Sunday, September 22, 2013

Also from The Telegraph,

Which is hitting on all cylinders today. An obituary of Ferguson George Donaldson Smith, who had an amazing time in the RAF during the war, and who was an ace spy catcher after.

Have a cuppa...

...and buy me bloody Book!


From the Leicester Mercury

Children in Leicester have the worst tooth decay in Britain.

From The Telegraph

A long excerpt from Mark Lewisohn's new book on the Beatles, Tune In: The Beatles--All These Years. This piece about John Lennon and his mother, Julia.

Friday, September 20, 2013

To Save the Realm, first 9 lines, Chapter 9, Out on the Street

This was the third pub Brock had passed time in since leaving Sherbourne outside his club in the glorious drizzle on Bloomsbury Square. He'd had one or two pints in each one, too. Full Imperial pints. Glorious pints. The first pub he'd visited was the Headless Fool and the second was the Thanet Arms. He had wandered into them, sat quietly by himself, drank, and pondered his fortune and the events of his strange day.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Jackie Lomax is dead..

One of the Original Liverpool rockers. He could never really seem to "make it", but he kept trying.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

ASBOs work?

So says the Independent. In the old days, these sorts of problems would have been handled in a different way.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Last Night of the Proms

Listened to the last night of the Proms on Sunday. Rousing. Here are William Blake's words to 'Jerusalem'.

Exclusive from the Grauniad

Stonehenge placed to align with a natural landform. Amazing to have just found this out!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

To Save the Realm, first para, Chapter 8: At Sherbourne's Club

At the doorway, after handing his umbrella to Brock, Alfred Sherbourne fumbled with the keys to his club. The rain had come down in buckets as they walked from the museum. Both men, despite the efforts of their meager coats and Sherbourne's umbrella, were quite soaked. Finally, Sherbourne opened the door and they entered one of the Georgian town houses that border Bloomsbury Square. A closed door to the left led down a flight of stairs to the cellar in which the club had its home. On the ground floor of the house were the offices of a travel agency. A small dance studio was on the first floor, which produced a steady flow of leggy young women up and down the stairs.

Buy (and Read) Me Bloody Book!

At Amazon!

This is what a car should look like...

The Duncan Healey.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

An Atlas of Hillforts in Britain and Ireland

Hillforts are really cool and mysterious places, my favorite being South Cadbury in Somerset. I loosely base the hillfort in To Save the Realm, Abbott Edge, on South Cadbury and an experience I had there. Now archaeologists are asking for the public's help in mapping and describing the 5,000+ hillforts in Britain and Ireland.

Keep Calm and Buy Me Bloody Book!

At Amazon UK!

From the Liverpool Echo

Then and now photos of the Liverpool of the Beatles.

To Save the Realm, first 10 lines, Chapter 7: A Vision at the British Museum

Brock was sitting on a bench in the British Museum. He had been on the bench in this relatively small, dimly lit room for half an hour. The only other people there with him were two very serious-looking German tourists who were focusing their attention on the swords and shields that were hanging on a wall across the room. The fact is, Brock was transfixed. For the past thirty minutes he'd been gazing at what, for him, seemed a wondrous thing, a warrior's helmet made by a Celtic craftsman in the fifth century.