feet were a country-rock outfit in the style of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Rock Names

28-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

If I remember righly they were a 'eavy 'airy rock outfit. Bands had names like that in those days, as I'm sure you recall KC? I remember one band, circa 68/69, with the moniker, Heavy Jelly and of course there was a Humble Pie album titled, Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble.

Dodger ?

28-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

What were Heads, Hands & Feet - a psychedelic calypso come limbo combo ? A very iffy monicker, if you ask me.

Chas

25-Sep-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

I think he was in Heads, Hands and Feet too who I'm pretty sure one rainy day at Charlton Athletic's Football Ground support The Who. Probably 1974. God, I am old.

Chas and Dave

25-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Yes indeed KC. Did you hear about the time the Gallagher Bros turned up at White Hart Lane for Man City V Spurs game? Apparently the Spurs fans turned around and chanted at them, "You're just a crap Chas and Dave act"! Seriously though, Chas Hodges has a damned good pedigree. He was, along with Richie Blackmore, a member of The Outlaws who were Joe Meek's houseband. He turns up in a cameo role in the recent film Telstar Man.

Mr. Du Noyer

25-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

No doubt he'll have up to the minute commentary on the Chas"N'Dave front !

Sohemian Society Meeting 14th Oct

24-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Paul Du Noyer, author of In the City: A Celebration of London Music, will be discussing his book with the Sohemian Society. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, W1T 1DG. Admission £3. Underground: Tottenham Court Road. 14th October, 7.30pm. 0207 306 4625

Budgie

21-Sep-2009 by Wally

When were were kids we truanting one day and up on Epsom Downs. They were filming Budgie in the underpass that linked the racecourse with the main road. They had a blowing machine and were blowing false five pound notes through the subway and Adam Faith was chasing them,. He stopped and signed our autographs and asked why were not at school. I remember being shocked at how many people, vans and equipment it took to film one small scene

LSF

21-Sep-2009 by Richie4

probably the recently departed Keith Waterhouse who wrote the scripts with Willis Hall. KW also wrote Billy Liar which I loved as a TV series in the 1970s with Jeff Rawle and George C Cooper as his foul-mouthed Dad. I think the mUm was Avis Bunnage and Colin Jeavons played Mr Shadrack at the funeral parlour. Jeavons, I remember, was a superbly insidious Uriah Heap in an earlier TV adaptation of David Copperfield and an adult bullied kid in the Dennis Potter thing with adults playing children

Laughing Spam Fritter

21-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

Played by John Rhys-Davies (?), who later earned a few quid digging about in the sand in Steven Speilberg pictures. Be nice to know who came up with the moniker ? Your starter for ten, Bamber...

Budgie

19-Sep-2009 by Richie4

Iain Cuthbertson as Charlie Endell was a delight. He was the forefather of Boycey in Only Fools in a line of cuddly gangsters. I believe they did a spin off from Budgie featuring only Charlie Endell but was canned after one series. The best character if only by name in Budgie had to be LAUGHING SPAM FRITTER...

Sohemian Society Event 22nd Sept

17-Sep-2009 by London Central

The Siege of Sidney Street A talk by Philip Ruff On 16th December 1910 five City of London policemen were shot and three of them killed, when they were called to investigate suspicious noises coming from a property adjacent to a jeweller’s shop in Houndsditch. The “Houndsditch Murders” are still regarded today as the single worst police murder in British history. The Latvian anarchists held responsible entered into East London folklore when, trapped inside a house in Stepney, they took on Winston Churchill and the British Army in “The Siege of Sidney Street”. Two died, but no one ever accounted for the mysterious “Peter the Painter”, popularly supposed to be the leader of the gang and to have escaped the burning house during the battle. The story inspired two major feature films – The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934), and The Siege of Sidney Street (Jimmy Sangster, 1960) – as well as a slew of books, all with different theories on the background to the shootings and the identity of those involved: Peter the Painter was a tsarist police agent, he was Stalin, he was the brother of a Metropolitan Police interpreter, he never existed, he did exist and became an agent of Lenin’s Cheka in Russia. At the start of the 1970s, when the bombing campaign of the Angry Brigade pushed the word “anarchist” back into the headlines, one of the groups under investigation by Special Branch called itself “The Siege of Sidney Street Appreciation Society”. As recently as 2003 one of the contributors to a London Weekend Television documentary about the Houndsditch Murders called Peter the Painter “the Osama Bin Laden of his time”. Philip Ruff’s detective work in Latvia since 1988 has resulted in proof positive on the real identity of Peter the Painter and unearthed the real story of his life and revolutionary career. But more than that, he has opened window on the hitherto unknown history of Latvian anarchism and of the 1905 revolution in the Baltic which gave rise to it. This wider story reveals the violent events in London – shocking as they may appear – to be part of a much bigger story of class war, revolution and survival. Philip is a historian of the anarchist movement. His book on the true identity of Peter the Painter will be published next year. Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place W1 7.30pm Admission £3

Iain Cuthbertson

17-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Yes Milky very sad news to hear of the passing of Iain Cuthbertson. As a boy I remember him playing Dr Thomas Arnold (bit removed from Charlie Endell) in Tom Brown's Schooldays and Jenny Agutter's, "My Daddy!", in the TV version of The Railway Children.

Couple of sad exits

17-Sep-2009 by Milky

Posters may have seen the passing of Iain Cuthbertson aged 79 and the bloke who wrote the first Z Cars scripts and The Italian Job. Cuthbertson was Charlie Endell in Budgie. Great character.

The Charmer

11-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Well worth watching for the two excellent performances from Bernard Hepton as the jealous and vindictive Mr Stimpson and Rosemary Leach as the arriviste -"as my late husband the Colonel always said" - Mrs Plumleigh-Bruce.

Hamilton's Gorse: The Charmer being repeated.

10-Sep-2009 by Bill Londonsoul

Bit of a late shout this, but The Charmer (an adaptation of Hamilton's Mr Gorse & Mr Stimpson) is being repeated on ITV3 on Monday nights. Obviously not painstakingly faithful, but well worth a look for the whistles, motors and interiors.

Terry Taylor

10-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

Gave that the once over Frank and it certainly looks tasty. Still I'm always a bit suspicious of the "should have been there" memoir (even disguised as a novel), after all who could resist a little revision here and there ?

Baron's Court, All Change

09-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Hello KC Check this website http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/sex/baronscourt.htm

Baron's Court

09-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Sorry can't help KC. I haven't got a copy either!

If You Don't Mind Me Asking Frank...

09-Sep-2009 by King Crombie

Frank, I'm much obliged on your tip re "Baron's Court All Change" but where exactly do you get your form on Mr Taylor from ? I am not for a minute denying it's authenticity, it's just that I have no way of knowing whether it's kosher or not. A quick glance at the usual fences puts it out of my price range.

Gypsy Joe

03-Sep-2009 by " The Elvis Killer" Joe Pike

What a gem, brilliant read had me hooked from start to finish. met joe on holiday and what a gentleman he is. I hope he cracks the golf . I'd like to wish joe and all his family the best in the future and thanks for sharing your story and talking sense to me on holiday.

Baron's Court, All Change (1961)

03-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Anyone hear of a book called Baron's Court, All Change (doesn't that title just grab you!) by Terry Taylor. The writer was the model for the unnamed narrator of Absolute Beginners, hung out with William Burroughs, was the original mod before the term was even being used and wrote this book, the first Brit novel to mention LSD, as well as having a drug dealing narrator who wants to spend his profits the cool way, on jazz and shirts from Cecil Gee. Any chance of London Books republishing it?

Sohemian Society Event 22nd Sept 7.30 pm

02-Sep-2009 by Frank Marker

Books That London Forgot

26-Aug-2009 by Larry Heliotrope

Sorry - forgot to include link in post below: http://www.housmans.com/events.php

Books That London Forgot

26-Aug-2009 by Larry Heliotrope

Rather short notice, but this is an interesting-looking event happening tonight at Housman's bookshop in London

Bernard Kops "The Hamlet of Stepney Green"

23-Aug-2009 by King Crombie

Have to give Kops' 1958 play the thumbs down. A tale of East London Jewish working class life, with never do well son, and dying- dead father. I'm not that familiar with Shakespeare's "H" so some of the nuance may have been lost on me, But I found it dull and predictable. Anyone interested in the subject would be better served by Kops' own, vastly superior "The World Is A Wedding".

The Kilburn Tale

05-Aug-2009 by Nick

Ernest Raymond was a successful novelist of the '20s and '30s. His most famous book is 'Tell England' about the Dardenelles campaign of World War 1. Te;; England was the basis for the Mel Gibson Film 'Gallipoli'

Gypsy Joe

03-Aug-2009 by Wally Whyton

Good book. I did not realise that Joe was Jimmy Stockin's cousin and On The Cobbles is one of my top ten books of all time. Parallels in their story but for Joe to make his way in the snobby corridors of golf is some achievement. He has a good grasp of the 'gypsy problem' and is far more pragmatic in his approach to their social relations than others. Witty and entertaining probably does more for the cause of gypsy/gorgia relations than any government-funded study. Heard Joe on Robert Elms recently and I think the BBC need to get him on Question Time.

Bernard Kops "The Hamlet of Stepney Green"

21-Jul-2009 by King Crombie

Just swagged a copy of Bernard Kops' play "The Hamlet of Stepney Green." First performed in 1958. Just started something else, but will post a review once I've had a go.

Mantovani

10-Jul-2009 by Bernadette

Another with one name

Cavalcanti

09-Jul-2009 by Frank Marker

Just Cavalcanti if you please. I love the chutzpah of a man who only needs to use his surname.

"They Made Me A Fugitive"

09-Jul-2009 by King Crombie

Directed by the mighty Alberto Cavalcanti and shot by Otto Heller (a top shelf cinematographer). A young good looking Sam Kydd can be spotted in the gang. A KC "must see".

They Made Me a Fugitive

08-Jul-2009 by Frank Marker

Further to my message about They Made Me a Fugitive fellow travellers may be interested to know the script was by the same fella that did The Wizard of Oz and was taken from a novel by one Jackson Budd? Any ideas on the latter?

Brit Grit Films

08-Jul-2009 by Frank Marker

Just watched a terrific brit -grit thriller called They Made Me a Fugitive (1947). What a title! The film stars Trevor Howard as a recently discharged Squadron Leader lured into a life of crime and vice which through a bungled crime and the death of a copper leads to series of tragic consequences for poor old Trev. This film really does tap into the fear of post-war crime with cosh boys and still aggressive discharged servicemen kicking their heels and feeling superfluous to civvy street. It also has a first rate script, punchy and witty, with excellent all round performances from the cast. Check out the old Major from Fawlty Towers as the cynical old detective. Next on my list is the Flesh is Weak (1957). A film based on the real-life activities of London's Messina Gang.

Malayan Swing

27-Jun-2009 by Steve

I just finished reading Malayan Swing which I ordered from your site and I have to say that it is one of the most moving books I have ever read. I was a big Lurkers fan when they had the original line-up going, so I bought the book out of interest more than anything, seeing as Pete Haynes used to drum with the band, but didn’t expect to receive such a powerful and eye-opening book. Well done Pete.

Sohemian Meeting 8th July

26-Jun-2009 by Frank Marker

Our next meeting will be about singer/songwriter and actor Anthony Newley. Paul Goodchild, Secretary of the Anthony Newley Society, will be giving an overview of Newley's career (and life applicable to the career) with particular interest to his main output to the theatre (Stop the World, Roar, Gobod, Once Upon a Song, Chaplin and the never to be Richard III) along with background to some of his songwriting methods and stories behind the songs. Paul will also touch upon the films including Merkin, The Small World of Sammy Lee and some more rare aspects of his recording ouput. Paul was a friend of Newley's in 1989 interviewing him for a video release and worked on various projects with him for the last 10 years of his life, his friendship remained until his death when he left the Society in his hands. The Wheatsheaf Rathbone Place London W1 (Nearest tube Tottenham Court Road) 8th July, 7.30 pm Admission £3

Steven Wells

26-Jun-2009 by Peter Pan

Didn’t he trade under the name Seething Wells when he was doing the punk poetry? I used to read him as well. He had an obvious agenda and could drive you mad at times, but he was also a fine writer and could make you laugh out loud. Farrah Fawcett also died, which is a great shame. Both of these people will be overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson. It all seems a bit over the top. Am I the only one who thinks his music is massively overrated? Nothing person, but I just couldn’t see what the fuss was about.

Steven Wells RIP

25-Jun-2009 by Junco

Remember seeing him as Seething Wells with Attila way back in the early 80's. Love him or hate him in the NME. he often made me laugh.

Gypsy Joe

23-Jun-2009 by Private Veinotte

Nice review of Gypsy Joe in the Standard today.

Give Us A Review Bob

22-Jun-2009 by King Crombie

I haven't a clue, but please don't forget to give us a review when you're done Bob. All donations gratefully received, etc., etc., etc !

The Kilburn Tale

21-Jun-2009 by Bob Todd

Just picked this up, published 1948 and written by Ernest Raymond. Anyone know of him? Googled him but although mentioned very little info.

Priestley & 84 Charing Cross Rd.

18-Jun-2009 by Bill Londonsoul

Absolutely with you on Angel Pavement, Larry. My old man raved about it for years - and passed his enthusiasm for it onto me. So, now there's 3 of us!!! After sitting on the shelf for years, I've just read 84 Charing Cross Road. Loved it. it seems to be 2 books in this (and most) edition. The second - "The Duchess of Bloomsbury" is a true account of the author's trip to london after the sucess of 84 CCR. A wee bit twee compared to my usual reading, but the woman has a sharpish tongue and a real passion for London. Could read it in a day - well recommended. Bill

Sohemian Society Event 17th June

17-Jun-2009 by Frank Marker

WEDNESDAY JUNE 17 7:30pm The Sohemian Society presents 'You cannot live as I have lived and not end up like this': the thoroughly disgraceful life & times of Willie Donaldson. A talk by Terence Blacker, biographer of Willie Donalson at: The Wheatsheaf 25 Rathbone Place, North Soho (off Oxford Street, nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road) Admission £3 .Willie Donaldson was found dead in his flat in Fulham in June 2005. His computer was still running logged on to a lesbian porn site. Donaldson’s extraordinary, perverse career, under-achievement and excess put him in the same holy bracket as Peter Cook, Jeffrey Bernard, Peter Sellers, Hunter Thompson and Allen Clarke, although a peerless talent for self-sabotage has meant that his legend has remained largely a secret. By the age of 25 Willie had published Sylvia Plath and produced Beyond the Fringe and would become best known for his Henry Root letters later in his career. He had affairs with some of the most desirable women of the sixties including Sarah Miles and Carly Simon. His remarkable capacity for self-destructiveness (he took up smoking crack in his 50s) and deviance meant he was at his most happy in the company of criminals and tarts.

Much obliged

17-Jun-2009 by King Crombie

Much obliged Messrs. Suitcase and Heliotrope, I shall swag myself a copy of the Collins. Not sure I'm fit enough for 600 pages of Priestley, still title noted and maybe I'll work up to it. Thanks for the pointer.

London Belongs To Me

16-Jun-2009 by Larry Heliotrope

This has indeed been reissued by Penguin in a nice-looking edition. It's a good read - possibly slightly overlong, but a nice picture of London just before the war. In a similar vein but a little earlier (1930), I'd heartily recommend J B Priestly's Angel Pavement. If you like books about the lives of ordinary Londoners, this is a must – a great, great book. Even at 600 pages, I just wanted it to go on.

London Belongs To Me

16-Jun-2009 by Man In A Suitcase

I think it has been re-issued I'm sure I saw it in a bookshop recently in modern paperback. I read it years ago and remember the film of the book about different lifestories in a guest house. Sort of Patrick Hamilton meets It Always Rains on Sunday. I think Collins lived to a ripe old age and became a senior TV executive.

'London Belongs To Me" ?

14-Jun-2009 by King Crombie

Anyone read this 1947 Norman Collins book, which I assume was written before the picture was made ?

MayDay and others

11-Jun-2009 by Alan Harvey

MayDay will be an October release. Out in July and available in the Shop now are Malayan Swing by Pete Haynes founder of punk band The Lurkers. A great and unusual novel about Care in the Community or lack of it from the inside. The first in our British Fiction series. Also a non-fiction title Gypsy Joe about a gypsy man who beats prejudice and the pull to a criminal lifestyle to become a professional golfer.

"May Day" ?

10-Jun-2009 by King Crombie

Have we got a date on that Frank ?

New Book

10-Jun-2009 by Frank Marker

I'm really looking forward to London Books next long lost classic from the 1930s, May Day by John Sommerfield. Apparently this more political and experimental in its literary from than LB's previous Brit Grit books. Anyway I'm pretty certain it will be an excellent read, I wouldn't expect anything less from those discerning people at London Books. Bet you've got another great cover for it too! Messageboarders may also be interested to know that the film about Joe Meek, Telstar Man, is on general release later this month.

"Down Oxford Street' ?

06-Jun-2009 by King Crombie

Brought to my attention by Warpole, I have a couple of questions: 1) Has anyone read this ? 2) Is this Ralph Finn the same geezer that has written all the football books ? Your starter for ten Bamber !

Sohemian Event

03-Jun-2009 by Frank Marker

In the first of half of tonight's event our guest Jake Arnott will be reading from and discussing the background to his latest novel, 'The Devil's Paintbrush'. In the second half, Jake will be talking about those two Sohemian Poster Boys, Lord Boothby and Tom Driberg. Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, London W1. 15th June 7.30 pm. Admission £3 Copies of The Devil's Paintbrush will be available for sale on the night.

It weren't me guv!

29-May-2009 by Frank Marker

Frank Marker did do nick for a crime he didn't commit. I may be incorrect here, but I have a feeling he covered up for someone else too. Apart from that you learn nothing about his background during the entire run of the series. And that is the beauty of it! Nowadays tv decs have to be burdened with 'issues, tedious ex lovers, tiresome long lost children, a boring drink problem ad bloody nauseam. Public Eye just relied on good solid plots and excellent ensemble acting. I'd love to do a Public Eye for the Sohemians. I know Alfie Burke is still with us. Unfortunately he's bit immobile these days, well he is 90. I'm reliably informed from another veteran actor, Murray Melvin, he's a very nice guy too. He also turned in a very good performance as the 'good german' officer in another fine series called Enemy at the Door.

Public Eye

29-May-2009 by IS

Full set out on DVD. Worth a look.

Public Eye

29-May-2009 by Paul

Wasn't called Private Eye at first? I was puzzled by this programme as a kid because my parents used to pull up the sofa and get right into it. I didn't get it at first. If I remember wasn't there some mystery about Frank Marker's past.? Been in the nick, I think. One wonders if Colombo was not inspired by him. Scruffy raincoat. Odd demeanour. Burke is still with us, I think. You guys should do a Sohemians evening with him.

Let's Hope...

28-May-2009 by King Crombie

Let's just hope that "Public Eye" is considered too small a franchise to produce the required investment to profit ratio. Or that they can re-make The Persuaders instead !

There's a Mole in my Odeon

27-May-2009 by Bill Stubbins

The best is yet to come. I have also heard rumours that Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is also due for a big screen treatment. The whole beauty of the original tv version was its dark intimacy with an intriguing and labyrinth tale which was allowed develop over 7 episodes. I can only hope the Tristrams never get hold of my favourite tv series, Public Eye. I can just see them casting flavour of the month actor Bill Nighy in the Alfred Burke role. He's a not bad actor as louch types go, but he couldn't hold a candle to Alfie Burke's down at heel, yet oddly moral, Frank Marker.

It is sad

27-May-2009 by King Crombie

Nice choice of word there Hubert - sad, very sad indeed. I'm sure there are plenty of new ideas out there, but the mullahs of moolah like an easy sell and a quick profit. Anything with a pedigree, or some kind of brand recognition is favoured over creativity and hard work.

Why?

27-May-2009 by Hubert Lane

What I want to know is why? Apparently they are remaking The Sweeney. Because Ashes to Ashes pulled in a nice few viewers? And if they do they will sanitise it and politically correct it so the only thing retro in it will be the Ford Corsairs and large collars. Brighton Rock's beauty is because it is of its time. When the seaside was the place to go and blousy old prossies with good hearts frequented the pubs. Are they are no new ideas in Film World? Why do they rely so heavily on remakes, sequels and sequels to sequels. Its sad.

Brighton Rock - Remade Remodeled ?

27-May-2009 by King Crombie

Can't see anything positive coming out of this caper. If it's even watchable, I'll eat my argyle socks (cashmere of course).

Brighton Rock - Remake

26-May-2009 by anonymous

With Sam (Ian Curtis) Riley playing Pinkie. Going to be reset in the 60's using Mods and Rockers as the backdrop. Starts shooting in Sept. Remaking a British classic is always dangerous ground, although I was never entirely convinced by Sir Dickie as a Brighton herbert...

How about....?

23-May-2009 by Sidedoor

Lionel Blair - flairs; Lionel Bart - fart; Aryton Senna - "tenner"; Lady Godiva - "fiver" & unfortunately Feargal Sharkey (which I'm glad to say I haven't heard for many years)

Talk TONIGHT

21-May-2009 by Alan Harvey

Lost London Authors: Iain Sinclair & Paul Willetts in conversation. Thursday 21st May at 6.30pm Iain Sinclair- author of 'Downriver' and now 'Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire'- and Julian Maclaren-Ross biographer Paul Willetts share a fascination with the less familiar stories that London and its writers have to tell. In this unique event, they join together to look at neglected classics of London writing by James Curtis and Robert Westerby. Venue: Waterstones, Gower Street Tickets £4

Cafe-Bar ?

16-May-2009 by King Crombie

I'd be much obliged Frank.

Cafe Bar

15-May-2009 by Frank Marker

Hello KC I will be attending next week's Willetts/Sinclair chat. If I remember I'll ask him about Cafe Bar.

"Cafe-Bar" ? Any pointers ?

14-May-2009 by King Crombie

On the first page of Iain Sinclair's introduction to "Wide Boys Never WorK" he mentions a book title "Cafe-Bar". Any pointers as to the writer ?

Dugs new novel?

12-May-2009 by Mrs Ethel tinkerbelle Brimson ( No relation)

Hi chaps can anyone on here tell me when Dougie Brimsons new novel "Dinner by Candlelight" hits the shops? I cant wait ! Dugs a very underated writer and I'd go as far as to say one of the best we have in Britain today.

don't worry

12-May-2009 by as

http://www.test.com

don't worry

12-May-2009 by as

www.test.com

Willetts and Sinclair

01-May-2009 by Frank Marker

Thanks Alan I'll certainly drop everything for that one. Paul's a very good friend of the Sohemians. It was through his book on Maclaren-Ross that the society was formed. I doff my capo to him. Anyone go to see the Zombies perform Odessey and Oracle at the Hammersmith Apollo last Saturday. A fab night! Those old boys can still do it and in many way probably even better than when they spotty kids in matching black polo necks.

Upcoming event - Iain Sinclair and Paul Willetts discuss Westerby and Curtis

28-Apr-2009 by Alan Harvey

Roy Bentley

24-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

I remember seeing Roy Bentley playing in a charity match for a showbiz first 11 against Didcot Town (Isthmian League) back in, oh, 68/69 sometime. Scored a goal too. Best wishes to the old fella!

Rhyming Slang

23-Apr-2009 by Bill Londonsoul

Peter Purves - service. E.g. "The peter's terrible in there". Frank Bough - off. E.g. "are you doing the Frank"? (are you about to depart?).

Roy Bentley

23-Apr-2009 by Harry Harkins

Yes, a big toast to Roy Bentley. He's been under the cosh a bit lately with his wife and daughter passing away. CFC look after him well, I;m glad to hear.

Happy 23rd

23-Apr-2009 by iPat

On this day in 1955 with a 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday at The Bridge, Chelsea became Champions for the very first time. Lift a glass to St George, William Shakespeare, Roy Bentley and the 'Bentley boys'. Bless you one and all.

Rhyming slang - cockney, or otherwise ?

23-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Always a tricky subject the rhyming. There's always been a steady demand for a finite amount of rhymes and their meanings- along the lines of a dictionary. There has also always been a contingent that believes in an ever evolving/perpetually updated verbal that retains some criminal/clandestine content. Obviously the established rhymes have considerable value, but I think it's hard to compare them with the latest update. I guess it depends on the purpose of usage, or am I wrong ?

how about?...

22-Apr-2009 by bilbo baggins

Pete Tong? James Blunt? ;o)

I can think of one...

22-Apr-2009 by Sam Spade

Luca Viallu for Charlie for coke for cocaine.

Jack Jones

22-Apr-2009 by Paul

Surprised to hear that Jack Jones has died. Surprised because I thought he was long dead. When I was a kid he was one of a bunch of union people always on the telly (Vic Feather, Len Murray, Joe Gormley and Arthur Scargill) and by then he was their older statesman. I note he was 96. His greatest achievement, perhaps, is that he entered mainstream cockney rhyming slang fairly early in his own life time. Being on your Jack Jones meaning on your own. Cannot think of many others who have achieved this besides Ruby Murray.

Much obliged Frank

21-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Much obliged Frank, I'll have a poke about that website too !

Baron Family At War Episodes

21-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Hello KC Here's the episodes Baron penned for the Family at War Series: The Breach in the Dyke (1970) Brothers in War (1970) A Lesson in War (1970) Believed Killed (1971) The Lost Ones (1971) Two Fathers (1972) If you want a synopsis to this episodes there's an excellent Family at War site at http://bearspace.baylor.edu/Richard_Veit/www/index.htm

Typo !

20-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

That should read King not king. Us regal types have to pay attention to detail.

Any Chance Frank ?

20-Apr-2009 by king Crombie

Frank is there any chance that you could list the Baron "Family At War" episodes ? I'm not a big Box man, but I might well give them a gander. PS "From The City From The Plough" - any comments ?

Baron

17-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Interestingly enough the episodes he scripted for 'Family at War' were very humane and to my mind the best in what was a superlative series. He seemed to have a real understanding for the frustrations and at times, tragedies, the people on the Home Front had to endure. He also brilliantly portrayed how Britain would have to face up to the post-war world of a Labour Government and its sweeping nationalisation programme, schools where children would not gaze upon maps on walls with the colour red liberally doted on them and a boss that may well have a regional accent. A top writer!

Newley

17-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

For anyone interested you may like to know the NFT are having a Tribute To Anthony Newley Evening on the 24th April. Included will be the bizarre Newley vehicle, 'Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?' a complete episode of the off the wall comedy 'Gurney Slade' and finally various clips of Tone singing. The Sohemian Society hope to be getting a pal of Tone's to to give us a talk on his life and career at a future meeting.

Dodgy

15-Apr-2009 by anonymous

There is but a tiny space between therapist and the rapist.

Alexander Baron "The Human Kind"

15-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Alexander Baron's "Lowlife" as many of us know is an excellent book. The sequel "Strip Jack Naked" for me was hardly worth the read and so this is my third Baron. "The Human Kind" is a prologue, twenty four short stories and an epilogue, in 189 pages. These are war stories about the best and worst of human nature, told for a change by a soldier, not an officer. It is essentially a memoir of a decent East London Jewish lad, becoming a man during World War Two. It's an easy read, I carted aboutreading it here and there. Some of the stories are much better than others, but although it is unflinching, it is for the most part neither hard boiled nor black hearted. Baron is a compassionate man and although he gets hardened by war, he retains his humanity. I enjoyed it and plan to read his WW2 novel "From the City, From the Plough". I've been told that "The Human Kind" was made into a picture "The Victors"(1963), but the Tommy's were re-cast as G.I.'s !

Theremin

15-Apr-2009 by Jim Pennington

from the latin theremis, -me, -min, -mitis, -mitis, -mi. Meaning "Cosy spookiness in the back row of the Kinema". Once seen at a Frank Zappa concert, last seen in use at The Beys, Kings Place. Can be used to induce the whimper that precedes the full blown yowl of a Primal Scream therapy session.

Therapist ?

15-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Jim, a therapist that the funny sounding instrument that you wave your hands over - used in cheap horror pictures ?

it's a fair cop guv'

14-Apr-2009 by Jim Pennington

entirely inappropriate cross-ref anyway ...Mr Len the fence would have had a sharp pair of eyes and do sums so quick in his head you thought you were diddling him instead of being diddled yourself. Bit like what my therapist gets up to.

Already shot myself in the foot

14-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Copper not cooper, shows what a pillock I am.

A word Jim

14-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

I might get some stick for this, but be that as it may. I am neither a cooper, sunday school teacher or a social worker, but I do feel duty bound to point out that the phrase "ch*nky eyed" is uneccessary. No harm intended ( I hope) and no harm done (I hope too). I'm all for era appropriate usage of the language, but in contemporary usage I think we should shelve that one.

The Gilt Kid, Karl Marx and the case of the suspect ironist.

13-Apr-2009 by Jim Pennington

Page 173 - the Kid throws the book on the floor. Is this because " (£400 const. + £90 var.) + £90 surpl." does not add up to either £500 or £590? It certainly does not make sense. I find the quote in "Capital" and it does add up because the £400 should read £410, like it does in the previous paragraph. Is this Curtis being ironic? Or a typo from London Books? I find a tattered 1947 Penguin for £4 (the edition London used) and it reads the same. I refuse to pay a fortune for a Cape edition. That miserable danish bookseller, who seems to have the only copy on the Internet, cannot be arsed to even look at his copy for me. But then, Gawd blimey. Who'd have thought it! I find a 40p ex-lib Cape in a charity bin down the Holloway Road!!! And on page 211 it has (£410 constr. Case solved, Inspector...it wasn't the Irony Kid what done it, after all... must have been some Chinky-eyed proof-reader in Penguins. I'm running off the erratum slips straight away - message me if you want one - am so cook-a-hoop I might even go down the London Book warehouse and stick 'em in their unsold stock for free ...well no .. for a free supply of their forthcomings. Please.

Sammy Lee

09-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Great news about Sammy Lee. Pity it's not being released individually though. I already have the fab The London Nobody Knows and the not so fab Bikes of Belsize when it was released on dvd last year. Still have to buy it though, just for the excellent Sammy Lee. Just started to read a biog on Tony Newley. A very talented chap and not some you could pigeon hole either. The BBC comedy series The Strange World of Gurney Slade and the Newley/Bricusse musical Stop the World were bot well ahead of their time.

Sohemian Society

09-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Thanks for the kind comments Billlondonsoul. Try and make our next one on the 15th. The talk will also include a powerpoint presentation.

Sammy Lee

09-Apr-2009 by Stan Bowles

A mouthy little scouser walking round Soho's strip joints?...

"THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE"

09-Apr-2009 by King Crombie

Strictly top shelf picture. The opening Berwick Street foootage alone worth the price of admission.

London Films Box Set

08-Apr-2009 by Bill Londonsoul

This might make up for the lack of contemporary decent British film making. It was on the Cindelica site, and I can't wait!: We've just got a list of DVD releases and reissues for the next months - and the London boxset has certainly caught out eye. Apparently coinciding with the GLA festival celebrating The Story of London, the box will feature movies that offer 'diverse post-War London locations from the 50s and 60s and which explore quintessentially London themes' - think the London docks, Soho and the Underground. So what's on it? Well, two films we've seen and review before (The London Nobody knows/Les Bicyclettes de Belsize) and three gems from the 50s and 60s never before released on DVD - The Yellow Balloon, Pool of London and the much-anticipated The Small World of Sammy Lee (pictured above and which you can read about here). Release date is 1st June 2009 - we'll be reviewing well before then.

The Sohemian's Groovy Bob night.

08-Apr-2009 by Bill Londonsoul

Really enjoyed this, last night. Thank you.

Sohemian Meeting 15th April

08-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Sohemian Meeting: A talk and powerpoint presentation on the History of Gay Soho. Admission:£3 15th April 7:30PM Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place Speaker: David Thompson Join us in a historical journey through the streets of Soho that have witnessed the secrets, trials and triumphs of gay life for nearly a thousand years. Hear about everything from the 17th century Molly trials, to the haunts of Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall and Derek Jarman. From the clandestine club life of the 30s and 40s to the underground world of the 50s. With a serial killer or two thrown into the mix, this is a talk that everyone interested in the cultural history of Soho should attend. Sohemian Meeting A History of Gay Soho Admission:£3 15th April 7:30PM Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place Speaker: David Thompson Join us in a historical journey through the streets of Soho that have witnessed the secrets, trials and triumphs of gay life for nearly a thousand years. Hear about everything from the 17th century Molly trials, to the haunts of Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall and Derek Jarman. From the clandestine club life of the 30s and 40s to the underground world of the 50s. With a serial killer or two thrown into the mix, this is a talk that everyone interested in the cultural history of Soho should attend.

British films

08-Apr-2009 by COFFINDODGER

I am consistently appalled at the dearth of good British films in any genre. I think the last truly great British made movie was Confessions of a Driving Instructor.

very true Nick...

07-Apr-2009 by anonymous

I comepletely agree with you on recent Brit flicks - I don't think there's been a genuine 'sit up and take notice' british film since Trainspotting. And with regards to the post below yours...maybe Human Punk or England Away can address the balance?...I hope so.

Can British films get any worse?

06-Apr-2009 by Nick

Can British films get any worse? The Boat That Rocked has already triggered debate as to whether it's even crummier than Lesbian Vampire Killers. François Truffaut said, "There's something about England that's anti-cinematic," and English film-makers - quite possibly Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ones, as well - always seem to fall over themselves to prove him right. I seldom go to see British films for pleasure. I go out of duty, and invariably regret it. Love Actually and The History Boys were so ineptly crafted and emotionally dishonest they left me depressed for days. The only thing that stopped me slitting my wrists after Atonement was that No Country for Old Men and Sweeney Todd were coming out a week later, and I was looking forward to seeing those. I got so bored during The Wind That Shakes the Barley that I actually started trying to read a magazine. In the cinema! In the dark! Of course, there are exceptions. Happy-Go-Lucky was interesting (it forced me to examine the reasons why I wanted to kill the Sally Hawkins character) and The Bank Job mildly diverting, but most British output seems divided between prestige period pics by inheritors of the Merchant Ivory mantle, and ladmag fodder, exemplified by all those ghastly British gangster films that spoiled my stint as a bona fide film critic in the 1990s. There isn't space here to bang on about all my wacky theories about what Truffaut called the "incompatibility between the terms 'cinema' and 'Britain'", so I'll limit myself to just a couple. I once heard a British film director say in an interview that he wasn't interested in telling a story visually (why were you directing a bloody film then?), and it's clear he's not the only one. Historically, Britain has produced more world-class writers than painters, and words tend to be valued far above visual imagery, if only because reading and listening apparently require more effort than looking, and so are deemed to be worthier pursuits. A lot of British film-makers assume that screenplay equals dialogue, and because the Brits still haven't caught on to William Goldman's maxim that "Screenplay is structure", we get endless exposition and a plodding procession of scenes unfurling like stage plays. Scene begins, there's some dialogue, scene ends, next scene begins, more dialogue and so on. Lawks-a-mercy, we might as well be watching a Restoration drama at the Old Vic. The worst recent offender in this area was Revolutionary Road, which may not have been strictly British, but its director was, and he sure as hell managed to imbue it with his achingly dull theatrical sensibility. I'm not saying theatre is dull, you understand; just that there's a time and a place for it, and it's not up there on the cinema screen. Even when British directors do try to tell a story visually, the best they can manage is to copy other, better film-makers, usually American ones. They think a bit of Goodfellas-style steadicam would be cool, for example. The likes of Guy Ritchie or Nick Love fail utterly to grasp that the reason a fancy editing or camera effect might originally have worked was because the director was using it to advance the narrative or make an emotional point, instead of doing it just to show off or to try to be "visual" without actually thinking in visual terms, like poor old Kenneth Branagh, who inserted so many pointless camera parabolas into Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that the results were comical. That the British distrust all genres except the one in which people wear bonnets doesn't help, but just as big a problem is their undue reverence for realism. Fantasy is frowned upon, or dismissed as fare for kiddies or spotty adolescents. Yet the British films that have best stood the test of time are not critically revered kitchen-sink dramas such as A Taste of Honey or Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but Hammer's gothic fairytales, Ealing's bracing whimsy, and the sublime romantic fabulations of Powell and Pressburger. And let's face it - realism is probably the last thing we need right now.

Human Punk and England Away films?...

06-Apr-2009 by Mad Hatter

hi all, a while ago there were a few posts about the release of film adaptations of Human Punk and England Away...is there any further news on this?

Sohemian Talk

03-Apr-2009 by Frank Marker

Sohemian Society Presents Tuesday April 7, 7pm POP! GOES THE EASEL The life of '60s art Impressario 'Groovy Bob' Fraser Come and re-live London in that Go-Go decade, hang out (albeit retrospectively) with the top cultural movers n' shakers of the time, get high on the conceptual art that was flying off the walls of Groovy Bob's cutting edge Mayfair gallery. Groovy Bob's biographer Harriet Vyner will be talking to Cathi Unsworth, former music journalist and author of ‘The Not Knowing’, ‘The Singer' and the forthcoming, and much awaited 'Bad Penny Blues' . Yes, it promises to be quite an evening. Copies of Harriet's book will be available on the night. This event will take place at The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, London W1 (off Oxford Street, near Tottenham Court Road underground station). Entrance fee: £3 "Drugs? What do you know about drugs?" Overheard – Robert Fraser to Keith Richards, 1982

Robert Peston

30-Mar-2009 by Will

is a bit like the kid in school who put his hand up and pleads 'miss, miss' but i've just read his book Who Runs Britain and it is a pretty damning indictment of how this goverment has presided over a huge outflow of value from this country. The main culprits he contends are the private equity companies who now own a signifcant percentage of what used to be called UK PLC and who have made huge profits but they and their partners are domiciled overseas therefore depriving Britain of tax revenues that would build schools and hospitals. The Tories privatised our public sector and Labour have sold off our private sector. Read it. He goes off on tangents here and there as he does on TV but on the whole the man on the Clapham Omnibus can understand it.

Chris Eccles stole money from his mother

27-Mar-2009 by fytzti@ncerva.com

THIEF, pay it back says Charlie.........

Chris Eccles is a Fag

27-Mar-2009 by fytzti@ncerva.com

Charlie is cheating on you boyfriend.......

"The Human Kind"

20-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

Frank, according to Ken Worpole it's a book of short stories "set before ,during and after the War". Only so far in, but have no reason to disagree with KW thus far. First published 1953 my Pan copy !957.

Alexander Baron

20-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

What's the Human Kind about King Crom? I just picked up a Pan copy of his war novel, From The City From The Plough. I've just finished watching on DVD the complete series of Family at War. Baron was the scriptwriter for a number of the episodes, they are by far the best in what was a superlative series. Anyone remember the memorial opening with the Union Jack fluttering defiantly on the sandcastle and the beautiful strains of Vaughan Williams Symphony No 4 used as the theme tune?

Topper

20-Mar-2009 by London Central

People make their own choices. It's like drink, if it turns you into an in sufferable ass, then don't do the bloody stuff! Period. Sorry if that sounds like Bufton Tufton, but, er, tuff. Anyway, I'm sure as you say Topper is a charming chap nowadays. Still not sure about La Faithfull though.? She appears to be turning a sort of jewish agony aunt (a groovy Claire Rayner with tattoos if you like) telling 'her children' like Mossy how they should run their lives. Kate is a flibbertigibbet, so just leave her to it.

Sohemian Evening

20-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

Hello Richie4 Thanks for the kind message re Sohemian Meeting. It was very enjoyable evening all round. Paolo was a fine fellow. I suspect most people were initially there for the Marriott half of the talk, although I think a good many who had never heard of Friday were still entertained by Paolo's descriptions of his antics on off the park. Kissing a PC when he scored! Nowadays the copper would probably say he had been psychologically scarred by the incident. I noticed Paolo didn't mention the incident with Mark Lawrenson's sport's bag! Check Wiki if you want to find out the full details. Our next event will be on the 7th April when we will be inviting Harriet Vyner to give us a talk about the 1960s groovy art gallery owner, Robert Fraser. So if posho junkies hanging out with Keef and Mick are your thing, please come along. On the 15th April will be hosting a talk on the History of Gay Soho. It'll be a bona evening. Please bring your polari glossary with you.

Alexander Baron "The Human Kind"

18-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

Just swagged a lovely Pan-Books copy of Alexander Baron's "The Human Kind".. Not sure it will look so handsome by the time I'm through with it, still books are for reading. Review to folow....

Thanks

11-Mar-2009 by Richie4

for the Paolo Hewitt evening the other week I thoroughly enjoyed it, Please keep us posted of any other events.

Terry Dene

04-Mar-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

I'm not sure he ever went to prison. He was called up for National Service at the peak of his career and had a nervous breakdown. After that his career never recovered and he has attempted many comebacks since.

Very interesting....

04-Mar-2009 by Hubert Lane

Wipe it off. I think Terry Dene a long -forgotten beat star did time for shoplifting. He later found God. He was so popular for while he even starred in his own film vehicle.

COMPUTER THIEVING IS A SERIOUS CRIME

04-Mar-2009 by anonymous

BEWARE OF UGLY STINKING LOW CLASS RACIST BRITISH POLICE IN UNIFORMS AND UGLY STINKING LOW CLASS RACIST WHITE BRITISH NEIGHBORS BOTH COMMITTING THE SERIOUS CRIME OF INTERNET AND OFFLINE COMPUTER HACKING. RACIST BRITISH POLICE IN UNIFORMS PERPETUATE RACISM IN CONNIVANCE WITH RACIST WHITE BRITISH NEIGHBORS TO ILLEGALLY AND UNWARRANTEDLY USE WALL SEE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY, AUDIO LISTENING IN DEVICES, EMR VAN ECK PHREAKING EQUIPMENT, AND INTERNET, EMAIL, AND LANDLINE AND CELLPHONE TELEPHONE HACKING AGAINST ASIANS IN THEIR HOMES THROUGH WAILING SIRENS FROM OUTSIDE FOR EVERY BODY MOVEMENT OF ASIANS IN THEIR HOMES. INTERNET AND COMPUTER HACKING AND INFILTRATING INTO OTHERS PRIVACY IS A SERIOUS CRIME. THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THE RACIST BRITISH POLICE IS TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER THROUGH ENSURING THAT THE RACIST WHITE BRITISH SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DEHUMANIZINGLY DISTURB, INTIMIDATE, AND HARASS ASIANS IN THEIR HOMES AND ON STREETS, SHOPS, AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT THROUGH THE ILLEGAL USE OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES WITH POLICE CONNIVANCE AND TO INTIMIDATE, HARASS, DISTURB, AND PROVOCATE ASIANS WHO REFUSE TO TOLERATE THIS ILLEGAL NONSENSE OF RACIST BRITISH POLICE IN CONNIVANCE WITH RACIST BRITISH NEIGHBORS. http://the-bastard.com/index.php?section=3&page=454 http://www.articlearchives.com/international-relations/national-security/1790326-1.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N3ySmBP5ds http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/22/racist-cop-uses-uk-t.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1026865.cms http://www.sukh-dukh.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2251 REFER ITEM NO. 7 FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND AWARENESS http://www.justlanded.com/english/UK/Tools/Forums/Culture/Whyare-the-English-so-racist-towards-Indians-and-Pakistanis http://gideon.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/12/white-australia-racism-against-indian-students.htm http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/08/145937.php http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/11/stories/2007081161911900.htm http://www.british-sikh-federation.org/Local%20and%20General%20Election%20Issues,%20Year%202001-20021.htm http://www.justlanded.de/english/Dubai/Tools/Forums/Culture/Racism-in-Dubai-against-Expatriates Burke, J. and Warren, P. (2002). How mobile phones let spies see our every move. The Observer, October 13. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,811027,00.html Bush, Steve. (2002, August 12). Radar with Cell Phones? Look at CellDar. http://3nw.com/pda/radar_with_cell_phones__look_at_celldar.htm Bush, Steve. (2006, November 17). Police will use radar to see through walls. Electronics Weekly. http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2006/11/17/40181/Police+will+use+radar+to+see+through+walls.htm Chan, Hans, H. (1999, June 4). Cops have eyes on x-ray vision. New technology would let police see through walls. New York: APBNews.com. http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/soundweapon/xray.htm Hearn, Kelly. (2001, April 18). High tech cop tools see through walls. United Press International cited on CommonDreams.org. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0418-04.htm Hunt, A., Tillery, C., & Wild, N. (2001). Through-the-wall surveillance technologies. Corrections Today, 63(4), 132. Kuhn, M. G., & Anderson, R. J. (1998). Soft tempest: Hidden data transmission using electromagnetic emanations http://groups.csail.mit.edu/cis/crypto/classes/6.857/papers/ih98-tempest.pdf Lamb, G. M. (2006). Does digital age spell privacy’s doom? Christian Science Monitor, 98(149). Lyon, D. (2001c). Surveillance after September 11. Surveillance after September 11. Sociological Research Online 6(3). http://www.socresonline.org.uk/6/3/lyon.html Marx, G. T. (1986). The iron fist and the velvet glove: Totalitarian potentials within democratic structures. http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www.iron.html Marx, G. T. (2001). Murky conceptual waters: The public and the private. Ethics and Information Technology, 3(3), 157-159. http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/murkypublicandprivate.html McGowan, Dave. (2000, June). Sony’s Magic cameras. http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/cameras.htm Mejia, R. (2002). More surveillance on the way. The Nation, October 30. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021111/mejia20021030 Miles, Donna (2006, January 3). New device will sense through concrete walls. American Forces Information Service. US Department of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2006/20060103_3822.html Sanders, Jane (2001, April 12). Flash of force: Radar flashlight could help police detect suspects hiding behind doors and 8-inch thick walls. Georgia Institute of Technology Research News. http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/RADARFLASH.html Simonite, Tom. (2006, November 14). Compact radar tracks movement through a wall. New Scientist. http://www.newscientisttech.com/channel/tech/weapons/dn10524 Wright, J. (2005). National security, corporate security, or human security? http://globalresearch.ca/articles/WRI506A.html

Go Easy Son

03-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

It's easy to have a go at junkies, but in my limited experience which includes never tasting H, it's no easy occupation. It would seem to me both of those recently mentioned here (Faithful and Headon) have experienced heroin addiction with and without dosh, something Messrs. Richards and Wood know nothing about. Although it's my nature to be less than charitable to most Rock"n'Roll people, I do feel especially in Mr Headon's case (having been a genuinely talented musician) that he's done his bird and should be left to make the best out of whatever he has left .Nuff said !

Topper

02-Mar-2009 by London Central

Sorry, but tough. There's nothing worse that old rockers breast beating.

Topper

02-Mar-2009 by iPat

In the recent Joe Strummer film he talks about how low he was then. It's easy to judge but he'd lost everything. If you dont respect yourself you cant respect others can you? It was god to see him healthy in the film.

The Horse

02-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

The Topper was done for heroin. I remember seeing him in the Blue Sky Cafe in Westbourne Grove immediately after he was kicked out of the Clash. He had all his gold records gathered under his arms. When this sweet old boy, who'd probably never heard of the band, went up to congratulate him on his records Mr Headon muttered to his mate "Silly old ***ker!" Never thought much of him after that. He deserved the nick!

Nicky "Topper" Headon

02-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

The Clash's Mr Headon did a stretch, but I don't know how long or exactly what for ?

Crosby

02-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

Hi Peter Day I don't think it was Steve Stills, but his erstwhile colleague Dave Crosby who did chokey for drugs and firearms offences. Talking of music, is any of you chaps off to see the Zombies perform their classic 1968 album Odessey and Oracle at the Hammersmith Apollo next month? They'll also be a solo set from Colin Blunstone, one of the truly great voices in brit pop.

Bono

02-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

Is it possible to put that plonker Bono and U2 away for inflicting their dreadful noise pollution on the West End of London last Friday night?

Richards spending the Night

02-Mar-2009 by Peter Day

The Last Time I heard they did. Didn't William Rees-Mogg write the editorial in the Times the following morning and they were released during the next day? I was Just A Boy (shit that was Daltrey) at the time.

JailByrds

02-Mar-2009 by Peter Day

Stephen Stills, Willie Nelson, James Brown and does Tony Orlando (Tie A Yellow Ribbon) qualify?

02-Mar-2009 by Bob Todd

Does Johnny Cash count?

Stars Behind Bars

02-Mar-2009 by Hubert Lane

Dare I mention Mr Glitter?

Did Richards even spend the night ?

02-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

I have a pal who was in the exercise yard when Keith got pulled out .My Pal was well gutted as he hadn't had a chance top have a chat .

Popstars who have been jailed...

01-Mar-2009 by Peter Day

Leapster, fontana, boygeorge, jagger and richard for one night. Macca in Tokyo any more?

The Leapster

01-Mar-2009 by Sister George

According to Wiki The Leapster has had such an eventful life, singing that one hit in every 1970s chicken-in-a-basket cabaret club presumably, he has recently published the first of two parts of his autobiography. His website is well worth a visit if you have a spare minute or two. Here's an extract from his philosophical take on life: "Just as long as you have yer health, sense of humour and a bit o love in yer life, it aint all bad" . Not so much Wittgenstein, as the old flipping drunken bore who props up the bar and is to be avoided at all costs. Anyone see that BBC4 1963 fly-on-the-wall doc about Swindon Town the other day? Here's a few of the names I recognised, Mike Summerbee, Don Rogers, Bobby Woodruff and Ernie Hunt. Lovely stuff.

A True Mind-Bender

01-Mar-2009 by Frank Marker

Another 60s pop star who got locked up a year or so ago was ex Mind Bender, Wayne Fontana. He got 11 months for setting light to his about to be repossessed car with the repo man still inside. When he was committed to trial he turned up at court dressed as the lady of justice, with a sword, scales, crown, cape and dark glasses, claiming justice 'was blind'.

leapy Lee

01-Mar-2009 by anonymous

The Leapster did have a bar in Spain and Little Arrows still gives him a living of sorts. I remember him best for getting locked up at the peak of his fame when he and Diana Dors' husband glassed a man in a pub in Sunningdale. I think he was a handful, Mr Lee, and Lake went on to shoot himself.

Nice Interview

01-Mar-2009 by Jimmy Jazz

Total change of subject - sorry - i've just found this John King interview at www.bookdepository.co.uk/interview/with/author/john-king Maybe old news to some but i found it quite interesting.

Leapy Lee's 2nd Act ?

01-Mar-2009 by King Crombie

I'm pretty certain Leapy Lee ended up in Majorca or some other mug infested Spanish hell hole pimping Leapy Lee's Curry Circus or some similar foolishness.

Leapy Lee

28-Feb-2009 by Ladbroke Grove

I beg your indulgence Coffin Dodger, you were quite correct the Crispy hit was called Pied Piper. Leapy Lee was the performer on Little Arrows.

Elmsy.

28-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Here's that quote in full: "From half-spoken shadows emerges a canvas. A kiss of light breaks to reveal a moment when all mirrors are redundant. Listen to the portrait of the dance of perfection: the Spandau Ballet". What a wordsmith! Do you any of you think that when you hear 'True' being played at a wedding reception?

Liverpool Vs Spurs

28-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

I remember at the time big things were expected from the Dave Clark Five. They were seen as London's answer to the Beatles. The music papers at the time termed the DC5's awful tubthumping crapola, 'The Tottenham Sound'. Damned lucky for us the Stones came around!

Little Arrows

28-Feb-2009 by Ladbroke Grove

Hi Coffin Dodger. Yes I well recall Crispy. But wasn't his hit called Little Arrows? I remember our music teacher at the time playing it on his dansette for the delectation of his bemused pupils, obviously under the misguided impression that he was 'getting down with the kids' by being all hip and groovy.. He would have made more of an impression if he he'd spun Stockhausen's musique concrete oeuvre. I have a feeling Crispy now runs a bar in a Spanish resort somewhere? I imagine he still woos the ex-pats with Little Arrows. I must agree with you Old Donovan Leitch is a bit away with the cosmic fairies these days. I remember an old flower child saying how he knew the 'peace decade' was over when he heard old Don yell "Wanker!" at some unfortunate bloke backstage at a 1968 Benefit Concert. You have to admit, though, the man did write some memorable songs. Tony Hadley has to be accepted into the Naff Pop Stars Club - actually you could pluck anyone from the 1980s. Anyone remember MC Robert Elms toe-curling four line intro to the Spands before they took to the stage at some pretentious New Romantic Club? To think people at the time took that arse as a style guru!

Groovy party

28-Feb-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Crispian ST Peters stormed to the number one slot in the mid-sixties with a catchy tune called The Pied Paper. The success went to his head and he announced in the Melody Maker that he was going to be bigger than The Beatles. Three months later he was back into the obscurity he had emerged from. He'd be good value at the party. Donovan is another one whose self delusion has not been successfully treated. get him along.

Naff Rock Stars

28-Feb-2009 by Ladbroke Grove

Back to Daltrey. I remember a friend of mine thought up an imaginary club where naff pop/rock stars all hung out together. Daltrey was one of the members along with Justin Hayward, Cliff Richards, Meatloaf, Brian May,all of the Quo and Ringo Starr. Can any of you chaps think of any more inclusions? I thought of putting Bono up, but then again, he's so bloody awful, he'd probably be blackballed by this mob.

Marriott and Friday

28-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

I'd like to give a big thank you to any London Books messengers who came to our last Sohemian meeting on Steve Marriott and Robin Friday. Paolo Hewitt's passion and love of these two lovable blokes shone through on what turned out to be our best attended meeting to date. Keeping with the 60s/70s theme our next meeting will be on Groovy Bob (Robert Frazer). So if posho junkies hanging out with Keef and Mick are your thing please come along.

West End Jungle

26-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Anyone seen West End Jungle DVD yet? I really can't recommend it highly enough. Hilarious transatlantic voice over too. It's available on Amazon and Network

Guardian

23-Feb-2009 by Alan Harvey

Top 1,000 Novels feature on Saturday: Night and The City by Gerald Kersh and The Football Factory by John King both feature.

Marianne

23-Feb-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Your'e right Ladbroke - she's made a career out of Jagger and Mars Bars. She was very sweet singing As Tears Go By sitting on a stool and in a mini skirt and kinky boots on Ready, Steady, Go though. Yes, there was a lot of other quality talent out there at the time: Chrissie and Jean Shrimpton, Judy Geeson, Twinkle and others.

Faithless

21-Feb-2009 by Ladbroke Grove

Bar the allure of la Faithful did anyone stick out Girl on a Motorbike? I thought it was a bloody awful film. I see Faithful's got another book out too. From what I can see it's yet more rehashing of her life story, a bit more updated to the present perhaps. I personally think she's a bit of pain-in-the- arse. Similarly to ex-drug addled middle-class women who were in the spotlight in the 60s for hanging out with rock stars, but with no apparent talent to speak of, she now hawks her tedious Mother Courage bit around for all sundry. She's a bit of a precious madam in interviews too.

Marianne & The Leather Girls

21-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

I do believe the continental title for that flick was "Naked Under Leather". Bardot, Blackman and Miss Rigg should all get mentioned in despatches.

Girl on A Motorcycle

21-Feb-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

mariane faithfull at her most alluring

Not a black leather man myself

20-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

Well not on the geezers anyway ! Jan Hudson wrote a NEL paperpabck called "Hells Angels" - not to be confused with Hunter's classic and Pat Stadly wrote "Black Leather Barbarians" for them too. Not sure if this help's, I'm not that clued into the biker genre.

Bikers

20-Feb-2009 by Will S

Spotted an obit the other day of an author. Can't find it now but he was among other things the writer of books about biker gangs terrorising Britain. I meant to find out more. Don't think it is the guy who wrote the Chopper books in the 1970s but it could be. Anyone help?

Sohemian Society: Steve Marriott and Robin Friday

20-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Just a reminder to let people know about our talk by Paolo Hewitt on the above two lovable 'erberts. Here's the details Date and time: 25th Feb 7:30pm Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf Pub Rathbone Place W1 (nearest tube Tottenham Court Road) Admission: £3

Laters

18-Feb-2009 by Funny looking postman

I can't divulge

only asking

17-Feb-2009 by Cass Pennant

Can anyone on here tell me when Dougie Brimsons next offering is out I hear on the grapevine its going to be a craker? Come on Doug mate dont keep us hanging on any longer mate? We've waited along time now.I did hear he was writing a musical with Jess Conrad based on his time in the RAF is this true?

Faith and Daltrey

17-Feb-2009 by anonymous

they were both raised in acton, london

Faith and Daltrey

17-Feb-2009 by McFurious

Georgina Hale who cooked a meal for McVicar in the film naked except a small apron also played Adam Faith's squeeze Celeste in Budgie

Faith in Daltrey

17-Feb-2009 by Man In A Suitcase

A chap called David Courtenay wrote songs for Sayer and Daltrey - Giving It All Away etc - also both bods were in McVicar which could well have been in gestation in the late 1970s as it was released in 1980. Adam had his finger in many pies and Daltrey probably aspired to his financial acumen. Sadly Adam's finances came undone before his death when he was made bankrupt after investing his fortune with the crook Roger Levitt - this in spite of him writing a financial tips column for the Mail on Sunday.

The Burwash Rog - Terry Nelhams- Leo Sayer connection ?

16-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

Luke J you may have marched in on the very plot-up that foisted Leo Sayer on the punters. Wasn't Adam Faith Sayer's manager ?

Roger Daltrey

16-Feb-2009 by Luke J

I too met Mr Daltrey. It was in the mid 1970s in a pub in Dean Street one week-day afternoon. I was working for an advertising agency running copy around by hand. I saw him through the window sitting with Adam Faith. Full of youthful bravado I marched straight in and shook Adam Faith by the hand and said it was an honour to meet him. I completely ignored Daltrey. Sweet.

Daltrey

16-Feb-2009 by anonymous

I'm not near now and don't know if he still owns the gaff. When I bought my first car in the 1970s we used to drive out to the country and one summer afternoon we pulled up on the village green and watched the cricket match to my astonishment Roger was bowling, his perm bouncing when he ran. I saw him often after that in the area on Sunday's walking his dogs in tweeds and breeches and stick. My passneger would roll down the window and roar him up which did not amuse him,

Burwash Rog anonymous ?

15-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

So whats the damage thirty years on ?

Well he did.

15-Feb-2009 by anonymous

It was in Burwash in Sussex and Rog had trousered Rudyard Kilpling's old gaff. He was walking around the village in breeches and a deerstalker by the mid-1970s.

Roger has a trout farm too ?

14-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

I thought the OAP rock geezer with the trout farm was that one legged git from Jethro Tull who played the whistle . Does Roger have one too ? A different kind of counter culture I guess, but to quote "Irish' Jack Lyons "Daltrey and Entwistle were always fuckin' Teds".

Roger

14-Feb-2009 by anonymous

Piss off back to the trout farm. Shame you didn't die before you got old.

Rog, A couple of ?'s

14-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

What did McVicar think of you wearing the George Davis shirt ? It's well recorded that he guided you away from your interest in The Twins. Was it before you and he teamed up ?

He Loved His Ma.

13-Feb-2009 by Roger "Wear Your George T-Shirt With Pride" Daltrey

George Davis: Yes just what we need: Another film on a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Very uplifting. Loved Alan Sillitoe on Desert Island Disc's imploring us to hang a banker while introducing Edith Piaf's, La Ca Ira, a rousing anthemic song to the storming of the Bastille,

1984 by Orwell

13-Feb-2009 by Leroy

Free in today's Times. Nice Penguin paperback

George Davis

13-Feb-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Geoff, many years ago when I worked in the City I was having lunch in a pub near St Paul's called the Master Gunner and Rose Davis was our waitress. I believe her husband was prison at the time for a crime he did commit and AFTER she and others had fought tenaciously for his release. She had dignity and was very elegant .should have been a kept woman and I always thought it was a great shame you had hitched herself to him at an early age,

George Davis Is Innocent

13-Feb-2009 by Geoff Binns

Piece on George Davis in today's Daily Mail. Apparently he's been barred from his wife's funeral today. He's now a minicab driver leading the quiet life. But those who recall the George Davis Is Innocent campaign will remember how daring and exciting it was at the time. I've always thought it would make a good film incorporating the London of The Sweeney and a love story with an unhappy end a bit like Buster. Lots of opportunities for comedy. Screenplay writers out there - take notice.

DOCKERS & DETECTIVES ROUND #2

11-Feb-2009 by King Crombie

I'm giving Ken Worpole's "Dockers and Detectives" a second going over and although it's a bit "cap'n'gown" in it's presentation there's still plenty of meat on the bones. Well worth a second dip !

The Tall Man

05-Feb-2009 by anonymous

New book I recommend by Chloe Hooper. It is the true contemporary story about the death of an Aborogine in police custody in a remote part of Australia. Has a Truman Capote In Cold Blood feel to it and I would be surprised if a film does not emerge from this.

John Terry's spare time

04-Feb-2009 by anonymous

I know there's a few Chelsea fans on here, so I thought you'd might like to know what your captain does in his spare time ;o)... http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/4076812._NHS_is_exploiting_my_life____claims_trasnssexual/

Charles Frend

04-Feb-2009 by Man In A Suitcase

was the director of The Cruel Sea and later in his career he directed one episode of the legendary TV series Man In A Suitcase.

Cruel Sea

03-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Great music by Alan Rawsthorne too.

The Cruel Sea - C4 1.05pm today

03-Feb-2009 by Junco

"Charles Frend's San Demetrio London was one of the finest naval combat films made anywhere during the Second World War. Here, the director's insight into the conditions endured and the emotions experienced by embattled sailors of all ranks is very much to the fore in this stirring adaptation (by Eric Ambler) of Nicholas Monsarrat's bestselling novel. Produced by Leslie Norman (father of Barry), this is a prime example of the docudramatic style that, spurning the gung-ho heroics of Hollywood, characterised the best British war films. The performances of Jack Hawkins and his all-star crew reinforce the sense of realism." Worth a watch?

Marriot and Friday Talk: Amendment

02-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Whoops. That date for the Sohemian Talk on the above two should read: 25th February: 7:30pm and NOT 25th November. Sorry!

Marriott and Friday talk

02-Feb-2009 by Frank Marker

Here's the details of the first Sohemian talk for 2009. Wednesday, 25th November 7:30pm The Sohemian Society presents Steve Marriott and Robin Friday a talk by Paolo Hewitt Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf 25 Rathbone Place London W1 (off Oxford Street, nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road) Entrance: £3 After the talk Paolo will be signing copies of his biographies on Marriott and Friday.

A Kid For Two Farthings

02-Feb-2009 by Bob Todd

I watched this film as recommended and was surprised at the presentation of the ethnic mix in east london in the 1950s. Was it really that diverse then? I think not if they had to get Spike Milligan to play a Sikh in a turban,

Marriott

31-Jan-2009 by Frank Marker

Look forward to seeing you there Eamon. I happen to think the songwriting partnership of Marriott and Lane in songwriting terms were a real power to be reckoned with. Like Marriott I also think Ronnie Lane managed to keep his integrity, especially when he went solo, unfortunately losing a lot of money when he took to the road with his band Slim Chance, accompanied with a travelling fair and if that wasn't bad enough contracting MS in the early 1980s. I hear the Small Faces ex drummer, Kenny Jones, now plays polo with Prince Charles and the nobs. Oh well, each to his own I suppose. RIP: John Martyn and Davey Graham: two more uncompromising talents.

Steve Marriott

30-Jan-2009 by Eamon

Look forward to that Frank. Marriott is one of the most underrated guitarists, vocalists and songwriters of the last 50 years. His refusal to bow to the star system and take shit from anyone cost him dearly but his integrity is at least forever intact.

Ref: Sohemian Society Meeting for February

29-Jan-2009 by Frank Marker

Paolo Hewitt will be talking about ex Small Faces singer and guitarist Steve Marriott and legendary footballer Robin Friday in February. Details to follow.

MIAS (NOT MIA'S)

26-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

As I rarely watch the box I can't pass judgement on Mr Frost's show, but have no reason to doubt your sp. Why does he do it ? - DOSH &/OR EGO !

KC

26-Jan-2009 by Man In A Suitcase

What I was getting at is - why would David Frost contaminate a prestigious career with such sugary TV as Through the Keyhole?

Man In A Suitcase Regarding Dosh...

26-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

The way I see it - it doesn't matter how much you've made, what matters is A): how much you've spent and B): how much more you need to spend. Can't exactly see Mr Frost down Tescos for a deal on a case of Stellas, can you ?

A Kid For Two Farthings -the book

26-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

Yes, I posted about the book last year - i enjoyed it and Kid Crombie (twelve years old) gave it the thumbs up too.

Kid for Two Farthings

25-Jan-2009 by Callan

Yes, an excellent film directed by Carol Reed. Look out for Babs Windsor, Sid James, Alfie Bass, Sam Kydd, Irene Handel, Diana Dors and the boxer Primo Carnera. Originally a book by Wolf Mankowtiz based on his own east end childhood and one you may want to think about reviving.

Gilbert Harding

25-Jan-2009 by Man In A Suitcase

Yes, I stand corrected about Harding comitting suicide - I don't know where I got that from. I'd have sworn on it. Surely, there must be a case for those John Freeman interviews to be released on DVD? Besides Harding I remember the interview with Adam Faith which was also very revealing and had a close-up, smokey quality which nobody has tried to emulate since. Frost was good for a while and I note the Nixon film that has just been released. But to me one of life's greatest mysteries is why does David Frost persist in presenting the afternoon-TV dross THROUGH THE KEYHOLE? Surely he does not need the money?

A Kid For Two Farthings

25-Jan-2009 by Kenneth Drury-Lane

Next week (Tuesday at 1.40pm I think) Channel 4 are showing the film A Kid For Two Farthings which if memory serves was discussed on this board some time back. I notice it is in colour which means the last time I saw it was when I owned (or my parents did) a black and white set. It has a lot of London footage and is a charming tale to boot peppered with familiar faces. SkyPlus it.

Car Boot Sale

22-Jan-2009 by Harry Harkins

Book stalls included. Mill Lane off the Purley Way. Sunday Feb 1 2009. Traders from 6-7am. Public 7.30 onwards. be there or be square.

The Gangs of Manchester: the story of the Scuttlers

22-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

Anyone had a go at Andrew Davies' book ?

One for the diary

21-Jan-2009 by Arthur Askey

Sunday, 25 January at 11.15, Radio 4. Desert Island Discs with Alan Sillitoe. Will he choose the Arctic Monkeys?

Watch yer Heads!

21-Jan-2009 by Frank Marker

I'll keep my eyes open for you Derek and ensure I wear a crash helmet next time I walk around an old bone yard. Fellow posters may be interested to know of two fabulous dvd releases on Network: 'who Killed Teddy Bear' starring Sal Mineo as a bodybuilding weirdo killer and a documentary from 1961 called West End Jungle which offers the definitive insight into the reality of working in the sex trade in early 60s Soho

Gravestones

21-Jan-2009 by Derek Wellman

I am currently putting together a crime fiction piece based on a series of gruesome murders in graveyards around the UK where the victim was crushed by a falling piece of masonary that once formed part of a gravestone. I am in the research stage at present but am keen to hear from fellow tombstone death fans

Gilbert Harding

21-Jan-2009 by Frank Marker

Although Gilbert Harding was a depressant and alcoholic - his interview on John Freeman's Face to Face was testament to what a sad, unfulfilled and lonely man he was - he did not in fact commit suicide. He actually expired on the steps of Broadcasting House, Portland Place, through a massive heart attack.

Michael Holliday

20-Jan-2009 by Man in a Suitcase

Wasn't he the singer who commited sewage pipe when stories about him having an affair with the ex-boxer Freddie Mills surfaced? He had a nice song but I can't remember it. Freddie became a panellist on What's My Line with Gilbert Harding and Lady Isobel Barnett and sadly all three of them took their own lives.

Four feather falls?

19-Jan-2009 by Mr Interesting from Purley

Can any one remember the cowboy puppet show four feather falls and was the sound track sang by a chap that went by the name of Micheal Halliday?

Thanks for your concern KC

18-Jan-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

I do have a thirst for trivia I must confess and I thought that one was not too bad. Another thing I discovered recently was that Mark McManus who played Taggart was the half-brother of The Sweet's Brian Connolly. Not a lot of people know that.

ARE YOU OK CD ?

17-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

Coffin-Dodger, are you alright son ? Maybe you've been over-doing University Challenge or something ? Any mention of "Bohemian RhapsodY is always cause for concern in my corner !

OK As you are all in suspense

17-Jan-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Bohemian Raphsody was the song where the title does not appear in the lyric and it was replaced by Abba's Mama Mia whose title DOES appear in Bohemian's lyric.

Gravestones

17-Jan-2009 by Peter Day

Report in today's Telegraph says that council officials have been accused of being over-zealous in flattening gravestones that are a health and safety danger to the public. Does anyone, anywhere know of anyone who has ever been injured in any way by a grave stone?

Teaser

17-Jan-2009 by COFFIN DODGER

Which 1970s no,1 hit had title where the words that make up the title do not appear in the lyrics of the song and which song knocked it off top spot and had a title which WAS a lyric from that first song?

Peter Blake cover

15-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

Sorry all, I still blame my sister's Slade records !

"Funny Way To Be a Hero"

15-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

A couple of years back I stumbled into a copy of John Fisher's "Funny Way To Be Hero" (with Peter Balke cover) - chock-a-block with observations on British Comedy from the music halls to 'the box". Odds on, it will be of interest to some, but not sure if it's still in print ?

Music Hall

15-Jan-2009 by Bob Todd

I will try and find books now on Leno and Tich. Didn't realise what a phenomenon music hall was and how the establishment felt threatened by it, always attempting to clean it up. There is a Dan Leno walk in Fulham, I wonder if he lived there?

Music Hall

14-Jan-2009 by Callan

First time poster. Marie Lloyd died in 1921 and was performing up until her demise so she would have appeared with many of the stars that transferred to the big and small screen. She was massive by the way, as Bob would have read, on a par with any of today's idols and had a backdrop of alcoholic endeavours and violent relationships, It didn't all start with Amy Winehouse. Her contemporaries such as Dan Leno and Little Tich, who boasted six toes on each foot, were equally iconic in their own life times. By the way the 1911 Census is on line at findmypast.com but this time there is no free period and they are charging from day one. Well the Government does need the money.

Unwanted present ...

13-Jan-2009 by Jimmy Jazz

Agree with you there Bob - Andrew Marr's book is good. I'm about half way through it at the moment but had to stop for a breather. The missus gave me a Viz annual for crimbo - don't ask me why. Can't even give the thing away at work. Oh , and happy new year to all ...

Yes, a few snippets....

13-Jan-2009 by Bob Todd

Book wise I'm ploughing through Andrew Marr's political history of Britain. Fine book, but a lot of it, and best to absorb in bite-size chunks. Biography of Marie Lloyd. Didn't realise she appeared on the same bill as Jimmy Jewell who I remember on the TV when I was a kid. Worst of all a DVD of the Brendan Behan book Borstal Boy. Apalling. No connection to Behan's book in reality and lots of Danny Dyer playing tonsil tennis with men. Behan would have spat feathers and Guinness had he been around.

Let's Kick It Off

13-Jan-2009 by King Crombie

Been waiting for someone to post in 2009, but nothing thus far. So I'll kick it off. Happy New Year to the usual supects and any new faces. Anyone get anything to read over Crimbo ?

Dear London Books

28-Dec-2008 by Peter Day

Am reading Night and The City, a present from my wife. Your Mr Kersh was certainly incisive when he wrote way back in 1938 - ' Nobody goes into Woolworth's shops to buy anything:one visits Woolworth's as a kind of museum, merely to look.' There in a nutshell did Kersh diagnose the store's problem 70 years ago.

Happy Christmas and New Year to all

24-Dec-2008 by martin, john and alan

Hope we can get out a few gems in 2009.

splendid savage sue

23-Dec-2008 by King Crombie

I'll deserve a slap if i'm telling you what you already know, but i'll chance it. Try bookfinder.com, a good place to start.

The Splendid Savage

23-Dec-2008 by sue_rey@hotmail.co.uk

Help!! Trying to track down a non fiction book of this title (circa 1945) about a boy stranded in the jungle for my brothers 70th birthday in February

Happy Christmas

23-Dec-2008 by Gate 17

Up the Chels

They Drive By Night review in today's FT

20-Dec-2008 by Alan Harvey

They Drive By Night Review by Melissa McClements Published: December 20 2008 01:13 | Last updated: December 20 2008 01:13 They Drive By Night By James Curtis London Books £11.99 212 pages FT Bookshop price: £9.59 Shorty is a petty criminal in 1930s London. In the opening pages, he is released from Pentonville Prison “as wide a boy as they made them”. When he goes to look up an old girlfriend, he chances upon her still-warm, strangled corpse. In panic, he flees – certain the murder would be pinned on him. With little money and the police on his tail, his only escape is to beg a lift from a lorry driver going north. He finds himself immersed in a seedy, pre-motorway world of roadside ‘caffs’, hardened truckers and prostitutes. This is the second of Curtis’ novels to be revived by London Books (The Gilt Kid was published in 2007). Very much of its time (it came out in 1938), it offers an intriguing glimpse of the squalid underbelly of pre-war society. The slang seems comical at times, with characters exclaiming ‘Gawd stone me blind’ – although the descriptions of women as “tarts”, “pieces” and “gels” might seem less amusing to half the population. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Madness - The Liberty Of Norton Folgate (Moodboard)

18-Dec-2008 by iPat

very nice try utube or their myspace site.

Aint That A Shame

15-Dec-2008 by King Crombie

Shame that the larger posts have to be presented in one portion. Can nothing be done ?

Interesting review of Wide Boys from 3am magazine

14-Dec-2008 by Benn Gunn

Wide Boys Never Work By Richard Marshall. Robert Westerby, Wide Boys Never Work, London Books, 2008 The seventeenth century Puritan Perkins wrote that washing up and preaching were both equal in the eye of God. If you have a Gift, get a calling. ‘I am my work’ was the Puritan’s calling card. Modern rebellious sensibilities have tended to therefore loath this tendency and clutch all types of decadence in subterranean defiance. The city, where the puritan work ethic is most evident is also the place where its bohemian opposite is also ubiquitous. And in Gotham, to each boho Batman there is always spawned his half-formed necoromantic insane twin, the Joker, as Miller’s Dark Night story makes explicit. Thus the creative and the criminal lives cheek by jowl in joint opposition to bourgeoise diligence and thrift. This is the formula that Westerby’s reissued first novel takes out as a pensum once learned by heart, then forgotten and now, in these weird, crunched up times, getting to be reborn. It’s taken seventy odd years to get it out again – seventy odd years! And it took God only six days to make the whole world! But hey — Iain Sinclair, the great vernier of appraisement and appreciation, whose continuing calculus of the gravitational & binary effects, special margins and astral straws of forgotten writers, cranks, artists and genius’ beyond gulfs of bloated memory is what propels this novel back into its bleak perambulation, would no doubt ask us to regard the state of our freaked out world and then regard the book. City poet Valery dissects the boho’s instinctive, scandalous grace with his observation that ‘modern man wants the sensation without the boredom of conveyance.’ It’s a phrase that catches up with the mean ethic of short-cuts that slice to the chase of frenzied violence and selfish greed that controls the desperate wide boy hoodlum’s world, a chancer’s world that exists only for each last instinctive bet that delivers a stop-gap future redeemed only by luck or dying. Pure sensation diminishes with overload, which curiously, in recall, seems often times more like a sullen underload. Unreflected, unreflective sensation becomes itself interminably boring. And ‘Too much of nothing,’ as Dylan puts it, ‘can make a man mean.’ Living life high for a top exchange rate of intensity is to seemingly live for high stakes. But the ‘carcass-in-waiting’ is what lies for all of us at the end of the road, to pick up Alan Jenkins memorable phrase from his TLS review of the recent Francis Bacon exhibition in London, and it isn’t clear exactly when a person starts to really understand that democratic starkness. Win or lose, we all die. Bacon’s opulent and squalor-filled exile in South Kensington has become an archetype for bohemian high stakes rough-trade existentialism, the defining image of the artist of that pure sensation where his imagination of Yeats’ ‘Violence upon the roads; violence of horses’, of involuntary memories of Baudelaire’s and Proust’s involuntary memories propel him in a frenzy of rude-boy associations to make the uninhibited discoveries in oil that locate him amongst the gods. For this image to work there must be nothing intruding between the articulation and the execution, the realisation of the principle that wide boys don’t work. And Bacon is presented, and presented himself, as a wide-boy artist, a gay gambler gangster painter spawned in the den of dangerous low life. Booze, beatings, sex, suicide, gambling, glamour, slapping on the paint in a miracle of sensational talent within an enclosed room of mess and postcards, that’s the stuff of his legend. But the raw material is a lie not merely a mistake. It’s an image carefully constructed by Bacon but we know that he did work hard at his paintings. Prep sketches and studies were made, despite his protesting that they weren’t, they were found in his room after he had died. So he wasn’t a wide boy after all: he worked. So the wide boy is only the loser, stubbornly refusing to work save only on his own representation, captivated by the lie that it’s possible to achieve glory by just Being, taken in by winners who prefer to hide their graft. Bacon is a quick proof that existentialism fails to deliver the beef and a morality tale that warns us against the bluff hand of the philosophic con at the core of this tribe. So then what? Beckett. Joyce. David Hume. Joyce: ‘ How can Hume the Idealist write a history of the world?’ Beckett: ‘A history of representations?’ Cut to a screaming Pope Innocent X. Fade to endless black wintereisse, just off Grays Inn Road. (We’ll come to that later.) In Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur, the aging gambler gangster preens himself in a doorway before continuing his perambulations from Sacre Coeur to Montmatre and Pigalle. He checks himself out in the mirror glass of a dark doorway to confirm his existence as a legendry underworld man, an image delineated as a narrative in the mouths of others and reflected in the eye as someone sharply dressed in the tumultuous aesthesis of the generate degenerate astride the glowing moodiness of dawn and dusk equally. And so he has become this portion of locale and this slice of time and is no other. The shape of narratives about hoodlums, pimps, hard-boys, wide boys, gangsters, ponces and so on are not the shapes that are seen from the inside but are more the whorescopic corrective of ‘I err therefore I am.’ From the inside of the Cartesian spirit there’s always the bravado fear of the emptying streets, of faces, minds, lives reversing the initial trauma of birthing identified as nothing less than intrauterine primal recall. In all this cock-a-hoopla, there’s the stirring of a lost, underdeveloped twin, embryonic, not entirely born, wrapped inside whatever has been left to crawl out. Narcissism is fear controlled by reflections that don’t deepen but rather harden the surface, driven by the too late realisation that, as with Dostoevsky, all plausible concatenation is merely vulgar. In the morning you get braced up, by evening they’ll try and calm you down but it won’t be done. The dead twin is always half who you thought you were going to be and half who you already are and wished gone. Jim Bankley, Westerby’s man, is a character forever out in the dark, staring into the wish-fulfilling future that is a naked street. He sees nothing but what could better what’s there, what’s coming, what’s promised. His look is a look that is always reaching for more. ‘He turned away and wandered slowly down the street. There was hardly anyone about, and the streets were shining wet, reflecting the neon signs outside the cinema, distorted and trembling lights across the puddles as he walked along towards them.’ Here he is, alone and lonely, ‘wandering’ without a direction because there are no real directions, no destinations, and everything is either distorted or mirror-like, and it recalls an anti-pastoral anti-clockwise movement that lacks a ghost, friendly or contrary, or the promise of companionship to find a friendly end that might redeem him from this blank, bad space. This is an identity awake to its fading into stubborn atomism, someone robbed of being part of any crowd, by the meanness and self-absorption of his skrimshanker angst. From this descriptive passage the character can only stare hard at the glass case advertising the film on at the local cinema and grow envious about the kind of girl he’d like to have if he could become someone else. It’s like Pacino in Scarface but with that film there’s a sort of glamour that rubs up the narrative into something different, something more than despair, because we get to see how De Palma’s character gets close up to his roaring pappy dream. Westerby’s character, however, always remains in this dim-witted, mean and strange state. ‘They had pretty girls in those film towns, in Hollywood and that. Look at that one. She was a hot looking girl all right. Take a lot of money to get a girl like that. Wouldn’t it? But that’s what he’d do if he had a lot of money. And he stood there thinking about it, turning vicious thoughts over and over in his mind.’ The viciousness is that low level of elevation he gives to his thinking horizon, where this threshold state of reason and consciousness crawls around like a hen-and-a-half worm, the larval form of a future self that remains throughout the novel in a state of primeval mud, impenetrably dark, merely a coarse promise of apparent transcendence, a kind of Leibniz with knuckle dusters. Leibniz had a theory of monodal development implying the clarification of perceptions where even the unconscious is potentially capable of being perceived just as a wave can be heard even if a single drop of water can’t. Leibniz corrected the Cartesian mistake which was to treat as non-existent perceptions that we aren’t conscious of. What the novel does is shove in our faces everything that Jim isn’t conscious of so we get to delineate possibilities that he himself freezes out and refuses to acknowledge as real. For example, there’s a woman he might have loved, who might have loved him, but this is thrown away by both of them. Ditto with some of the men. Mick, ‘the first person he had ever feared’ and especially his father, who works to bring him back from the brink. Westerby himself doesn’t always get this. He mistakes Jim’s final act in the book as an emblem of what he has to be, a defeated man who will return again and again to his vomit. He suggests that Jim will never be able to develop, that his story cannot be one of transcendence. But there are characters and other voices that suggest that this is merely a slick pessimism imposed onto his story, and by slick I mean merely slick. Westerby writes about the character without really finding within himself sympathy with other potentialities. The author betrays a somewhat regressive politics himself in this. He both pretends to know no more than Jim and finds nothing in his own story to suggest that Jim can change. This is both a false note and a bullying trap that is belied by the narrative energies of the novel overall. As in the Melville film, the author’s voice occasionally breaks in to pass comment on the action, and Melville’s remains admiring of his protagonist, charmed by his vivacity and liveliness. But Westerby’s voice fixes Jim as being locked into a dismal cycle of criminality, poverty and sleaze thus imposing the didactic stridulence of insects upon his character which is not justified at all by the actual fluid meat of the story. Maybe this is just the way Westerby is working on us, to shove his characters and his world up against the damnation of the moralising, fatalistic judgements that mirror the character’s own fleeting reflections upon himself. If so, we should take with a pinch of salt Westerby’s interruptions, treat his chorus as tear-jerk romantic agony played out to the existenchal jazz noise of Thomas’s ‘post tempestatum, magna serenitas’, serenity beyond the mind’s tempestuousness etc. Recall in its stead Swift on St Patrick’s Cathedral: ‘where savage indignation can lacerate his heart no more.’ In short, perhaps there is here a somewhat dry case of contention that ‘happiness is the condition of the deceived, and that a dry eye doesn’t bring about the contrary, au contraire…’ which Westerby is inflicting upon his less than fair readers (this is very masculine territory) in order to engender a required last hours of the doomed atmosphere to his volume. Westerby’s book gets this just about right. It crawls about with failure, and though the authorial voice tempts us with a ready steer, there’s a strong reading that resists any such conclusion. Any conclusion at all in fact. Really, nothing happens (like the Melville film too, though not as extreme as Godot where nothing happens twice….) except in the head of the protagonist, where his own consciousness of his helpless, hopeless and bereft condition is clarified. Westerby has passages of great descriptive strength but he uses these to contrast the external world with the tormented consciousness of Jim’s inner life. He’s a man who is always looking out to others to find out who he wants to be, never mind who he is. His self is a self-loathing appetite, greedy for what he has been told is what he ought to want. A rough trade Hamlet, Stendhal as Vinnie Jones wannabe, he is a mirror walking down from the North to London, a Dickhead Whittington barely able to make the respite between the crucifixion of narrative and the resurrection of the mind’s stasis, where he reflects on his own processes. London too works as his mirror, (so he is a mirror walking in a mirror, which explains the curious iteration of feelings and events, the peculiar atmosphere of turmoil and stillness that pervades the book) and the underground figures he moves with become a way of his fixing his own image, deciding his traits, his opportunities, his fears. It is in Mick that he is finally confronted with terror as he recognises something in this hoodlum that frightens him beyond anything he has confronted before. In Mick there seems a brief moment when perhaps he might enter a different realm, that of Beckett’s dwarf longing for a full-size coffin. But that would be a different novel, one where the enlarged shadow is also one that thins out. A vampiric longevity. Jim is a character that hasn’t a sense of death’s meaning. His desire is a lust for completion as narrative, not resolved stillness. Yet he remains encountering only mirrors, seeing only what is reflected in his other people’s eyes. Westerby takes time to describe what surrounds this man because it’s in these descriptions of things that he captures what Jim Bankley both is and is not. The book’s a brilliant depiction of the despair and loneliness of a Narcissus trumped by the dead living inside. It is a book about someone who wishes for the freedom to admire himself that he cannot find in family, work, locality, friendship or love. It’s a typical yoof thing in this respect. He has to walk out on his father and brother, on his work and his work mates, the place he was born and bred because all they show him is a futility and limitation that offends his imagination. It is his imagination that feeds this sense of masculine alienation from his surroundings and from the promised future. Jim Bankley is capable of imagining himself as not being himself. He finds out the hard way that the tough thing is to go further than that and imagine what the new self is like. Like a decadent artist he refuses toil, refuses community, refuses home comforts and love and oh what’s left if he has no gift or inclination for artistic squalor? He plumps for Elsewhere, the fairy story ‘streets are paved with gold’ type of thing, the sweet promise of mythic London, a place that becomes the empty source of his reflected identity. Westerby captures well the onanistic reflex of this type of rebellion. Inarticulate beyond the musculature of his youthful priapic urge, we are presented with a Daliesque character of supreme social and sexual retreat. The sole pleasures are not soulful but self-regarding. The only beauty he registers in the whole of the book is his own body, and even that is caught at a strange angle, in a strange time when he is falling out from the initial superficial success of his migration to the dream-life and falling into its abjection and emptiness. Women, interestingly, never measure up. There are strong metrosexual homoerotic stirrings still in this. In the end he can’t submit to any object of desire outside of himself and remains throughout incapable of encounters with others that are not strategies of hostility and greed. His brutishness is depicted in terms of his devouring of all others; he feels nothing for the women he professes to fancy, they are merely part of his agony, to be used as mere extensions of his own feelings and circumstance; so too the men. And so for both these women and men he visits upon them his vicious thoughts, sometimes vicious actions. We imagine, where he can’t, (he being never engaged with any dimension of the arts) the drumming sound of his fists to the rhythm of the last seven bars of Schubert’s lied ‘Nacht und Traume’ and mouth the accompanying words of Matthaus Casimir von Collin ‘Holde Traume, kehret wieder’ – ‘Sweet dreams, come back.’ Jim is one of the sad men where the twin in him continues to grow and stunt his growth, right through to where the novel ends. Yet there is an ambiguous validation of his being at the end, and that is portrayed in the character of his old father. ‘The two Bankley’s pushed out through the crowd and walked to the main door. Together, they went down the steps into the street. It had stopped raining, and there were stars in the sky.’ It is both a trivial and intimate ending, one which, perhaps, intimidated Westerby into trying, in a final extra page, to gloss what the whole sorry story could mean. It’s a superficial reading he offers, hardly making any sense of the old man sinking back into the life of his son, restraining the havoc of his own memory. Together, man and boy – for Jim remains just a boy despite his years - we are presented with a counter-image to that of Jim’s, and its a fitting end. The novel has shown us Jim at first desiring the material world but finding himself incapable of finding himself there. He then loathes himself and that world, setting both as nought, self-inspection leading to the discovery of his own worthlessness, and so it ends with a humility worthy of Geulincx: ‘where you are worth nothing, there you should want nothing.’ (Yet recall Dylan’s retort to Geulinex in ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, ‘If you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose,’ which reminds us that in these circumstances you could find yourself pushing off in quite the opposite direction if you so chose and at the behest of just the slightest shift of nuance.) His father traipses diligently, unreasonably, to collect his son, to save him, to resurrect him, to bring him home. It’s a consummate dime novel, and doesn’t try to bitch continuity to hell. That fact alone can hide the catastrophe of incoherence that is Jim’s story, and it can also suggest a kind of fashionable nihilism that would be a complete travesty. But there are other possibilities – I’ve outlined one such – and nothing should be settled too soon. Iain Sinclair has written a superb introduction that gives the context and the sources, as well as a brilliant endpiece on Losey’s prison film The Criminal which fixes pothooks and clears the ground. There is also a short piece by Westerby excusing himself, a drab little expose of its social setting and relevance that is neither dog nor hinny. ‘Suffering humanity perishes and falls blindly from one hour to another, like water dashed from crag to crag year after year, down into the unknown’ as the poet of Tubingden wrote, and Jim would get that. It’s at least partially a London novel, but as Chris Petit noted in conversation, London is probably everywhere by now. Here’s a personal note. Beckett visited the tower where Holderlin wrote the fragment quoted above and the other day I walked with a friendly companion through the freezing dark of Gray’s Inn Road to the little street near the arse of King’s Cross Station, Ampton Street, where at number four Beckett rented a room for seventeen shillings and six pence per week from Mrs Southern for six weeks. I was keen to just make its acquaintance. Thomas Carlisle has a green plaque on one of the houses on the street, now occupied by a family whose little children were playing in the hoary dark at the half open door. But the half of the street where Beckett would have lived has been flattened and replaced by a block of flats. Jim would have got this provocation, desire rebuffed by ruins and indifference, an indigent imagination in the great mess of London dismissed anonymously as being all balls, yes, all balls. Proust’s ‘irremediablement seul’. I Was Dora Suaraz boiling the same wellspring, Pascals’ distractions, the city devouring its own hard boys like time, and all those boys screaming in turn, like a lurid preposterous Bacon triptych, screaming like the Beckett dwarf, screaming not longing now mind you, for a bigger grave. Wide Boys Never Work noirs-up this sense, gives pulp resonance to this irruption, and Westerby is rightly honoured by Sinclair and Martin Knight’s London Books for writing this first stab, like Antonella da Messina bringing the secrets of oil painting to Italy. ‘He types on your eyeballs with a hot needle’ comments Sinclair. The novel charts a trauma at the root of an attachment. It’s about an artist without art. About the physical impossibility of apnoea. About the soft dream of every hard man’s reputation. About (obscurely) the yellow of Vermeer’s View of Delft – a reference to a character in Proust dragging himself off his deathbed to look on the beauty of that colour for one last time, but in the manner of Heraclitus – the weeping philosopher – attached to the cudgel. It’s about all our wide boys out there still, truculent, nasty and confused, breeding their hopeless desires in violent, cheating and inexcusable penumbra and never getting themselves properly born until someone other gives a damn and seeks them out and proffers them love. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richard Marshall (centre) is former editor of 3:AM and his essay on Stewart Home appeared in its fifth anniversary anthology The Edgier Waters (2006). He lives in London. First published in 3:AM Magazine: Saturday, December 13th, 2008.

Erectile dysfunction

11-Dec-2008 by webadmin

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Thank you King Crombie

11-Dec-2008 by Leroy

I did find confirmation on a site called TV Heaven

Leroy , a pointer.

09-Dec-2008 by King Crombie

There's a site called Britmovie (don't know the exact e-address). You should ask on there.

Peter Osgood

09-Dec-2008 by Leroy

Talking to an older friend the other night and he recalled the great man appearing in an episode of NEVER MIND THE QUALITY FEEL THE WIDTH in the 1960s. He said it was about two tailors, a Jew and a Catholic, and they arranged a match against one another and Ossie cameod as a ringer recruited for the team. I wonder if the tape still exists.

Erectile Dysfunction

08-Dec-2008 by Frank 'Sorry luv. I've got to take the dog for walk' Marker

Oh dear. Do you think the poster assumes this website is patronised by men going though the male menopause? I've always found a stiff whiskey and a Youtube viewing of Pickettywitch, featuring the gorgeous Polly Browne, gets me throught any problems. It's a damned site cheaper and less absurd than a Harley anyway.

Lifting children out of poverty

08-Dec-2008 by William Williams

Another empty soundbite from this patronising Government. This 'lifting all children out of poverty' is claimed to be their key aim during this term. Children do not have independent means (or lack of them) so how are they doing this without lifting their parents out of poverty? And if they are lifting their parents then they are claiming to be abolishing poverty full stop which obviously they are not. Because it is meaningless and hard to quantify it is used constantly. The only thing they are lifting is the pound in our pocket. Aaargh

Post Below

07-Dec-2008 by King Crombie

One of those scenarios where the description sounds worse than the incident itself

Erectile dysfunction

06-Dec-2008 by Erectile dysfunction

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Heads Up - Barney Bubbles Book

03-Dec-2008 by King Crombie

I've just got word that a book on Barney Bubbles titled "Rasons To Be Cheerful" by Paul Gorman has just been published. For those of us intereted in visuals this first book on B.B. might be very special indeed. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr Bubbles (R.I.P.) - he might very well be the best graphic artist Britain has yet to produce. Well worth checking out!

Press item from Camden New Journal

29-Nov-2008 by Alan Harvey

Stories from the City and tales from the underground They Drive By Night. By James Curtis. London Books £11.99 Night And The City. By Gerald Kersh. London Books £11.99 JAMES Curtis was a figure known in the pubs along Kilburn High Road, always happy to pass the time of day over a pint, and earning a living as a school caretaker. But few who raised a pint with him in the 1950s and 1960s will have known he was a successful author before the war – a man whose novels illuminated the seedy world of Camden and Westminster in the 1930s. His books, long out of print, are available again. Independent publishers London Books focus on finding and reprinting some of the 20th-century’s forgotten masterpieces: they issued to great acclaim Curtis’s The Gilt Kid last year. Now they have followed it up with They Drive By Night. Written in 1938, it tells the story of a murder committed in Drummond Street, Euston – and how an ex-convict is wrongly accused of the crime. Its popularity when it was first published was helped by a successful film adaptation, starring Ernest Thesiger, brother of the travel writer Wilfrid Thesiger. London Books have also released Night And The City by Gerald Kersh. It offers another glimpse into the West End between the wars. Kersh wrote 19 novels but before becoming an author he worked in a number of jobs – all of which provided experiences he turned into copy. He was a West End cinema manager, a cook and a minder and even spent time sleeping rough. Night and The City tells the story of Harry Fabian – wide boy, pimp and wrestling promoter who stalks the seedy bars and clubs of Soho. It works as a snapshot of the days that made Soho’s reputation – and recreates the flavour of the area in the early part of the 20th century. Dan Carrier

Anonymous

28-Nov-2008 by Nameless

I think you should tread carefully with poor old Anonymous. He has stepped out of the shadows and had his say, but now I fear his confidence will be shattered and he won’t return to the board. Of course, I am assuming that Anonymous is a He, when ‘he’ might be a She. Either way, don’t take it to heart Anonymous. Keep your head up and please return with further valuable comments. I am sure that you think these things through more than most.

Gangland Soho

28-Nov-2008 by Dean Street Dan

I’ll be there.

Sohemian Society Meeting

27-Nov-2008 by Frank Marker

Gangland Soho Our last meeting for this year will be with crime writer and former defence lawyer James Morton who will discussing his latest book Gangland Soho. Gangland Soho charts the history of crime within the square mile - from the razor gangs of the 1920s, and the 1950s gangleaders, Billy Hill and Jack Spot, to the notorious Sabinis, Krays, Richardson. It also includes chapters on the 1920s drug scene, the mysterious death of boxing champ Freddie Mills and the corruption of the porn squad in the 1970s. Venue: Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place, W1 Date: 2nd December, 7:30 pm Admission: £3

Teenage Kicks

24-Nov-2008 by Benn Gunn

is reviewed in Nuts this week. Great little stocking filler where a range of people in the public eye recall fondly their love affair with Subbeteo. I was telling my son about it recently as he played on his XBox Football Manager 2008. When I got to the bit about the plastic dug-out and how the pitch creased on the carpet he gave me that 'get a life' look.

That's the problem with Anonymous - he doesn't think things through

23-Nov-2008 by Bob Todd

Re Mixed up Britain

23-Nov-2008 by Junco

Don't quite get the point you're making anonymous. Those names were leaked onto the net by a disaffected member of the BNP not the Gov't. The strange times we live in are more to do with the internet and the fact that once information is leaked online, there is very little anyone can do about it.

Mixed up Britain

23-Nov-2008 by anonymous

Confused times we live in. Baby murderers protected by anonymity laws but members of a legal political party have their names published and are harangued.

Bob Elms

21-Nov-2008 by Richie4

Heard the chaps on the Robert Elms Show today. Can't wiait to see what titles are slated for next year. This Norman Collins does sound interesting and will check him out.

Other than "Lowlife"

21-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Ben Sherman, I meant other than "Lowlife". I've been looking for an affordable copy of "King Dido" for some time, but no luck yet.

Other than "Lowlife"

21-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Ben Sherman, I meant other than "Lowlife". I've been looking for an affordable copy of "King Dido" for some time, but no luck yet.

Germany 1 England 2

20-Nov-2008 by Sheepskin Steve

That is the best I’ve seen England play for a long time. I would stick with the new lads, people like Downing, Agbonlahor, Carrick. Players with a hunger for the game. Capello is doing a great job by choosing players on merit, making them stick to a shape, instilling some discipline. People whine about foreign managers but I believe they appreciate what we have more than the English lot who are stuck in a money making mentality and the star system that goes with it.

"Strip Jack Naked "

19-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Ben, I've only read "Strip Jack Naked" the sequel to "Lowlife"and I was very disappointed, a few good pages but that's all, I wouldn't be surprised if it was suggested as an earner by some third party>

Alexander Baron

18-Nov-2008 by Ben Sherman

Apart from Lowlife has anyone read any of Baron's 2nd World War books? I've just picked up a copy his 'From the City From The Plough', a novel about the Wessex Regiment battling their way through D-Day and the Normandy campaign. His later, 'With Hope, Farewell', a trilogy about the war, is highly rated by critics and writers alike. It appears he was also a very good scriptwriter for tv. I recently watched a couple of episodes he did for the excellent Family at War series - remember that unforgettable opening with the sand castle, the waves and the Vaughan Williams signature tune - and very good they were too.

Murray Melvin

18-Nov-2008 by ben Sherman

Hello Bob Todd Look forward to seeing you and lady friend at the Murray Melvin Evening. I know he'll be damn good value. I recently heard as one of the speakers at a Tribute to Joan Littlewood Evening at the NFT, her film 'Sparrows' was shown afterwards. Murray was a very gracious and entertaining gentleman and amazingly sprightly for his age. Do you remember him playing, rather improbably in my opinion, Michael Caine's best mate in Alfie? He also played the marvellously named Reverend Runt in Kubricks Barry Lyndon.

Murray Melvin

18-Nov-2008 by Bob Todd

One of those actors who you know so well but would not necessarily know his name, Mrs Driscoll and I are in town on that day and will drop by. I note he was also in Let Him Have It, Chris and The Krays. The former was an excellent representation of the notorious Craig and Bentley case of the 1950s and the latter self-explanatory. Bsides Honey I see he was in Sparrows Can't Sing the cockney film that introduced Barbara Windsor.

Thanks for the tip Doc

18-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Nice one Doc. I had a quick poke about and William Pett Ridge has a few lines on Wikipedia. Perhaps someone more savvy than me, might want to stick it up here. Looks like a very interesting geezer.

Threadneedleman

17-Nov-2008 by Doctor Lager

Quality post. Will have to take a wander down the Walworth Road and visit the shop. Well done Paolo Hewitt. Oddly, I’m half way through a novel called Mord Em’ly, by an author called Pett Ridge, which follows the fortunes of a teenage girl in a street gang in the late 1800s, based around Camberwell with plenty of mentions of a bustling Walworth Road. She’s at a boxing match watching her boyfriend at the moment, a boxer called Henry Barden, who is taking on a Shoreditch man over in the East End. Her gang has broken up and she has spent three years in a home after being convicted of stealing some cakes. It seems Pett Ridge was a respected chronicler of London life around the turn of the century and his writing reminds me of the great Arthur Morrison. Anyone heard of Pett Ridge? I’ll definitely be reading more of his work.

Sohemian Society Talk

17-Nov-2008 by Ben Sherman

Actor Murray Melvin (Geoff in 1962 Taste of Honey) will be talking about his stage and film career. Murray was a member of Joan Littlewood's legendary Theatre Workshop and in a long and distinguised film career worked with directors Ken Russell, Tony Richardson and Stanley Kubrick. Murray will be signing copies of his book The Art of Theatre Workshop after his talk. The Sohemian Society Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Rathbone Place London W1 26th November, 7:30pm Admission £3 Contact (020) 8960 7172

Much obliged Billy

16-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Thanks for the post mate, next time I have six and a half sheets, i might pop over to Walworth Road...fine chance, after the Mrs and kids have had a dip !

Interview with Threadneedle Man found on net

16-Nov-2008 by Billy

INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE DYER PAOLO HEWITT: How did you get into the tailoring business? GEORGE DYER: I loved dressing up as a kid. This was the Sixties. My dad was a trouser maker and he made my school clothes. My mum used to take me to the school shop and I would always choose something the other kids wouldn't have. For example, I'd buy a blazer that was bigger than my size so I could put a vent in the back, that kind of thing. I always liked unusual things. Through your clothes you were trying to make a statement and although I don't want to call myself a rebel, I wasn't conforming. I left school round my 17 th birthday, which was round about '71 or ‘72. The old man said to me, alright boy, you have left school now the one thing I am going to tell you to do is go out there and find a trade because I don't want any criminals in my house. He thought that if you didn't have a trade you would go into crime. We had an upbringing which was strict so you listened to your parents. I loved clothes but I also loved music but my dad wouldn't let me get into the music scene because he used to be a musician and play guitar in nightclubs and stuff and when you're a musician you're around drugs and drink and he didn't want me to get into that, so he said anything but. So I took up tailoring. PH: What was your first job? GD: I managed to get an apprenticeship with a company in Fleet Street. It was called Dombey and Sons. They put a broom in my hand and told me where the kettle was and told to get on with it. After a while, they saw I could take instructions so two months down the road I was asked if I wanted to go tot tailoring college and learn the trade Which I did. I went to the London College Of Fashion and Clothing Technology in the Barbican. It was a three-year course. What I learnt there was craft tailoring which was everything pertaining to sewing, different stitches, how to make pockets. Then you had to learn padded construction, textiles, fabrics, all aspects plus you had to have an ability to design something. I got out of there with a City and Guilds degree. PH: Was Dombey a big company? G: Huge. They had 38 shops in and around London. In fact, there was a guy called Dickie Wright who was the manager of the Southend shop and his son was Steve Wright, the DJ. PH: What style were you into at this point? GD: Well, at school it had been the Fred Perrys, the Ben Sherman's, the loafers, the Sta-prest, but now it was the big blown out afro and wide trousers, more of a soul boy thing. I leant more towards the soul music and the jazz whereas a lot of my boys were roots or Rasta boys. But I was a soul boy because I liked clothes and the soul boys liked to dress up as well. So I finished my apprenticeship and stayed on with the company for twelve, thirteen years. I worked in a number of their shops – Seven Sisters, Jamaica Road, Walworth Road, Peckham, Berwick Street. In those days everyone wore a made to measure suit. These were the times when people couldn't go into a bar saloon without wearing a suit so there was a big demand for made to measure. The gangsters were about then, the Krays, the Richardsons, and young people would copy them. People used to wear ties and look smart. PH: What was it like working in these shops? GD: There were some right characters. I used to work in Brixton and there was an old experienced cutter working there who liked to be called Dick. He used to come in with 40 Bensons every day and smoke them one after the other. One in, one out, one in, one out. I said to him can't you give that up? It's going to kill you. He said, Mate, if I give them up that's when it will kill me! PH: Why did you leave? GD: Got made redundant. The sons took over and made changes at which point my old colleague Jimmy Nash who had worked in a shop called Sydney Fox as a boy, was approached and asked if he wanted to take over. Within a week the owner had died and I went to work for Jimmy. He was great, Jimmy. He was another one. He had this saying. He used to say boy, remember, there will always be fat men and cripples! You heard stuff like that all the time. I worked with him for about another twelve or thirteen years in which time he changed the name of the shop to James Anthony. There was always faces coming in like TV presenters and stuff because a lot of celebrities lived in the area, Camberwell Grove round there. PH: Wasn't it about this time that the tailoring business took a bit of a nosedive? GD: It started when the designer jeans and cords and that lot came in. When Armani, Boss, Conran and Smith and all these people came about, the old boys wouldn't buy them because they were too used to made to measure suits not off the peg numbers. But once they've gone…. PH: So you did 13 years with James Anthony? GD: It was there and at Dombey and Son that I learnt the trade and I have got a lot to thank them for. PH: When did you start your own shop? GD: By the late 80s, business had declined at James Anthony and I could feel that my partner Jimmy could at any point say to me sorry mate can't afford to keep you on. So before that happened I got involved with two friends of mine who were involved in the theatre side of tailoring. I had met them at college and kept in touch so I approached them. Long story short, we found some premises, bought the lease and worked at my father's house making theatre garments. Unfortunately it ended up in tears but suffice to say I gained a lot of experience out of that. When I pulled the plug I got some money which was paid to me over a period of a year which is how long it took me to get everything together to open up my own shop which I did in 1995. PH: When you started out what were you offering that people couldn't get anywhere else? GD: Although suits aren't as popular as before there is still a market. When I started the shop people told me that tailoring was finished and ten years later here I am. What do I offer people? I have a skill which I want to keep alive and there is a direction which I want to go in. That direction is to make Mod fashionable suits, suits that a Mod can access from L550 onwards. PH: When you say a Mod suit what kind of design are you thinking about? GD: I think every generation should make his mark. Yes, I can give you the essence but I'd like the customer to also make his own thing and put his stamp on it. In that way, the history of Mod can continue. It shouldn't just stop in the 60s, the Mod style should develop and this is one way of ensuring that. The Mod suits I make are not 100 per cent accurate to the Sixties but do have the essence of them. PH: You're adding your own twists to the classic design? GD: Not just me, the customer as well. I want the input to come from both parts. When I make a suit for anybody I like to think that it is us who are creating that suit, that it is us who are making the masterpiece. And it can work in many ways. You can come in with a picture or a sketch and we can work it from there. Or you can buy material from me or bring in your own material. Doesn't matter. It's a partnership. PH: Okay, final question. What's the greatest Mod record ever made? GD: ‘As' by Stevie Wonder.

Spot On Bernadette

15-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Ten out of ten B, and a Club Row unicorn too. Haven't seen the flick yet (directed by Carol Reed no less) but intend to.

Resurrecting a lost era of working-class fiction

15-Nov-2008 by anonymous

Readers of books blogs past will have seen plenty of material on the joys of mugging up on forgotten authors and of sharing your favourite undiscovered books. As Billy Mills pointed out, such activity is full of obscure pleasure. Like him, as well as taking simple enjoyment in quality writing, I relish the opportunity to become a bore and to press my unusual learning on others. The train-spotting regions of my psyche also delight in the heady sense of privileged knowledge that comes from reading a book unknown to most. I'm additionally always pleased to give my hunter-gatherer instincts a workout. A dusty old book might not present all the excitement of a sabre-tooth tiger, but anyone who's caught a secondhand book dealer on a bad day (and they have many of them) will know there are at least moments of fear and accompanying nervous thrills. Such guilty pleasures are fortunately also overridden by a broader, more noble satisfaction. There's a certain altruism in retrieving these lost authors. To dig a buried gem from obscurity is to stick one in the eye of time. Death loses some of its sting as you revive the spirit those departed writers breathed into their words Of course, it's hard for one individual to make much of a difference in this struggle against mortality, so it's always especially pleasing when publishers themselves unearth a few treasures. Like the last book I read: They Drive By Night by James Curtis. This is a fantastic book and I would never have heard of if it weren't for its publisher, London Books. Set up in 2006 by the writers John King (of Football Factory fame) and Martin Knight (the ghost behind George Best's last book), the firm is supposedly the result of a pub conversation. As Martin Knight told me, he and King "both started talking about this wonderful book that we'd both read - and it was the same one." The volume in question was Gerard Kersh's Night And The City and they thought it deserved a wider audience. So they set up a company to try and re-introduce it, together with other examples of old working-class London literature they felt passionately about and which (more recently) posters on their hyper-active messageboard have recommended. In doing so, they've also proved that literary history needs to be rewritten. In 1940, George Orwell summed up the general consensus when he claimed that if you looked for the working classes in fiction "and especially English fiction, all you find is a hole in the air". So when the Angry Young Men came along, they were seen as completely revolutionary. As Martin Knight (who is now 50) explains: "I was led to believe that this kind of earthy, gritty working-class fiction only broke cover in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Well these books - that so far have been glossed over and removed from history - prove that's absolute rubbish." They Drive By Night is a case in point. Here is a book written from the perspective of an articulate, intelligent and very angry working-class man, in a rich salty vernacular. This is Shorty, who is forced to go on the run on the very day he is released from Pentonville Prison when he stumbles across the body of a murdered female friend and realises that he will be suspect number one. It's a classic story of who didn't do it, slightly ridiculous in its ultimate resolution, but gripping along the way and made absolutely fascinating by the twilight world into which Shorty plunges. There are vivid descriptions of the early truck drivers on the Great North Road; the transport caffs that fuelled their slow ponderous journeys (smelling of: "Sweaty bodies, an open coke fire, cheap clothes drying from the rain, coarse dirty fat used for frying eggs."); and the girls that plied their trade along them. There are hilariously inept provincial policemen, stumbling around in the darkness and committing acts of brutality by day. There are "ponces" and their "tarts" and "pushes in the truck" in grimy London bedsits. There are telling observations from the very bottom of society: "Every time you come out of stir, something was different, something that made the world harder to live in." Such rich and unusual details make it a fine book, and I'm pleased to note there are more where that came from. During the 1930s, James Curtis was as prolific as he was popular. It was only after the war that he succumbed to heavy drinking and a species of writers' block that saw him endlessly researching new material but never completing any of it. He died in tragic obscurity in a bedsit in Kilburn in 1977 and probably no one imagined that his books would ever again find the audience they deserve. Happily, London Books have helped to change that much. SAM JORDISON/GUARDIAN/BOOKS

Kid for Two Farthings

15-Nov-2008 by Bernadette

I remember the film KC watching it with my parents one Sunday afternoon and crying my eyes out. I think the kid was Andrew Ray who I think died young. The Dad was David Kossoff whose son Paul of the band Free died so young and I think Diana Dors was in it who also had a tragic life. All about a unicorn wasn't it?

WOLF MANKOWITZ "A Kid For Two Farthings"

15-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Just read this 1954 children's book set in East London and enjoyed it. I shall pass it over to Kid Crombie and see what he makes of it.

Good point

11-Nov-2008 by Donald Massingham, Chelmsford

Yes, I too was amazed at the language and connotations in both Wide Boys and They Drive By Night. Best one in the latter 'having been in the nick and I hadn't had A PUSH IN THE TRUCK for ages. How did this get past 1930s censors. Obviously the whole book was beyond them and that is what is so delicious about them. Well done London Books. I bet you don't get a penny from the Arty Farty Council. Keep it that way.

Wide Boys Never Work

11-Nov-2008 by Frankly Keith

This is my first time on the site and a great site it is too with all these marvellous writers buried away inside the pages, people I had never heard of until now. I found it via Wide Boys Never Work, a brilliant novel that has opened my eyes to a London I only knew through The Sweeney and Minder. To find similar characters were ducking and diving forty or more years before Regan and Arthur Daley is amazing. I was struck by how modern the book feels. The subject matter is not something I would have expected to have been written about in those days - criminality, violence, sex - and in such an honest way. I loved the Franks gang and also the visits they make to White City dog track. That is a very different place now. I was also surprised by the way Louie is accepted by Jim. It really shows that we aren’t as original as we like to think and that nothing is really new. I will be reading They Drive By Night next . O yes, a great introduction by Iain Sinclair and I especially loved his article at the end of the book about the director Joseph Losey. The Criminal is one film I need to watch!

Threadneedleman

08-Nov-2008 by Lightandbitterman

Isn’t that Threadneedleman on the Walworth Road? He has been doing quality gear for mods, skinheads and general London faces for decades. He did the suits for Suggs and Madness in their heyday I believe.

Streetware

07-Nov-2008 by Harry Harkins

Caught this. Incisive comments from Mr Hewitt and stylish footage of the young Danny Eccles. Great stuff. Does anyone know more about George Dyer the tailor to the skins?

BBC2 Streetware programme

07-Nov-2008 by ipat

Anyone see it? From the spivs through to the chavs. its on the iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fh77w/British_Style_Genius_Loud_and_Proud_The_Street_Look/

Benny Hill Hill Hill Hill

05-Nov-2008 by Arthur Askey

Junco - the point I was trying to make was that the 'new wave' of alternative comedians used the 'naffness' of Benny and the boys to promote themselves. They were hip and that everyone that went before wasn't. This was their message. They were in showbusiness just the same but pretended they were not. Once they had upset the applecart and helped ruin a few careers they became just the same. Forming production companies and floating them on the stock exchange, Ullo John I've Got A New Motor - it's a Bentley. Everyone is of their time as your rightly say and Benny was of his and his impact and the pleasure he gave to his audience was far greater I would argue than Sayle, Elton, Rhys-Jones, Mulville et al. You talk about music. Have you forgotten Ernie? I'll never forget old Ernie.

Benny Hill

05-Nov-2008 by Junco Partner

So not liking Benny Hill means you're not working class and went to a posh school? Benny Hill was funny up until you were over 10 years old then just looked unfunny. Getting into the Pistols and The Clash meant he wasn't going to be high on the radar. Comparing it to music, Benny Hill was like the Wurzels and Alexi was like The Clash. Of course everything is of its time, but not all so called alternative comedy was crap. It was a bit like punk whereby a load of establishment acts had got bloated and stale and a new load of acts came in taking it back to basics. yes there was a lot of rubbish but some good stuff came out of it and then became very like the original acts they'd slagged off. As I said like punk. In the end I just didn't find him funny (and no I am not David Cameron).

SORRY RAY LOWRY

04-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Apologies to all

RAY LOWRT R,I.P.

04-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

I don't think much of the recently late Ray Lowry's stuff has dated.

04-Nov-2008 by Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell

I never saw Sayle but imagine most of his routine in the 1980s was fundamentally an anti Thatcher rant . Nothing wrong with that, it's just that satire (Hogarth, Gilray, Defoe and other 18th Century luminaries excepted) rarely comes across as very funny a decade or so later.

Rose Tinted Glasses

04-Nov-2008 by Reginald Goss-Custard

In retrospect Benny Hill looked awful in the mid-80s but then so does Sayle's output in the noughties. Unlike a good claret, stand-up comics rarely age well. There are exceptions of course, Dave Allen, Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howard and Morecambe and Wise being the notable few.

Benny Hill Hill Hill

04-Nov-2008 by Bob Todd

Junco - I don't know where you grew up in the 70s - Eton, perhaps. But where I came from and in our teenage age group Benny Hill was considered the nuts. His show was talked about at school the next day. And I agree with Arthur he was far more amusing than Alexi Sayle.

04-Nov-2008 by Junco Partner

Arthur Askey, you are not seriously saying you prefer Benny Hill to Alexi Sayle? I grew up in the 70's and everyone I knew thought Benny Hill was shit even then and as for Tarby? Terrible. The reason people liked Eric Morcambe and Tommy Cooper was because they were funny unlike those two goons. I saw Alexi Sayle in 1983 in full flow and it was like a punk gig. He was unbelievable. Ben Elton ripped him off wholesale but was a pale watered down version. Bit like seeing The Police instead of The Clash.

The Dail Wail

04-Nov-2008 by Oliphant Chucklebutty

Dail Wail readers! Oh I say. " Oh dahling! Can you get the fish knife presentation case mother gave us? We've got guests coming around for dinner" Let's get down to the serious business here. Has anybody read Paul Willetts new book, Teenage Flicks, a collection of Subbuteo stories from football professionals, pundits. comics (Jonathan Ross free) and gossips, yet? What sweet memories. Anyone fancy a game? Bagsy Hibernian though.

Tone It Down

04-Nov-2008 by King Crombie

Can we keep the effing and blinding down to an essential minimum ? Otherwise it starts to make the site look a bit shabby. I"m no copper, but lets not walk about with our arses hanging out of our strides.

The BBC

03-Nov-2008 by Sheepskin Steve

That’s exactly what the BBC should be spending their money on - covering important issues, not wasting £18m on trivia. The Mail is a terrible paper, and their agenda is clear, but these wealthy celebrities are no liberals. A true liberal would want them sent packing so proper journalists can be employed and put to work on things that actually matter.

FEAR OF PEOPLE IN GOLFING JUMPERS WHO READ THE DAILY MAIL

03-Nov-2008 by Albert Finney

Since when did this message board turn into The Daily Mail letters page? Yes what J Ross said was wrong and offensive, but an apology should surely have been the end of it, but no we get a silly right wing media witch hunt; and people falling for it like zombies. It is interesting to remember that when the programme was first broadcast it had just two (yes 2!) complaints. Only after the Mail on Sunday ran a piece on it a number of days later did the complaints roll in...People need to get a grip...I for one hear worse things uttered everday at work, in the pub, on the street and read in many London books publications ...but the message board seems to have been overtaken by people who have been brainwashed by the Daily Mail moralising agenda. Which really is about something much deeper - its perpetual war with the 'liberal' licence fee paying BBC (The Daily Mail! mmm that bastion of morals, didn't they support the Nazis back i the thirties?) As for the comment on the alternative commedians of the nineteen eighties, it is a fair point to say they were awful. But lets remember why they came about - because of the naff bigoted comics of the previous decade. Funny how little Englanders can get so worked up about an offensive comment by a DJ on a radio! Do you know how many people have died in Iraq because of an illegal war? Do you know how many people die everyday because they haven't got clean drinking water? People need to get a grip!

Letter I sent to Mr Ross in June of this year

01-Nov-2008 by Barry Desmond

June 18 2008 Dear Jonathan, How the fuck are you? I’m sure you’re not worrying too much over the media whores getting on your fucking case about the wonga you’re pulling out the BBC. Good on you! Look at the money the bastards waste on all this Life on Earth type shit – have you ever met any fucker in your boozer that has ever watched any of that crap? Exactly. No, keep up the good work, bruv. Is that bald, fat cunt (can’t remember his name –like the rest of the country) still writing your stuff? One tip – the token homo stuff is wearing a bit thin now – get rid of them four queers and a piano, you’ve done your bit for the uphill gardeners – let them make it on their own. By the way I fucking creased up when you asked that Cameron tosspot if he ever wanked over Mrs Thatcher. Magic. You’re a genius and that’s a fucking fact. Give us some more stories about you’re weird pets – they’re fucking hilarious. And a few more mentions of your wife’s bazookas wouldn’t go amiss. Yours sincerely, Barry Desmond PS Try and get the paddy Sean Hughes on your show – he’s fucking quality.

No Box For Me - Well not much...

31-Oct-2008 by King Crombie

I don't really watch the box, some football, the odd flick and a bit of news and some stuff with the nippers, It seems like I'm not missing much.

Agree

31-Oct-2008 by FRANK MARKER

I agree totally Art. What you have to understand with all these Oxbridge types, who for all their so-called egalitarianism, actually loathe and fear the working-classes. So what they do to drug us into submission with pap and crap like EastEnders, brain numbing gameshows and finally belittle us with middle class comedians playing ignorant working class types like The Pub Landlord. Makes you bloody weep doesn't it?

Betrayal

31-Oct-2008 by Arthur Askey

It all goes back to Ben Elton. He's on my hit list. He destroyed Benny Hill's reputation; made him out to be some sort of evil leering rapist when he was a national treasure and had nothing to be ashamed of. Then Elton's cronies followed suit and rubbished everything that went before. Forsyth, Tarbuck, Sykes et al banished to the golf course. They left the dead ones alone like Tommy Cooper and Morecambe and Wise alone but had they of lived they'd have got it to. We had to pretend we found pigs like French and Saunders funny and even Lenny Henry who is about as amusing as a positive Aids test. It was called alternative comedy. Alexi Sayle pseudo intellectual fat wanker. This lot were all con-men. Baying to free Nelson Mandela but piling up the money. Hypocrites all. I remember New Year 2000 and the BBC did a roll of honour of 'stars'. There was the real time when all those still alive then could have been honoured just a walk through of the people from the 50s, 60s,70s stlll with us but what did we get French, Saunders, Henry. The problem is that there is no respect or desire to please the older audience. In fact they seem to go out of their way to upset them even though they make up the biggest TV watching group in the country and the Ross/Brand/Sachs incident sort of encapsulates this perfectly. Entrepreneurs out there take not. A TV channel for older people would clean up. There the ones with the money. Advertisers would soon realise it. Presenters would come cheap as they have been frozen out. real people. real guests. Re-runs of what real people want to see not american canned laughter shit.

Emperor's New Clothes

31-Oct-2008 by FRANK MARKER

I've heard people call Brand a 'comedy genius' and are under the misguided impression that his brand (ho ho) of wit is deeply surreal . Lawks a mercy! Don't make me laugh! The only idiots who admire him are those irritating fashionable types who sit around all day in trendy Soho cafes sipping skinny lattes in the mistaken belief it gives them instant wisdom on the world. Give any semi literate twat a spliff and a thesaurus and you'll have a Russell Brand.

The BBC

31-Oct-2008 by Steve

Totally agree Arthur. Ramsey - don’t get me started on him! The BBC is special and is being let down by people in positions of power who are out of touch with the mass population and think someone like Brand or Ross is ‘cutting edge’. Why does the media keep talking about ‘pushing the boundaries’. Ross and Brand are not ‘edgy’ or even interesting. There are plenty of public schoolboy run channels available on satellite TV to house this sort of rubbish. Dumbing down comes from the top. These two have left the BBC open to further abuse from commercial interests who would love to get in there and destroy one of our last great institutions. They have ruined British football and have even started on cricket now. We are in recession. Selling everything off to the highest bidder helps nobody but those doing the buying. When will this country wake up?

Bran dross

30-Oct-2008 by Arthur Askey

No they are not particularly. If one good thing comes out of this it will be an end to Ross's effing on his show and then maybe the spotlight will next fall on the sweaty, pock-marked, pretend ex footballer Ramsey. I mean what are we meant to think Ross is funny, he's hard, he's hip because he says Fuck. And yes they are out of order bullying an old man. Pair of cunts. How would Ross like it if we left a message on his ansaphone putting on an irish accent saying we were Sean Hughes and we did HIS wife over the sofa. Not a lot. If I saw Russell Brand in a pub I would nut him and that's before this bullying episode. One episode of Andrew Sachs playing Manuel has contributed more to the comedy pantheon of this country than the entire career of Brand Ross. Manuel will be remembered long after these two have the maggotts crawling out their nostrils. Don't start me on Ramsey. I'd like to invite him to my restuarant pretending I needed help and then plunge a corkscrew deep into his jugular vein and watch him spray blood around the kitchen. Let's hear him swear then.

Humour

30-Oct-2008 by Sheepskin Steve

Are Jonathan Ross and Bland Man funny? I can’t see it myself. What happened to humour in this country? We used to produce great comedians. Don’t say this, don’t say that. And what about the BBC. What has happened to this great institution. When we are being fed a hundred satellite channels of televised trivia and the air waves are full of gossip and nonsense can’t the BBC stand up and deliver some quality. Freedom of choice? Don’t make me laugh. As some well-known cockneys once said ‘freedom? what f/ing freedom?’

"LADY JAZZ' by Frances Kennett ?

28-Oct-2008 by King Crombie

Just stumbled across this one. Published in 1990, it is evidently set in 1930's Soho. Any pointers ?

Much Obliged Alan Harvey

27-Oct-2008 by King Crombie

I dip my stingy brim low and slow to you sir. Much obliged.

Wide Boys review

27-Oct-2008 by Alan Harvey

Wide Boys Never Work Review by Melissa McClements Published: October 27 2008 05:33 | Last updated: October 27 2008 05:33 Wide Boys Never Work By Robert Westerby London Books £11.99, 226 pages The fourth in a series resurrecting long-lost, London-based novels, Wide Boys Never Work was first published in 1937. In it, Westerby – who later became a Hollywood scriptwriter – paints a gritty portrait of the capital’s underbelly between the wars. Jim Bankley works on the production line in a car factory up north. Bad-tempered, mouthy and handy with his fists, he’s the classic angry young man. When he meets a London gang at the local dog track, he is seduced by their talk of easy money and women, and promptly follows them down to the big smoke. Westerby’s hard-hitting prose brings the seedy bars of 1930s Soho to life, packed with spivs, gangsters, pimps and prostitutes. Jim soon finds himself knee-deep in murky goings-on. Celebrated writer and London-lover Iain Sinclair – author of London Orbital – champions this novel as an underground classic, and sets it in context in a vibrant introduction. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Any Chance Of Posting FT Review ?

26-Oct-2008 by King Crombie

Is there any chance of some kind person posting the FT review ? I don't get the FT and anyway, it's way beyond my technical skills.

Wide Boys

26-Oct-2008 by Paolo

Nice review in yesterday's FT.

The new Sillitoe biography

23-Oct-2008 by NW1

Just out by Richard Bradford is worth a read too. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Writer. Just finished. Now on The Snowball about the life of the US super-investor Warren Buffett. He's the bloke who has just bought a chunk of ailing Goldman Sachs

Yo-Ho-Ho

23-Oct-2008 by King Crombie

Got my Westerby and Curtis(#2) Yo-Ho-Ho !!!

Wide Boys

21-Oct-2008 by happy jack

Arrived. Demolished. Great

A Pin to see the Peepshow

07-Oct-2008 by Hoopla

I remember watching this TV production of the Thompson and Bywaters case starring Francesca Annis back when i was a child. My father used to tell me about all these murders and explained that how when he was a child murder was so infrequent here that each one gripped the country and the subsequent trials were lapped up by the public with relish. It says a lot about the novelty aspect of murder only 50 years ago. Don't believe Governments when they say that the murder rate is decreasing.

HP Film

06-Oct-2008 by anonymous

Sounds good Kicky, good luck!

Human Punk Screenplay

06-Oct-2008 by Kicky

Hi there, in response to earlier posts - John is very much involved in the adaptation of Human Punk - and has been since the first draft. I am now working on an 8th draft with a director, and hope to have completion in the next month or so - then it's on to the rocky road of raising finance. We do hope the success of TFF will support the making of Human Punk of course. With regards to adapting - it's a real challenge - this was my first actually, but at the heart of what I've written is above all, my love of the original story/novel. Inevitably, you have to cut bits out - screenplays are only 90(ish) pages long. I like to think I've been true to the themes and characters of the novel as much as possible. Hopefully we'll start shooting in 2009 and you'll soon be able to judge how I did!

Sohemian Meeting Thompson/Bywaters

02-Oct-2008 by FRANK MARKER

Our next Sohemian Meeting will be on the Edith Thompson/Fredericick Bywaters murder case. This murder achieved great notoriety in 1920s Britain and was seen by many in the case of Edith Thompson's execution, as a grevious miscarriage of justice. Edith's story has been novelised many times most famously in F Tennyson Jesse's 1934 book A Pin To See The Peepshow. Our speaker for the evening will be Rene Weis, author of Criminal Justice - The True Story of Edith Thompson. Upstairs at The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place. Admission £3. 15th October 7.30pm

To P Hewitt

25-Sep-2008 by Gavin

I'm guessing that's you paolo hewitt. Wanted to say how much I enjoyed your book The Looked After Kid. I was in care for a short while and can identify with a lot in there. Also just read the new Weller book. Much better than the other one. Well done.

Book to Flick

24-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

I'm sure if we surveyed thel film caper for the 100 or so years it's been around we would find plenty of examples of great books that were made into great flicks. In today's commercial climate I would imagine film rights are frront and centre of manya book publishers priorities. Money, artistic input and contriol are, I would imagine , "all negotiable". But it would be naive to imagine that even if a writer's work is butchered in the film making process, that somewher along the way, the writer did not bin a few readies.

p.hewitt

23-Sep-2008 by Jimmy Jazz

good luck with your question. I don't think the authors on this site actually respond to (or read) any of the messages posted on the website ( probably get fed up with all the talk about gangster books etc.) I don't know if John King had any role in the screenplay for The Football Factory - putting a book onto the big screen will always( in my opinion )dilute what was in a novel. Books are best. Always have been. Always will be.

FRANK MARKER

23-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

Oh, by the way King Crombie, please let me know what you think of Dope Girls after you've read it.

Needle of Death

23-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

Needle of Death was a track on on Bert's 1965 album, 'Bert Jansch'. Dates are just so important to blokes aren't they? The album also featured Davy Graham's perennial instrumental classic, Angi (or Anji? or what you will!) Talking of early druggie songs, anyone remember Donovan's jazz inflected Sunny Goodge Street? It featured the lines " A violent hash-smoker shook a chocolate machine. Involved in a eating scene".

Me - "A bit of a div"

22-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

Apologies to all and sundry re my "Needle Of Death" post, being as it was released in 1965, there's little possibilty of it being written in '66. I'm all crinkly mouthed

open message to john king

22-Sep-2008 by p. hewitt

so "england away" and "human punk" are being developed as films? hope they turn out better than the football factory - having taught scriptwriting I understand the need for adaptation, but stripping away the soul of the book ( the examination of working class culture) leaving little more than violence set to music is not big or clever. By the way, loving "skinheads" - could be a fantastic film...

Bert Jansch - "Needle OF Death"

18-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

Bert Jansch - "Needle Of Death" top shelf stuff. I wonder when it was written, I'm no expert but imagine it to have been recorded circa '65/'66.

Scriptwriter

18-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

Agree with you there KC. Ego fuelled with copious amounts of Bolivian marching powder has resulted in arrogant arses producing mucho crapola. The all night chemist in Piccadilly Circus you mentioned was a legendary place for junkies from the 50s onwards. I remember in the 1970s a pal of mine telling me to go there and ask for a certain 'cough medicine' that he assured would see me through a night in Tiffanys disco. Like the callow youth I was I muttered something about it to the stern faced assistant and instead came away with a packer of aspirins. It was reminiscent of that scene in A Kind of Loving where Vic goes into a chemist for a packet of rubbers and instead emerges with a bottle of Lucozade: cue his mate, played by James Bolam, laughing his socks off. Did you see that BBC4 series 'Folk Brittanica' ? As part of it they showed a short 1965 documentary on a junkie buying his gear in Picc Circus and shooting up in a nearby lav. What made it even more harrowing was the use of Bert Jansch's anti-drug song Needle of Death, a song written about the tragic death through heroin of a friend of Bert's.

Scrpitwriter ???

18-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

Mr Marker, When I was a young 'erbert a scriptwriter was someone who would sell you a piece of paper that might get you something "naughty" at the 24 chemist in Trafalgar Sq. Nowadays, I assume you are referring to the motion picture lark. Fret not either way , I no longer have the nerve for one or the ego for the other.

Dope Girls

17-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

You're more than welcome KC. If you fancy yourself as a scriptwriter then Dope Girls would make an excellent subject for a film. I'm more than surprised Sarah 'Tipping the Velvet' Walters hasn't got her hands on it yet. There's dope, Edwardian 'Boy's Own' racism, comical undercover cops in top and hat tails making notes on their cuffs in Soho nightclubs and just for Ms Tipping the Velvet, supposed sapphic goings on between some of the stage musicals girls. Enjoy.

Dope Girls

16-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

Much obliged Mr Marker and I tip my stingy brim to you. Cue "Devil's Gallop" and I'm off on the trail of "Dope Girls".

Brighton

16-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

Hello King Crombie In Shepperton Babylon by Matthew Sweet there is a 1920s Maidenhead nightclub used by matinee idols and the Mayfair Set called Murray's. The proprietor was a former medic in the American army who settled in England after the war and made a fortune selling drugs under the counters of his nightclubs. So by no stretch of the imagination can you rule out an underground drug scene in Brighton and don't forget people like Wilde and his fellow 1890s opium tokers spent considerable periods their too. I can't recommend too highly (no pun intended) Marek Kohn's (a Brighton resident) Dope Girls. It's a fascinating study of the birth of the British drug underground,which uses the deaths through drug overdoses of stage beauty Billie Carleton and dancer Freda Kempton as its central theme.

Brighton - Opium Dens ?

15-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

I don't know if it's a load of old codswallop - but I was told on more than one occasiion that there were opium dens in Brrighton back in the 30's. Is there any kind of deviant history we can refer to ?

BRIGHTON

15-Sep-2008 by FRANK MARKER

As Keith Waterhouse once said of Brighton, "a town that looks as though it should be helping the police with their enquiries". It was also the setting for the 3rd series of Public Eye.

Brighton

15-Sep-2008 by King Crombie

My old man (RIP) always referred to Brighton as "London by the sea"' '!

Billy Hill

14-Sep-2008 by Ken Barnes

Should be interesting. Thank you Frank. I was always surprised by the fact that Billy Hill lived so long. He is indelibly associated with the pre-Kray era yet he was still alive and kicking in quiet retirement in Brighton until the 1980s, I understand. Brighton. What a place! Not only Patrick Hamilton's canvas but homes to Max Miller, Graham Greene's Pinky, and many, many more. After London must be one of the most productive towns for literary fiction.

BILLY HILL THE GODFATHER OF SOHO

13-Sep-2008 by Frank Marker

Journalist and crime writer Wensley Clarkson will be addressing the Sohemian Society on the life of 1950s crime lord and mentor to the Kray twins Billy Hill. Wensley will be signing copies of his book 'Billy Hill: The Godfather of Soho' after his talk. Upstairs at the Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place W1 1DG Info 020 8960 7172 Underground Tottenham Crt Rd. Wed, 24th Sept, 7.30pm Admission: £3

prison house album

12-Sep-2008 by Jimmy Jazz

ok so can someone at London Central tell us when/if the albumn based on John King's The Prison house is going to see light of day ? Is it finished ? Can we have a sneek pre-view ?

What happened

12-Sep-2008 by Derek, Islington

Was your building overrun by pornographers and paedophiles in a dirty siege? Keep them doors bolted. The new titles look smart. I have a Wide Boys here from 1937 which cost me an arm and a leg. Loath to buy another. But Sinclair introduction? Needs to be had.

Wide Boys

12-Sep-2008 by Alan Harvey

Wide Boys Never Work and They Drive By Night are now both in stock but not officially published until mid_October. If anybody wants one just order through the shop. Also new content on the main site relating to these books and their authors.

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12-Sep-2008 by Infozure

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Message foe Alan Harvey

03-Sep-2008 by Albert Finney

I am very fortunate to have a copy of both Roland Camberton's novels, but others may not be so lucky. Any chance of London books reprinting Rain on the Pavements and Scamp?

The Outcast

18-Aug-2008 by Gavin

Just bought and read this book by Sadie Jones. It is a Richard & Judy book, whatever exactly that entails, but I did not hold this against it. Set in 1950s straitlaced and squash on the lawn Surrey it tells the story of a young boy, Lewis, who loses his way after witnessing the death of his mother. His father cannot express his grief and rapidly remarries and Lewis withdraws into himself. A whispering campaign spreads around the village that Lewis may have been more than a witness to his mother's demise. The boy loses his way and expresses himself in such ways as burning down his local church. Good book. Well paced with such a good build up it renders the ending an inevitable anti-climax. Highly recommended.

Sohemian Society

15-Aug-2008 by anonymous

Just a quick line to let people know of a few up and coming events for our autumn/winter season of talks. In October we will be welcoming author Rene Weis to give a talk on his book Criminal Justice, an account of the Edith Thompson/Frederick Bywaters murder case. We will also be having actor Murray Melvin, who will be giving a talk about d working with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and his recently published book The Art of Theatre Workshop. We also have future talks planned on Billy Hill, Gangland Soho and William Blake. Please check our website in October for dates and further details: www.sohemians.com

Future of books

15-Aug-2008 by John Drew

Does anyone know anyone that has read an e-book? Amazon's Kindle e-reader is about to reach tipping point? Will books as we know them become defunct and mainly be read on telephones, blackberries, computer screen? I can't see it, myself but I thought texting would never catch on. What do we think out there?

No, sir we are talking about the one and the same

13-Aug-2008 by McFurious

Mr Hudson

Alan Hudson - not the Chelsea player

12-Aug-2008 by King Crombie

i'm getting the strong impression that the Alan Hudson being referred to is not the former Chelsea player. My misconception should explain my previos comments. Ignorance not nonsense.

Paul Canoville

11-Aug-2008 by ipat

Just started Black and Blue by Paul Canoville

Alan Hudson

08-Aug-2008 by The Nightwatchman

Hudson’s novels remind me of William Burroughs at his experimental best. I am thinking of the post Junky novels, especially Cities Of The Red Night and The Ticket That Exploded. WB’s chemically assisted tinkering with cutouts was later employed by Bowie on the albums Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs I believe. Bowie would have been at his peak at a similar time to Alan and I like to imagine the two poets sharing a drink or two in the Chelsea Drugstore on the King’s Road. Whether either of these London legends ever met Burroughs I do not know, although I read that Burroughs spent some time in London, possibly in the Earls Court area. I often read Burroughs and Hudson when my insomnia is at its worst, the music hall rhythms of Bowie playing softly in the background as I am transported to alternative realities. Forget Hamilton, stick with Hudson. He is the wise man who will lead you safely through the night.

Patrick Hamilton

08-Aug-2008 by Lemmy

Through A Glass Darkly by Nigel Jones is an excellent and thoroughly researched biography of Patrick Hamilton recently published. I caught on to Hamilton only two or three years ago when a friend recommended Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky and then the BBC dramatisation followed. Have now read everuthing I can lay my hands on declare him the greatest writer i'VE yet come across and Mr Thwaites from the Slaves of Solitude the most fantastic fictional character of the 20th century. He seemed to be a slave to drink most of his life but he nevertheless produced great books for nearly 30 years.

Sports books

08-Aug-2008 by Tony Arter

Not sure what the nonsense is below. Football books have for the large part been pretty appalling. They were churned out in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s by a small company who filled the gap. Ghost written they tried for snappy titles (About A Ball) for guess who and followed a well mapped out formula. From junior football, to cleaning the pros boots, to debuts, to finals and internationals. Much of these early works were taken with descriptions of the foreign lands visited because then to travel abroad was such a novelty. In the 1980s it ratcheted up with slightly weighter tomes being penned by top journalists as ghost writers. Michael Parkinson for George Best is a good example. In this decade Jimmy Greaves broke the mould with his book 'This One's on Me' where he not only discussed his career but his fight with alcoholism. George Best wasn't far behind with his The Good, The Bad and The Bubbly penned by gossip columnist Ross Benson. By the 1990s the doors were open for footballing' superstars to bring out a second autobiography this time including things they could not the first time around. The market boomed and lesser footballers who would not have got a book deal in the past were now publishing and selling. The market has probably peaked and Wayne Rooney's 3 book and Gazza's 2 book deal probably marked the high (in aspiration at least). As you may have guessed I am a connisseur of the genre and my favourites are FOOTBALL AMBASSADOR by Eddie Hapgood from the 1950s and TWO LEFT FEET by Gary Nelson. Millwall's Eamon Dunphy did ONLY A GAME in the 1970s which was swam against the tide. ADDICTED by Tony Adams is ptrobably the best of the confessionals.

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?

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Now, those 125 persons turn around and post the MINIMUM 200 with my email at #3 and only receive 5 replies each, I will make an additional $625.00! OK, now here is the fun part, each of those 625 persons post a MINIMUM 200 letters with my email at #2 and they only receive 5 replies that just made me $3,125.00!!! Those 3,125 persons will all deliver this message to 200 newsgroups with my email at #1 and if still 5 persons per 200 newsgroups react I will receive $15,625.00! With an original investment of only $5.00! AMAZING!! When your email is no longer on the list, you just take latest posting in the newsgroups, and send out another $5.00 to emails on the list, putting your email at number 5 again. And start posting again. The thing to remember is, thousands of people all over the world are joining the internet and reading these articles everyday, JUST LIKE YOU are now!! So can you afford $5.00?? And see if it really works?? I think so? People have said, what if the plan is played out and no one sends you the money? So what are the chances of that happening when there are tons of new honest users and new honest people who are joining the internet and newsgroups everyday and are willing to give it a try? Estimates are at 20,000 to 50,000 new users everyday, with thousands of those joining the actual Internet. Remember, play FAIRLY and HONESTLY and this will work. This really isn't another one of those crazy scams! As long as people FOLLOW THROUGH with sending out $5.00, it works! With warm wishes, bless you and your loved ones, https://www.paypal.com $$$$$ REMEMBER, IT IS 100% LEGAL! DON'T PASS THIS UP

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 B