mount pleasant terrace, southville: local history

2015 street map

The above map (dated 2015) shows the location of our house (“X”) in Bristol.
Ever since we first moved to Bristol in 2003, I’ve been meaning to drop into the Bristol Records Office to try to discover a little more about the history of our house. Well, at long last, this week, I finally called in and chatted to the really helpful bloke on reception. I just KNEW that I’d be able to access stuff via the internet… the trouble was that when I tried, I got nowhere!
My new friend at the Bristol Records Office pointed out a few glitches in the system and things to AVOID – as well as things to DO. The key thing was to google the magic words “know your place Bristol” (without trying to access the information via the city council’s website - which is precisely what I’d been trying to do!).


Magically, my new friend was able to demonstrate how I could access historical maps of our area AND to be able to compare maps/street layouts between different dates (via “main maps” and “comparison maps”)(you need to click on “base plans” for the map keys to appear)… absolutely fascinating.

1910s street map



1900s street map

There’s a plaque on a building just down the road from us with a 1848 date on it… so I’ve also assumed that our house was built in roughly 1850 or thereabouts. The historical maps have duly confirmed this: our house certainly appears on the 1855 map of the area (even though the whole of Mount Pleasant Terrace hadn’t been completed by that date). 

1880s street map



1874 street map

I always knew that our house was located fairly close to a colliery (Dean Lane Colliery) and, certainly, the maps confirm this (it’s just 275metres away, as the crow flies!). But it’s only fairly recently that I’d become aware of Northside Colliery (at the corner of South Street/North Street) – which is just 250metres from our house! I love the discovery that, according to the map of 1828, the site of our house was once an orchard – the area of land to the north of North Street being virtually devoid of any buildings (except Merrywood Hall). I’m also intrigued to see how, over the course of the next 50 years, our house was not only built, but also surrounded by terraces of other houses (if only things could be like this today!)… and, by the 1900s, the street layout resembles precisely what we have today.
The “Know Your Place Bristol” website is pretty amazing and the main maps/comparison maps are very impressive… I can’t hope to replicate this, but will endeavour to paste eight maps dating from1828 up to 2015, so you can get a “feel” of where we live (fingers crossed!).

1855 street map

1840s street map

1828 map

Moira’s quite keen to discover a little more about the people who have lived in our house over the past 150 years or so… I’ll post a link if she ends up following this through!
I love history and LOVE the fact that we can gain access to it for FREE!
Absolutely fascinating.
PS: I downloaded the various maps shown above in small sections and then re-configured them to highlight (and record for my own benefit) how our neighbourhood has developed over the past 150 years or so. I know it's not particularly neat and I’m sure there were simpler ways of doing this, but technology was never my strong point!

the danish girl

Moira+I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see Tom Hooper’s rather extraordinary film “The Danish Girl”. Set in Copenhagen of the 1920s, it tells the true story of a successful Danish landscape artist Einar Wegener (played by Eddie Redmayne) married to a rather less successful portrait painter Gerda Wegener (played by Alicia Vikander). When a life model/dancer fails to turn up for a sitting, Gerda gets Einar to don tights and ballet slippers to pose for the completion of a painting. The experience doesn’t awaken new feelings in Einar, exactly, so much as stir some that were already there. The couple’s relationship duly enters unchartered territory… and Einar ends up becoming “Lili Elbe” (I hope you’re keeping up with this!?)… and, ultimately, becomes one of the first recipients of sexual reassignment surgery.
Redmayne gives an amazing performance as a transgender artist (he really does make a pretty amazing Lili!) – which will surely be recognised with another Oscar nomination (at least) – but Vikander is also wonderfully impressive (my only slight reservation is that I felt that her character was from a little later than the 1920s?).
It’s beautifully photographed (and great importance given to costume and production design), but its subject matter is raw and unsettling – as well as moving and humane.
Probably not the best film I’ll see in 2016, but a very impressive one nevertheless.

london exhibitions… and other stuff

In addition to seeing “Jane Eyre” at the National Theatre, Moira and I took the opportunity to get to a couple of exhibitions and a few galleries/museums while we were in London.
Victoria+Albert Museum: “The Fabric of India” £14 (£12 for oldies like us).
Handmade textiles have been made in India for over 6,000 years. This extensive exhibition provides a wealth of sumptuous, colourful fabrics – historic dress, heirloom fabrics and cutting-edge fashion. It all makes for an excellent exhibition, but my one criticism is that, because there is so much to see and due to the fine (literally) nature of the work on display, the queues of people looking at the various objects tend to move very, VERY slowly! You either have to wait for the person in front to read every word on the accompanying display notes (with very slow precision, as well as examining the various fabrics, obviously) or simply skip things and move on. I found it all very beautiful, but also somewhat frustrating, I’m afraid.
As you’re no doubt aware, the V+A is a simply stunning place to visit and there are plenty of “free” exhibitions and displays. We particularly enjoyed photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron (photographer, 1815-1879) from the V+A’s own collection… plus the theatrical/costume section, plus a series of prints by artist Ellen Heck, representing women and girls dressed as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. But, frankly, there’s SO much to see at the V+A - and our visit hardly scratched the surface!
Tate Modern: Alexander Calder “Performing Sculpture” £18 (£16 oldies)(expensive!).
Calder (1898-1976) is widely celebrated as the originator of the ‘mobile’. Although I found Calder’s ‘geometric’ kinetic structures absolutely fascinating (and some really very beautiful), the highlight for me was his bent-wire figurative pieces – which were just wonderfully uplifting, funny, clever and incredibly articulate (I noticed just how MANY people had smiles on their faces). I found it an absolute delight.
But for me, one of the delights of visiting Tate Modern is the building itself – which one can do for ‘free’. Although we didn’t specifically visit the exhibition, the Turbine Hall (I LOVE the Turbine Hall space!) housed Abraham Cruzvillegas’s ‘Empty Lot’ – a large geometric sculpture created using scaffolding and wooden planters (and soil from London parks) – which dominated views from the various galleries and upper floors. I also enjoyed the posters/prints gallery (but, hey, there’s LOADS of other stuff that we didn’t get time to check out!).
The British Museum: “The Parthenon Sculptures” (free).
I’ve recently finished reading a book about the Elgin Marbles and thought it was about time I re-visited them (the last time might be over 40 years ago?). The sculptures are quite remarkable and date from around 435BC. In 1801-05, Lord Elgin obtained permission from the Ottoman authorities to remove the remaining (about half) sculptures from the Parthenon’s fallen ruins and from the building itself. Elgin felt that he was saving the treasures from being destroyed (and he was probably correct). I, like many, now think it’s time for the sculptures to be returned to Greece!
I also took the opportunity to look at the extensive Assyrian and Egyptian sculptures (from 860-620BC and around 2040BC respectively!) which, in many ways, I found even more impressive… and very beautiful. Quite, quite remarkable. I LOVE the British Museum and could spend hours there (and I love that, apart from key exhibitions, it’s free!).

This hardly does our visit justice.  We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express, Old Street (pretty good value, we felt, at £72 for the two us, including breakfast!). Obviously, our trip also included a lot of walking (and eating!): for instance, visiting Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre building (which I still admire – and I was reminded of our building visit shortly after it opened in 1976); walking along Southbank at night admiring the river and the city lights; walking over the Millennium Bridge in very high winds (it didn’t sway!) and also over the Golden Jubilee Bridge (between Embankment and Southbank); seeing St Paul’s from across the Thames (set against a dark+stormy sky); enjoying London’s incidental experiences acquired just walking around (including re-vamped Tube stations such as London Bridge, Tottenham Court Road etc etc); visiting the rather lovely Southwark Cathedral again; enjoying a meal beside Paddington Basin; and being grateful for the ease and convenience of using our Oyster Cards!

We really did have a lovely, relaxing time. Thank you Londinium!
Photos: (top row) Alexander Calder; (second row) The Fabric of India (images for both rows via google); (third+fourth rows) Elgin Marbles/Assyrian/Egyptian sculptures from British Museum; (bottom row) V+A, British Museum and two images from Tate Modern.
PS: double-click on overall image to enlarge.

jane eyre at the national theatre…

Moira and I went to London on Wednesday to see Sally Cookson’s brilliant “Jane Eyre” at the Lyttelton Theatre… and it WAS simply brilliant!
A night of tingling, powerful, mesmerising, inventive theatre at its very, very best.
We saw the wonderful two-part version of JE at Bristol Old Vic in March 2014. I’m not going to repeat myself (about the set, devising process, actors,musicians and the like!), so you might want to click here for a quick re-cap.
Would it really be feasible to cut a fantastically successful production so ruthlessly? Well, without doubt, it was. Thanks to Cookson’s vision and the ability of this very special group of actors and musicians, the Company has managed to devise (and revise) a stunning adaptation of Bronte’s book “Jane Eyre an Autobiography”. It was a hugely exciting evening of drama and discovery as the audience joined the Company on a journey of dramatic improvisation and magic – with the entire team of gifted, multi-tasking actors and musicians playing their parts in a quite extraordinary way.
I thought this production was even better than the two-part version and, surprisingly (given the shorter time – albeit at more than 3 hours in length), thought that it also managed to add something to all the key characters (in terms of depth and sensitivity).
The production has played to enthusiastic, capacity audiences throughout its time at The National Theatre (and received glowing five-star reviews). It finishes there this weekend, before travelling back to Bristol (briefly) and then on to Nottingham (briefly)… and then on to Hong Kong (briefly). If you CAN get to see it (yes, ok, maybe Hong Kong is a little bit of a trek!), then I would really recommend that you do.
A very special evening… that will stay with us for a very, very long time.
Photo: Felix (Rochester) and Madeleine Worrall (Jane Eyre), courtesy of the National Theatre website.
PS: Moira+I were both exhausted at the end of the performance (in a very good way!)… which only served to underline the amazing stamina of the actors+musicians – who had taken part in a MATINEE performance that same afternoon!
  

new year reflections 2015-6

Another year’s reflections (as a reminder to ME!):
WONDERFUL BOOKS:
My top five, in order (VERY difficult to limit it to just five): The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver); From The Holy Mountain (William Dalrymple); The Establishment (Owen Jones); A Rose For Winter (Laurie Lee); and Sentenced To Life (Clive James).
GREAT FILMS:
My top six (again, in vague order… can’t get it down to 5 – although we didn’t get to the cinema all that often):
Salt of the Earth; Macbeth; The Lady in the Van; Henry V (live broadcast); Brooklyn; and He Named Me Malala;
LOVELY LIVE PERFORMANCES (broken down into various categories):
THEATRE:
My top five (note to self: need to go to much more theatre in 2016!): Love’s Labour’s Lost; Love’s Labour’s Won (otherwise “Much Ado About Nothing”); Ian Adams (poetry); Swallows+Amazons; and Around The World in 80 Days;
CONCERTS:
My top four (sadly, I didn’t get to five! Ridiculous!):
Paul Bradley; Cara Dillon; Isolde/Lauren Bradford/Julia Turner; and Gaswork Singers Christmas concert.
EXHIBITIONS:
Not as many as I’d have liked (but I might have forgotten one or two?) … and, frankly, nothing REALLY stands out for me. Top five in order: “Death” at the Bristol Museum; Do Ho Suh (“New York City Apartment”) at Bristol Museum+Art Gallery; “Into the Fields” (Newlyn School and other Artists) at the RWA; Richard Long (“Time+Space”) at the Arnolfini; and Carsten Holler “Decision” at the Hayward Gallery, London.
SPORTING MOMENTS:
Shamefully, the ONLY “live” sport I saw in 2015 was Bath Races in June (with some of my old Norton Hill School buddies)… and not a single cricket match - despite the best of endeavours to get Edgbaston.
I really enjoyed watching the Six Nations again and, obviously, hugely enjoyed the Rugby World Cup on TV… but it’s not really the same. Need to get down to Ashton Gate to watch Bristol RFC. Again, I MUST do better!
FRIENDS:
Once again, we’ve been blessed to be able to meet up with many of our lovely “special” friends (they know who they are!) on a pretty frequent basis during the course of the year… always special occasions.
ART STUFF:
Another enjoyable year (although perhaps not as enterprising as it might have been – am I becoming lazy?), including:
1. I’ve still very much enjoyed continuing to post a drawing or photograph every day as part of my “One Day Like This” blog (with well over 600 drawings and 600 photographs since I started in September 2012).
2. I REALLY enjoyed carrying out a week’s drawing project for our lovely friends Tanya+Glenn based at their beautiful house in Brixham, Devon.
3. We had another successful Arts Trail at number 40 (I think this was our 12^th consecutive year)… and attracted some 600 people into our basement over the Arts Trail weekend!
4. I actually did some coloured photoshopped digital drawings (I used a 30 day free trial to experiment!)… and might well return to this format again at some stage in the future.
5. I ended the year compiling 24 Advent photographs for use as my facebook page cover photograph… good fun and no real effort required!
6. I’ve put together some Bristol drawings as a 2017 Calendar (yes, 2017!)… hopefully, I’ll get round to getting it printed.
SIMPLE PLEASURES:
Cafes, reading, drawing, photography, walking, cycling, living near the sea (well, sort of…) and, of course, looking after our Bristol grandchildren remain very important aspects of my life (although, now that they’re all at school etc, our time with them is sadly a little reduced these days… but school-runs and child-sitting partly make up for it!).
Feel SO lucky to have the family we have… and great that we all “get on” so well and are able to see each other regularly (even if we don’t see the Lancashire contingent quite as often as we’d like).
SOMETHING YET TO BE CREATED:
I think I need to do some brainstorming… apart from my 2017 calendar(!), I haven’t really come up with any “special projects” thus far. Perhaps drawings and/or photographs from around Temple Meads? Old boats at Sharpness? Cardiff? Clevedon? Bath? Ashmolian/Natural History Museum, Oxford? Forest of Dean? Other stuff could involve doing some local history “research” regarding the old pre-WW2 city and/or Southville, where we live? Perhaps also more train excursions exploring places within easy reach of Bristol? Coastal walks? Canal-side walk to Bath? We’ll see…
HOLIDAYS/LEISURE:  
We’ve tightened our belts a little this year and have been happy to enjoy a few days in Devon; a couple of days in Cambridge/Cambridgeshire; a few days in London (with Hannah, Felix+Ursa when Felix was rehearsing at the National Theatre); and a lovely week in Brixham.
I also had five brilliant days golfing in Northern France with great mates last May/June… VERY generous buddy, wonderful group of people, great courses and (largely) beautiful weather… very lucky man.
SPIRITUAL LIFE:
Well, I DO now belong to a church! Since the summer, we’ve been attending the Community of Saint Stephens (St Stephens Street in the heart of the city). My own faith remains somewhat chaotic, but we’ve both found a very real welcome from Lee Barnes (great bloke!), his team and the group of 20 or 30 or so regular members who attend each Sunday. Helpful, hopeful stuff…
OTHER STUFF:
1. Being a Trustee at the wonderful Windmill Hill City Farm continues to be good fun (it’s an amazing place with some brilliant people working/volunteering there).
2. After several years, I’ve decided to have a break from the local Arts Trail steering group (and am enjoying my time-out).
3. The successful hip replacement (April 2014) continues to REALLY make a huge difference… walking and cycling are no problem at all. Brilliant. The only nagging health issue I have is bursitis in my right arm (which I’ve had for the last few months… the doctor’s told me it could take some time to heal!).
It’s been another good year… and we continue to count our blessings.
Photo: one of my drawings from our time in Brixham.

 

the lady in the van

Moira+I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see Nicholas Hytner’s film “The Lady in the Van” – based on Alan Bennett’s diaries. Maggie Smith plays the role of Miss Shepherd (as the Watershed blurb describes her: “a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years”). In fact, Moira+I had seen Maggie Smith AND Alan Bennett (playing himself!) in the stage version at the Queens Theatre, London in 1999 (actually it opened in November 1999, so we probably saw it in early 2000?)… and we’ve still got the programme to prove it! I’d seen the trailer for the film and, frankly, I didn’t think much of Alex Jennings (who played Bennett in the film) – but I’ll put up my hands and admit that I was wrong… he was very good.
Anyway, the film is absolutely great!
I’d forgotten that (in real life) this snarly, needy, old woman had, in fact, once been a concert pianist… and it reminded me of how, many years ago, I’d been somewhat dismissive (only in my own head, not out loud!) of a man named Ron, who’d played the organ at our church for over 50 years. VERY unfairly, I’d regarded him as being well past his sell-by date in terms of his playing ability (isn’t that awful!) and then heard someone describe him as having once been a wonderful athlete in his day… and a county sprint champion indeed! I think we’re all rather inclined to be somewhat dismissive of the elderly (hang on, I’m elderly now!) and are apt to forget that they might once have achieved significant things in their lives.
I digress!
Anyway, when we saw her on stage, 16 years ago, Maggie Smith was simply brilliant… but, I have to say, she was EVEN better(!!) in this film version (and clearly really enjoyed playing the role again).
SURELY, this was an Oscar-winning performance? She was stunningly good.
You need to see this film.

december 2015 books

End of year book stuff:
The Creative Year (Jane Lee): This book records Jane Lee’s year as an Artist in Residence at St Michael’s+All Angels church, Windmill Hill here in Bristol. It’s clearly a bold venture by the church - which saw it as a new way of connecting with its parish. The book provides an account of the year in terms of the liturgical year (beginning in Advent). By its very nature, the resulting art (which encompasses paintings, drawings, glass, textiles, photography, music and words… from both adults and children) is somewhat mixed… but, as the book emphasises, creative work involves “taking risks”. I found it interesting/encouraging how much the local arts trail (Art on the Hill) featured in the book. Jane Lee herself is a very gifted artist who frequently produces brilliant and often inspirational work. However, I found myself somewhat frustrated at times – often wanting to learn more about the background to a particular project (with additional insights from Lee and some of the other artists), but also wanting to limit other sections which didn’t particularly appeal to me personally(!).     
The Eye In The Door (Pat Barker): This is our Book Group’s next book (published in 1993) and is the second volume of Barker’s “The Regeneration Trilogy” (I clearly need to read volumes one and three!). It’s set in 1918 and centres on the trauma suffered by First World war veterans. It weaves fact and fiction and provides a chilling reflection on the repercussions of that war. Whilst it could be described as an anti-war novel, it also highlights the war's persecuted sexual and political dissenters. In reviewing the novel, Jonathan Coe emphasised Barker’s commitment to the process of reclaiming silenced voices. It certainly does that. An impressive, absorbing and disturbing book.
Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comic Legend (Robert Ross): I’ve always loved Feldman’s extraordinary humour – Buster Keaton was his absolute hero. Always an anti-establishment figure; excluded from numerous schools; sleeping rough on occasions; went to Paris (aged 15) in 1949 to be a writer, artist and jazz musician (as you do); eventually established himself as a writer, initially for radio (alongside his long-time business associate and friend Barry Took)… by 1974, he’d become THE television comedy performer and a Hollywood film star. Alongside his “rock, soul mate” wife Lauretta, he lived a life of frequent wild parties, booze and drugs. Hollywood ultimately took its toll (a five film deal with Universal Studies was cancelled after just two) and he died of “a massive heart attack” in 1982, at the age of just 48. The book provides a fascinating and amusing background to his life as the influential architect of British comedy and I particularly enjoyed reading of Feldman’s experiences with the BBC’s hierarchy (eg. Took+Feldman were paid a COMBINED 125 guineas fee per radio script in 1966 – for work that is today regarded as masterpieces). The book reminded me of my favourite Feldman sketch: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Golfer. John Cleese described Feldman as a “true cultural icon”… and he undoubtedly was.
On The Elgin Marbles (William Hazlitt): Writer/arts critic/biographer/political commentator/philosopher William Hazlitt (1778-1830) was regarded as the “master essayist” of his time and this book provides a series of extended essays – including three on the Elgin Marbles (purchased by the UK government from Lord Elgin and passed to the British Museum in 1816)(and, yes, I think it’s time for them to be returned!). The prose is, obviously, of its time and Hazlitt’s frequent theme is a conviction that it’s impossible to separate art from nature. At times, he comes across as an educator (rather like Kenneth Clark’s “Civilisation” TV series of the 1960s) but, he also has a hectoring style that one might more associate with the likes of John Ruskin (1819-1900). Interesting stuff… even if I did frequently feel rather intellectually-challenged and inadequate!
That’s all for 2015!
Footnote: Perhaps not surprisingly, retirement has provided me with a lot more time (and desire) to read! What I DO find a little surprising is that I’ve gone from reading say 5 books a year to reading more than a book a week!
Somewhat pathetically (thanks to this blog – which acts as a memory-jogger as much as anything!), I’ve just worked out that a) I read 69 books during the course of 2015, and b) I’ve read more than 300 books (305, to be precise!) over the past 5 years (61 a year on average)… no wonder our bookshelves are getting somewhat overloaded!

christmas cheer?

Is it just me?

I’m feeling hopeless, powerless and very depressed about political decisions that are being made “in my name”, but about which I can do virtually NOTHING to influence…

In January 2015, the government pledged not to frack under our national parks.

In December 2015, MPs voted to frack under our nation parks….

Note: George Osborne's father in law, Lord Howell, is a fossil fuel lobbyist. Since 2000, he has been the chairman of the British Institute of Energy Economics, and chairman of the Windsor Energy Group since 2003.

In 2010, you will recall those heart-warming photos of Mr Cameron (and the huskies) when he promised that his government would be “greenest government ever”.

In July 2015, however, in a period that some environmentalists have described as the “worst period for environmental policy in three decades, energy+climate change secretary, Amber Rudd, scrapped support for onshore wind farms; announced the axing of subsidies to the solar power sector; removed subsidies for coal or other fossil-fuelled power stations which are converting to wood or another biomass fuel; killing the flagship “green homes” scheme; selling off  some 70% of the green investment bank (launched in 2012 with £3.8billion public money); watering down incentives to buy greener cars; giving up on zero carbon homes; abandoned targets to keep increasing the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes… 

But, hey, at least nuclear power is safe(really?) - thanks to the help, support and money of the Chinese government (it’s all about “security”, remember).
Note: Hinkley Point will be the most expensive plant in the world, at £24bn… and, to pay for it, monumental subsidies lasting until 2060 (that’s 45 years from now!) will dwarf any PFI ever devised.

In December 2015 (this week), the government cuts subsidies for solar power… just a week after the climate change Paris summit. To cut support at this stage not only dashes hopes of Britain leading the way in meeting the 1.5 degree target set in Paris last week, but also risks putting thousands of people out of work…

And in other, non-environmental, stuff…

In April 2015, Mr Cameron insisted that the government wouldn’t cut family credits.
In September 2015, the government announced family credit cuts (and it’s only thanks to the House of Lords that the measure wasn’t ultimately introduced)…

In July 2015, MEPs voted on the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade+Investment Partnership) for the first time. The majority of MEPs across Europe gave their first thumbs up to the deal (as far as I’m concerned, putting big business over citizens’ rights). So now TTIP will keep being negotiated with America. Frighteningly, the trade negotiations have been carried out mostly in secret. In my view, you SHOULD be very worried… it will have HUGE (and damaging) implications for the NHS; Food and Environmental Safety; Banking Regulations; Privacy; Jobs; and Democracy. Did we get a chance to vote on TTIP? No we didn’t…

In August 2015, Mr Cameron created 26 new Conservative peers (the PM has now created more peers than ANY other modern prime minister)…

In November 2015, the government decided to cut funding to opposition political parties by 19%.

In December 2015, the UK parliament voted to bomb Syria…

Last, but not least (and, hey, I could probably list another dozen grievances!):

The government wants to restrict Freedom of Information laws (that help citizens expose dodgy lobbyists, poor government decisions and threats to public safety). They want to water down our right to hold them to account and have set up an Independent Commission to review matters…

Note: It was a FOI request that exposed the MPs’ expenses scandal. And it was another FOI request which exposed that a third of NHS contracts were being handed out to private companies.

Sorry… I know I must sound a bit like Scrooge.

But, maybe I’ll wake up and it’ll all have been a nightmare?
Happy, happy Christmas!!

 

november-december 2015 books

More book stuff:
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver): We’ve had this book on our shelves for the last 15 years. Moira had recommended that I read it… but I’ve only just got around to doing so. As a result, I’m about to become one of those annoying people who are ridiculously evangelical about something that an awful lot of people already know. The story is told by the wife and four daughters of a fierce Baptist minister who takes his family and mission to the Belgium Congo in 1959. It’s beautifully-written and the characters are all drawn wonderfully well. Although it’s a work of fiction, the historical figures and events described within it are genuine. I found it utterly compelling. The painful backdrop to the story is the greed of the western world for the natural resources of an African country; the desperate political power struggles – again influenced, at that time, by the United States and others (shipments of weapons to opposition parties/violation of peace agreements etc). A simply brilliant book. One of the best books I’ve ever read… yes, THAT brilliant!    
Absent In The Spring (Mary Westmacott): Agatha Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westacott (not many people know this!)… and this, first published in 1944, was one of them. It tells the story of a woman, returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, finding herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. During this unexpected period of solitude, the woman finds herself reflecting on her life, her relationships and her attitudes (if I described her as self-centred, shallow, selfish and smug, you’d probably get a reasonable picture of the lady!). It felt it was a little like reading Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” – as the main character “discovered” some “home truths” about herself. As a result, would she re-assess her life and vow to change? I couldn’t possibly say! Although not really “my kind of book”, I found it a very readable novel – not altogether surprising perhaps, given Christie’s experience in writing popular literature.
The Essential Henry Longhurst (edited by Chris Plumridge): I’ve had this book for some 20 years (first published in 1988) and thought it was about time I re-read it. It comprises over 130 of Longhurst’s articles written for ‘Golf Illustrated’ during the late-1950s and 1960s. I’d been a long-time admirer of Longhurst as a television golf commentator and you can certainly “hear” his voice as you read his writings. Inevitably, his pieces are all very much “of their time” and written before televised golf, easy plane travel, huge sporting prize money and the internet were commonplace. He was public school (and Cambridge) educated, middle class, a Conservative MP (1943-45), a “gentleman”… and also comes over as a bit of a snob too (with much talk of “The Empire” and patronising references to “the ladies”! Nevertheless, still fascinating and entertaining (if somewhat repetitive) – especially when it comes to such matters as the cost of golf clubs, prize money and the difficulties of keeping up with scores in the early days of televised golf.
Yes Minister: The Diaries Of A Cabinet Minister, Volume 3 (edited by Jonathan Lynn+Antony Jay): I’ve had this book for probably 25 years (it was first published in 1983) and I’ve read it perhaps half a dozen times (but the last time was a fair few years ago). It NEVER fails to make me laugh out loud! Essentially, the “diaries” are re-written versions of the old television programme scripts. One thing that I’d failed to spot until now, was the “editors’ note” (by scriptwriters Lynn+Jay) at the start of the book – which is supposedly written from “Hacker College, Oxford” (Jim Hacker is the book’s Minister for the Department of Administrative Affairs) in September 2019 – no doubt in the light of Hacker’s sparkling contribution to British politics! If you’ve never read any of the diaries (or seen the television programmes – including “Yes, Prime Minister”), then you REALLY must – they make a wonderful backdrop to the exploits of our own current batch of parliamentary high-fliers! Simply brilliant.
Paradise Jazz (Kat Pomfret): Published in 2005. It’s a novel about family, history and identity… as well as jazz, food and life! It attempts to unravel the complexities of family history (separating truth from lies and searching for what’s missing or lost). Pomfret is a very talented, almost poetic, writer; her characters are believable and frequently very amusing. This book surprised me… it’s rather lovely.

the autumn statement: let’s all get depressed together…

There are at least THREE certainties regarding George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday: a) it’ll be delivered with a confident smugness (to “loud encouragement” from his fellow Tory MPs); b) it’ll be clever and will see him producing one or two “rabbits out of the hat”; and c) it’ll be well-received by the predominantly Tory media.
Osborne is continuing on his “austerity is a necessity” crusade and has pledged to run a £10billion budget surplus by 2020. Local government (including welfare and social services), further education, the police, courts are all facing spending cuts of up to 30 per cent (and this comes on top of previous reductions) and, despite the government’s pledge to “protect the NHS”, there could also be cuts in some areas of public health spending.
The fact remains that, with the government’s comfortable majority in parliament, Mr Osborne can do whatever he likes.  

As Will Hutton outlined in The Guardian last week:

“The Conservatives’ choice is driven by a refusal to see any merit in public activity: in their worldview, the point of life and the purpose of civilisation is to celebrate and protect the private individual, the private firm and private property. The state should be as small as possible. It has no role, say, in owning Channel 4 to secure public service broadcasting; it will be privatised with scant care about its ultimate owner. Equally, there was no point in holding the 40% stake in Eurostar, forecast to generate more than £700m in dividends over the next decade and a good payback for £3bn of public investment. Thus it was sold for £757m in March, the government concerned to get the sale through before the general election. You could only proclaim a £2.25bn loss on the public balance sheet and the surrender of £700m of dividends as a “fantastic deal for UK taxpayers”, as Osborne did, if you see zero value in public activity.
“It is this philosophy that will drive the choices to be laid out on Wednesday. The spending of the so-called protected departments – the £189bn spent this year on the NHS, schools for five- to 16-year-olds, aid and defence – will rise in cash terms in line with inflation, but only to buy the same in 2019-20 as it does today, an unprecedented decade-long freeze in real terms. The block grants to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be hit slightly harder, protected only in cash terms, implying, after adjusting for inflation, a small real fall. The axe therefore has to fall on what is left – £77bn of spending by 15 departments along with non-school spending”.

The sad fact is that Osborne is hell-bent on reducing public spending to just over 36% of GDP in the last year of this parliament (without raising income tax)(or scrapping Trident!). This will inevitably result in too few nurses on a ward, too few police, too few teachers and too little of every public service. The cuts in welfare will hit the well-being of millions, including their children.

Osborne doesn't care about the consequences.
It’s all about political ideology.

One could highlight worrying issues in ALL those sectors facing further cuts but, just as one example, let’s look at the police service:

1.    If the predicted cuts of 30% do form part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, then this would mean that funding for the police service will have been slashed by some 50 per cent between 2010 and 2020!).
2.    An estimated 17,000 officer posts were eliminated in the last round of cuts under the Conservative-led coalition government between 2010 and 2015 – and this level of officer losses could be higher at 30,000 in the next five years across the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
3.    Cuts will almost certainly mean a severe pruning back of neighbourhood policing and proactive prevention work which stops crime levels rising.
4.    It’s even been suggested (by Sara Thornton, chair of the body representing police chiefs) that a police officer may not attend every burglary in future – resulting in burglary victims even being asked to send evidence by email!
5.    I have a good friend who works in the police force and who is extremely concerned by the latest proposals. He is adamant that the on-going and disproportionately savage cuts to the police/council/criminal justice budgets will make it IMPOSSIBLE to be effective across the board.
6.    Only last month, Devon and Cornwall confirmed plans for reducing its number of PCSOs to ZERO. Many forces are stating Neighbourhood Policing is now a thing of the past. Pro-activity has almost disappeared.
7.    Studies show the majority of the public have no conception as to the true extent and effect of these budget cuts.
8.    Indeed, we’ve had a number of burglaries in our local neighbourhood over recent months. I haven’t got the figures, but I would be prepared to speculate that the number of burglaries has started to rise again. It’s almost as if “minor” criminals know full well that the police just don’t have the resources to cope – which therefore increases their chances of “getting away with it”. Continuing cuts will mean fewer officers and a pruning back of both neighbourhood policing and pro-active prevention work - which stops crime levels rising.

I COULD go on (and on!) about a whole host of other things that are likely to be adversely affected by the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – all hugely important and all hugely depressing.
But, hey, what’s the point?
The Government isn’t listening (and the Opposition are arguing amongst themselves)… we might as well all give up.

october-november 2015 books

More book stuff:
A Place Called Winter (Patrick Gale): This novel, set in the early years of the 20^th century, tells the story of a gay Englishman who was ostracised by his family after an illicit affair and forced to make a new life for himself on the harsh Canadian prairies. It’s actually loosely based on the life of Gale’s own great-grandfather and compiled after he’d read a huge hoard of letters+papers inherited from his maternal grandmother). In the notes that accompanied my copy of his book, Gale readily accepts that, while he respected the “known facts, keeping real names, and houses and dates”, his story “inevitably… moved further and further away from reality”. As someone who has long struggled to come to terms with fiction (per se), I found the mix of fact and storytelling a little difficult to take at times. Nevertheless, it’s tender, compelling and beautifully-written book and one that I enjoyed reading.
Helena (Evelyn Waugh): I really should know better by now… when it comes to historical fiction (see Patrick Gale’s book above!). Evelyn Waugh is a favourite writer of mine and so I thought I’d “give it a go”. The novel’s protagonist is the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. In his introduction to the book, Waugh stresses that “this is a novel” and freely admits that “The Age of Constantine is strangely obscure” and that her life “begins and ends in surmise and legend” (we don’t actually know where Helena was born or when). History tells us that she was in Rome in 326 and that she went soon after to Jerusalem (by which time she’d become a Christian) and associated herself with building the churches at Bethlehem and Olivet. Frankly, I do struggle with historical novels (even if I did enjoy “I Claudius” on television all those years ago and, a little more recently, Melvyn Bragg’s brilliant book “Credo”!) and, although Waugh reckoned that there was nothing in the book contrary to authentic history or tradition, I found it all rather too picturesque and, at times, rather absurd. Predictably well-written… although, for me, lacking in Waugh’s normal wit and satire.
A Rose For Winter (Laurie Lee): I’d forgotten just what a brilliant writer Laurie Lee was. This book, written in 1955, tells of his return to Spain’s Andalusia (15 years after his last visit – Lee first travelled through Spain as a 19 year-old, in the mid-1930s, when he was trapped by the outbreak of the Civil War) to find a country still broken by that war. To say that Lee had a way with words would be a pathetic understatement… but he had a way of conveying a place and the people he met in a wonderfully warm and eloquent manner. Incredibly evocative and telling the story of a forgotten life (for instance: “There are bars in Algeciras where a glass of wine and a plate of shrimps cost only twopence; where it takes an hour spend a shilling; where a bootblack has only to see you to press drinks upon you; and where processions of strangers are forever offering you glasses of coñac with proud gestures of courtly friendship”). The Sunday Times described the book thus: “He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour”… and, for me, that describes the book EXACTLY. A simply wonderful book.
Sour Sweet (Timothy Mo): This is our book group’s next book. It’s initial setting is London’s Chinatown of the 1960s and tells the story of a family of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. The book’s chilling, dark side recounts husband’s reluctant involvement into the dangerous underworld world of the notorious Triads. However, the book’s shining feature for me was the resourcefulness of the family (especially his young wife), their domestic arrangements and their often comic dealings with British officialdom. Fascinating, scary, entertaining and frequently funny. I enjoyed it.
To The Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf): First published in 1927, this ‘stream-of-consciousness’ novel tells the story of a holiday at a family’s summer home on the Isle of Skye – Mr and Mrs Ramsay, their eight children and a few friends+colleagues. It’s initially set in the years just before WW1 and concludes ten years later. The book begins with a projected trip, via sailing boat, to the near-by lighthouse and although this is a recurring focus for the book, all this is secondary to its philosophical introspection – of thoughts, observations and perceptions. The book contains almost no dialogue and very little action, but flitters around the thoughts and emotions of its principle characters (especially Mrs Ramsay). I found it a little confusing at the start of the book (somewhat difficult to keep up with “whose thoughts are whose?”!), but eventually warmed to the task. A beguiling, rather beautiful, book.    

brooklyn…

I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see John Crowley’s film “Brooklyn” (Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Colm Toibin’s best-selling novel). It’s the story of an educated, reliable and hard-working woman who journeys from post-war small-town Ireland to New York. It’s about leaving home+family and setting out into an unknown world; it’s about the initial home-sickness; it’s about getting on with life; it’s about gradually finding new-found optimism; and it’s about finding love.
I’ll say no more to avoid *spoileralerts*.
Unusually, perhaps, it’s also a film which focuses on the female point of view. Saoirse Ronan is simply wonderful as the main character, Eilis (she reminded me why I love my half-Irish wife so much!)(as if I needed reminding) and I thought the entire cast (including Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters) was excellent  - well-observed, sensitive and, on occasions, very funny. Among the highlights for me were the scenes from the Brooklyn boarding house (with Julie Walters as landlady) – with the girls sitting around the dinner table (no boys!). All quite brilliantly portrayed. I don’t want to say much more for fear of *spoilers*, but I also thought Emory Cohen (as Tony) and Domhnail Gleeson (as Jim) were both perfect.
I also loved some of the female fashions… and, with the film being set in the early 1950s, a couple of the outfits reminded me of my mother Mary (when she “dressed up”!).
It could all have been pretty maudlin and dour (leaving her mother+sister in Ireland, struggling on arrival in New York etc etc), but it wasn’t at all. It was a humorous, uplifting, happy film.
I absolutely loved this film… it was pretty perfect as far as I was concerned (but, hey, I am bit of a softy at heart!).
PS: if you live in Bristol, you’ve got until 19 November to see it at the Watershed… and I think you should!
PPS: the ONLY slight downside to the afternoon was that it was shown in the Watershed’s rather small Cinema2 (with seating for perhaps 80?) – which has an aisle on one side only… tickets were completely sold out in advance and so, almost inevitably, it was a case of latecomers battling to find the only remaining seats  in the dark (which were, of course, at the very end of the non-aisle rows… with all the disruption that that entailed!).  

he named me malala

I went along to the Watershed yesterday afternoon to see Davis Guggenheim’s film. Yes, we all know that Malala Yousafzai is a truly inspirational figure - a teenager who won the Nobel Peace Prize while still studying for her GCSEs in Birmingham. I knew the film would make an impressive documentary… but I was somewhat taken aback by its effect on me. Yes, I know I’m a bit of an old softie (“The Railway Children” gets me every time), but I found myself surreptitiously trying to dry my moistened eyes through large tracts of the film!
It was good to be reminded that, as a 15 year-old (before she was shot in the head), she had already been a powerful campaigner for the rights of girls to be educated (in fact, she was a campaigner for girls’ education from the age of just 11!). The story of her grotesque shooting on the school bus, her survival, her remarkable recovery, her articulation and her continuing, global campaigning are truly staggering… and she’s still only 18.
Maybe it’s because I’m the father of three wonderful daughters but, for me, one of the most powerful aspects of the film was Malala’s relationship with her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai – a wonderful, gentle and wise man (who, amongst many other things, set up his own school… and, despite his stammer, has been a passionate, articulate speaker against the Taliban’s radical, ideological version of the Islamic faith)(the film includes lots of footage of him speaking at various rallies in north-west Pakistan). Malala’s father has not been the person pushing her to take a stand on issues, he has simply been someone whose passions and concerns about the world have inspired her.
Malala’s father named her after the Afghan folk heroine Malalai – a Joan of Arc figure who rallied Pashtun fighters against the British in 1880. The same moral courage and heroism is alive well today, thanks to Malala Yousafzai.
It’s a wonderful, moving, inspiring film about the strength of the human spirit and about having the bravery and courage to do something about it.
As she has said: “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world”.
Amen to that.
PS: another film that I/we had wanted to see was “Suffragette”, but the nearest cinema (within easy walking distance) was charging £13.40* for the privilege of watching it in their “Director’s Hall” (with a free drink and popcorn!)… so £4.50 at the Watershed felt like a bit of a bargain! Actually, the main reason for posting this note is that the Cinema De Lux DID do special rates for oldies like us - £13.20, instead of the full £13.40 price. A WHOLE 20p saving!! Whoop, whoop!
We’ll no doubt end up getting the DVD.