The Beatles Play Cambridge

It was fifty years ago... A slide show. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Nostalgia/SLIDESHOW-Remember-when-The-Beatles-played-Cambridge-50-years-ago-20130319132344.htm

A Bookshop on Bury Place

I've sent a copy of To Save the Realm to the London Review Bookshop, which is located on Bury Place near the British Museum. Wonder what they will make of it. In my book, Brock Coole visits a book shop on Bury Place. It is actually a used book shop rather than a shiny new one. http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/

Dr. Beeching's Axe

1963, when the decision was made to close 2,000 little rail stations and rip up 4,500 miles of line. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300598/How-Dr-Richard-Beechings-Axe-fell-small-railway-stations-old-England-50-years-ago.html

To Dominic Sandbrook

Sent a copy of To Save the Realm to Dominic Sandbrook. I've used two of his books, Never Had It So Good and White Heat, in writing TStR. The books are very comprehensive and fun-to-read histories of the 50s and 60s, respectively, in Britain. http://www.dominicsandbrook.com/

Heroes

David Bowie doing that great song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjBQKIOb-w

Fitzrovia, Goodge Street, London

I sent a copy of To Save the Realm to Fitzrovia, a pub on Goodge Street. Hope someone there reads it. (In my book, my protag, Brock Coole, meets a lively journalist in a pub on Goodge Street and finds out a bit more about the death of his aunt.) I once spent a wonderful sunny afternoon in a pub on Goodge Street that had large windows. Don't think it was the Fitzrovia, though. http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/fitzrovia-bloomsbury/c0695/

From the Western Morning News

A fascinating piece on hedge-laying, apparently a dying art. Hedges are described as mini-nature reserves,home to "600 plant species, 1,500 types of insects,60 species of birds and 20 different mammals." Like everything that is good Britain, hedgerows are in danger of going away. http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Traditional-country-craft-hedge-laying-enjoying/story-18502518-detail/story.html#axzz2ON0QIXDP