Human Croquet, A Week In December and Small Island

I really love the writing of Kate Atkinson. It is clever, witty, accessible and a joy to read. Human Croquet is a strange story but full of wonderful characters. There is something about the forest of Lye that grips the imagination. Once a great forest, over time the woods have dwindled, replaced by modern houses. It is here sixteen years old Isobel lives with her difficult family. Where is her mother? Only Isobel's occasional travels in time unravel the mystery. These shifts are a little odd and reflect the disturbing feeling of the story. But the writing is what wins in the end.

I thought it might be interesting to read Sebastian Faulks' A Week In December in the month in which it is set. It starts on Sunday 16th December and follows a number of diverse characters through each day of that week: a hedge fund owner, a lawyer, a self made Asian millionaire, a schoolboy, a book reviewer, a Polish Premiership footballer, an Islamist student and my favourite, a young female train driver on the Circle Line. A book for our times, this is London as it is now. Once you get used to jumping from one character to another, it becomes an entertaining and ultimately thrilling read.

I was disappointed with Small Island by Andrea Levy. It had won numerous awards, and everyone I talked to who had read it said how good it was. It certainly had it's merits. It's exploration of the integration of immigrants from Jamaica in post war England (1948 to be precise) is a highly worthy concept. I enjoyed the flash backs to pre war West Indies and the war time experiences of the black Gilbert who leaves his island to join the RAF. But there is too much unremitting hardship, however factual this may be. I also thought that the writing was fairly ordinary, no sharp shooting Kate Atkinson style for this writer. I also thought I might find hidden memories from my early boyhood, but again I was disappointed. Not a complete waste of time for what was a long book, but glad when I had read the last page. Not a glowing indictment then.

My First Ashes Memory

England's wonderful victory over the Australians in the fourth test earlier today, and our retention of the Ashes, had me thinking about my earliest memory of these contests. When England took on Australia in 1953, they had not held the Ashes for nineteen years. I was eight years old and the significance of this fact had passed me by. The first four tests in the series were drawn, two because of bad weather.

The final test match took place at the Oval from 15th to 19th August. My brother John and I happened to be staying with our maternal grandmother (Nanan) in Rotherham and on the fourth day, England were closing in on victory. My memory is of Nanan telling us that her next door neighbour had invited us to watch the climax on their tiny TV. We were ushered into their front room in time to see Dennis Compton hitting the winning runs. The celebrations apparently eclipsed those of 2005.

A Snowy Christmas

About six inches of snow fell quite quickly on Saturday 18th December. And with freezing temperatures all through the following week, the snow still lay on the ground over the holiday period.

On Boxing Day the sun came out at last, and my walk up Bacombe Hill from Wendover to the top of Coombe Hill was exceptional. Ellesborough Church stands above the trees in the photo below. There is a footpath across the field in the foreground, but this has disappeared.

Today (Tuesday) has seen a steady thaw, lets hope it lasts for a while.

131 Songs - Numbers 69 and 70 - My favourite Christmas song

Number 69 - Let It Snow by Dean Martin

I almost picked the original version by Vaughn Monroe which plays over the credits for the first two Die Hard movies. But I wanted Dean in my 131 songs, so he gets my vote. Written by Sammy Hahn and Jule Styne in 1945, it conjures up Christmases (and birthdays) from my childhood. The alternative title is "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow".

Number 70 - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee

I was only going to choose one Christmas song. But there is something about Brenda's 1958 recording of the Johnny Marks composition that gets me every time. It only became popular in the early sixties and just sounds like pre Beatles America. I guess your favourite Christmas songs come from your teenage years.

The Master Builder at The Almeida Theatre

This was one of Ibsen's plays that I had not seen. And with Gemma Arterton in the starring role as Hilde Wangel, that was enough to persuade me to make the journey down the A1 and the tortuous section down through Archway and the Holloway Road where the traffic was horrendous. But I parked easily enough, and only five minutes walk from the theatre.

I don't think that this is one of Ibsen's best plays and the translation into modern English was maybe a bit too modern (and it's "I slept like a log", not "I slept like a stone"). The acting was first class and I particularly liked Emma Hamilton as Kaja Fosli. But it was Gemma Arterton who lit up the stage. I thought that Stephen Dillane in the title role was a bit too one dimensional, even when he shouts his personality still keeps it's measured tone.

The director, Travis Preston, does well with the script, but ultimately there are only occasions when the action buzzes or we are challenged with some dramatic language. But in the middle of the sixth row of the 319 seat Almeida, you would not want to be anywhere else.

Holly Brook, Diane Birch, Sara Bareilles and Sharon Van Etten

Where do they all come from? Four more female singer songwriters, but this time all very different. Holly Brook sings soft gentle but intelligent songs and her piano accompaniment is well to the fore. Her soothing debut album "Like Blood Like Honey" promises good things to come. It was vastly expensive on Amazon, but very little second hand on eBay.

Diane Birch's first album "Bible Belt" is somewhat of a departure for me. Her music is gospel inspired soul, but highly accessible and totally brilliant. Her two tracks performed on "Later with Jools Holland" have been posted on YouTube. Thank you who did that. And her piano playing is terrific.

Another piano playing singer, Sara Bareilles writes songs that are beginning to grow on me. They are slightly jazzy, bluesy soul. Some of her ballads are quite something. Looking forward to the next time I listen to "Little Voice".

Of all four albums, the one I was looking forward to most was "epic" by Sharon Van Etten. A short seven track album, I was initially disappointed. The music is acoustic guitar based, edgy and grungy folk. But five of the songs, third time round, have an exciting sound. And she is from Brooklyn. This is her second album, and I can't quite decide whether to buy her first.

Unstoppable, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest and London Boulevard

Tony Scott has directed Denzel Washington in four previous movies I can think of. Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Deja Vu and The Taking of Pelham 123. Unstoppable is another thriller, but this time the villain is a runaway train. It is fun, predictable, exciting and very loud. Don't worry if there are people in the cinema who wont be quiet, you will never hear them. Not much in the way of story or script, but nonetheless a guilty pleasure.

The final film in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest is a worthy conclusion. The critics were not very kind saying only Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander is the only worthy feature of the movie, and she is either in a hospital bed or in court. But her sequences are still thrilling. The rest of the plot about the magazine exposing the elderly baddies complements Lisbeth's predicament. So although a longish two and a half hours, the time goes quite quickly, and I found the story enjoyable with a satisfactory ending. Will David Fincher do justice to the Hollywood version? Time will tell.

London Boulevard is a violent gangster movie. William Monahan won an Oscar for his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's The Departed, so his writing and directing credits enticed me to see what turned out to be a very average film. Colin Farrel does his best in depicting a basically good guy with a history of violence that landed him in jail. So trying to go straight in protecting Kiera Knightly's reclusive film star was never going to be easy with Ray Winstone's boss on your back. Unfortunately, we soon lose all sympathy for our hero as his violent streak boils over. A nice idea that runs out of steam far too early. But David Thewlis and Anna Friel do well in their supporting roles. The soundtrack is peculiar with songs from the sixties for a movie set in the present day? But it was worth the price of admission to hear The Yardbirds "Heart Full Of Soul" at the start and again later. What a great song I had not heard for years.

Wendover Choral Society perform Handel's Messiah

On Saturday evening, Wendover Choral Society performed Handel's Messiah at St George's Church RAF Halton. They were conducted by their Music Director, Peter Bassano and accompanied by the fifteen strong Handel specialists the Brook Street Band.

An audience of 200 (the treasurer was particularly pleased with the turnout) were treated to an excellent concert. The combination of 44 strong voices, the terrific young professional soloists and a polished orchestra made for a high quality performance.

Alison's sister Anne again came all the way from Cheshire to attend the concert, and Alison's running friend Heather also came along.

November Snow

After a week of unseasonably very cold weather, snow arrived overnight. It has not melted at all during the day as it did not get above freezing. But that meant my walk this afternoon in Wendover Woods was very pretty.

My Shakespeare Highlights

I have to start with Hamlet. Until 1988 I had never seen the play, nor knew any detail of the plot. So I watched the story unfold in my seat in the Phoenix Theatre instead of reading the play at school. And I have to say it was an amazing experience, being such a wonderful thriller as well as great writing. And we had Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet. The director was Derek Jacobi.

In 1993, Branagh again played Hamlet, this time directed by Adrian Noble for the RSC at The Barbican. It was probably a better performance, but I guess nothing could surpass the first time you see this play.

When I heard that the RSC in Stratford were to perform all the history plays in sequence during 2000, I joined as member so I would get priority booking. It was fortunate that I did as the first in the sequence, Richard II, was staged at their tiny studio The Other Place. Just a hundred or so of us watched in the January an amazing cast as such close quarters, especially if like me you were in the second row so the actors were in touching distance. So onto the summer and Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, a terrific modern staging of Henry V at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

But the highlight was yet to come with Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 all in a day. That was the 30th December 2000 at the Swan Theatre in Stratford, a day to remember. How the cast managed to perform all three plays in a day is beyond me. But the time just flew by. I was unable to get tickets for the limited run in Stratford for Richard III, but I managed to get a ticket for their run at The Young Vic in London. And it was nice to see yet another different theatre.

In 2003, Michael came with me to see The Tempest with Derek Jacobi as Prospero at The Old Vic. He was wonderful in the part, but the real highlight came at the end.


The final words of the play are when Prospero addresses the audience. This soliloquy must be the finest Shakespeare wrote, and Derek Jacobi said the words with such clarity and emotion. It was the best thing I have heard on the stage, and it is the actor who made it so.

131 Songs - Numbers 66, 67 and 68

These songs are taken from what are probably my three favourite soundtrack albums.

Number 66 - El Matador by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs


I had enjoyed the movie Grosse Pointe Blank so much (it is in my favourite top ten movies of all time) but I was still not prepared for the music over the closing credits. The first blast from El Matador pinned me to my seat. I had not heard the song before, never mind the hardly known Argentine rock band. And I had never experienced before or since such an heart pounding finale to a movie. Fabuloso.

Number 67 - Hotel California by The Gypsy Kings


This song actually makes it's second appearance on my list, The Eagles version is Number 29. Wiki says of the French assemble's version "this is an excellent example of fast flamenco guitar leads and rythmic strumming". I think it is just brilliant. In the movie it introduces us to Jesus Quintana, played by the wonderful John Turturro, at the bowling alley. A stunning sequence.

Number 67 - The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithful


Another great soundtrack, but the standout song for me is the best recording ever made by Marianne Faithful. Written by Shel Silverstein, it not only fits the fatalistic theme of the movie so well, but it gives me goosebumps whenever I listen to the lyrics. It would have made my list even if it had not been in a movie.

Newfield Hall

Newfield Hall was the last residence of my great great grandfather John Shearwood Roberts. He must have moved there sometime after the 1901 Census where he was living on Glossop Road. John was living at Newfield Hall at the 1911 Census and died there in 1915. The hall was left in his will to his son Charles Augustus Roberts.

The hall no longer exists, but I am indebted to Steve at the sheffieldhistory forum for these images. The one below shows where the hall once stood.

There is little that remains of the old hall, the wall shown below may have been the main entrance.

The following map indicates where the hall was located.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Gobe Theatre production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is the funniest of any Shakespeare play I have seen. This is in no small way due to the brilliant direction of Christopher Luscombe. This production was first performed at The Gobe in 2008, being revived this year before touring the UK (fortunately for us it visited Milton Keynes) and the USA before becoming a regular part of the Globe repertoire. It is the timing of the actors that brings out the comedy, many of the best lines are delivered straight to the audience.

The programme notes refer to how the play has much in common with modern TV sit-com. Andrew Havill who plays Frank Ford is a double for Basil Fawlty. The lighting is supreme, the costumes look great, the moving scenery perfect and the choreography spot on. I just cannot fault a single aspect. The ensemble acting was top drawer and it is hard to pick out any individual. But I will say that the two wives, Serena Evans as Meg Page and Sarah Woodward as Alice Ford are wonderful. A lot is due to the direction of their comic dual act, but they deliver their lines with clarity and panache.

I have also to mention the musicians, perched on top of the rotating set, they bring a sense of well being to their contribution. The musical number at the end brings the audience's applause to a rhythmic clapping as the company takes a bow to the final tune, whilst the two wives are left to say a last goodbye with a reprise of their gay pat-a-cake. Ingenious and a great end to a memorable evening.

P.S. That only leaves Coriolanus, Alls Well That Ends Well, Henry VIII and Two Gentleman of Verona left on my list of 34 Shakespeare plays to see. There are another six but they are so rarely performed, that I am not optimistic of seeing them.

John Shearwood Roberts

John Shearwood Roberts was born on the 6th March 1833, the eldest son of Sidney and Sarah Roberts. His second Christian name is taken from his mother's maiden name. His father Sidney was a silversmith and silver plater. There is a reference in Frederick Bradbury's A History of Old Sheffield Plate of Sidney going into partnership in 1826 (when Sidney was 22) with Samuel Roberts, Evan Smith and William Sissons in a firm called Roberts, Smith & Co. Sidney, Evan and William had all trained in silver plate at the Eyre Street business of Samuel Roberts who was by this time 63 years old.

Sidney's father Jacob was the the third in three generations of cutlers (my blog posting of 28th August 2008) and was running his Uncle Samuel's Union Street business until he died at the age of 56 in 1820. Jacob had married Mary Ann Morton, the daughter of the prosperous silversmith Richard Morton, in 1793. I have copies of letters from Mary to her husband from 1814 and 1816.

So when John Shearwood Roberts was born in 1833, his father was in the 1826 ten year partnership. John never knew his grandfather Jacob, but his grandmother Mary lived a comfortable life until she died at the age of 79 in 1849. She and her husband Jacob are buried in the family tomb in Ecclesall Churchyard (see posting 22nd June 2009).

The next we know about John and his parents is the 1841 Census when they are living in Hanover Street in Ecclesall. They have one servant living with them, a twenty year old housemaid. John is 8 years old and his father is 36. His occupation is stated as living off independent means. It seems that the partnership had run it's course and Sidney had retired from the proceeds. He is also stated as a retired silver plater in the 1851 Census.

John did well enough at school to be able to go to St Andrew's University in Edinburgh where he graduated as a doctor. He became a Member of The Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of The Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh and London). He married Ellen Littlewood in 1855 (his father Sidney again stated as a "Gentleman"). In the 1851 census, John is living with his wife and already four children and two servants in Owlerton. At this time he is practicing as a surgeon, probably as surgeon accoucher at Sheffield Public Hospital, later Sheffield Royal Hospital.

At some point he set up practice at 356 Glossop Road and the family lived there for some considerable time. John also became interested in property and eventually amassed a considerable amount of property, including numerous houses, pubs and farms in Sheffield and other districts. The indenture to his will that splits the properties between his six children runs to 37 pages. The Fifth Schedule of properties assured to my Great Grandfather Vincent alone numbers 24 Freehold Hereditaments and 2 Leaseholds. Item 1 of these comprises four dwellinghouses in Pond Street and another four at the rear. Items 4 and 5 are large houses where Vincent lived, 30 Psalter Lane in Ecclesall and Chippingham House in Attercliffe Road where Vincent practised as a doctor. Items 9 and 11 are farms near Bradfield. Like any landowner or property magnet, John was not always a popular man.

In later years he owned and moved to Newfield Hall in Ecclesall, which was left to his son Charles Augustus Roberts. It was there that the father of my distant cousin and correspondent Nigel Buchanan ( to whom I am indebted for so much of this information) used to go to copy out and update registers of deeds for JSR. John's wife Ellen left him in later years to live near her son John Shearwood Roberts junior. At the 1911 Census she is living with a housekeeper at Rosebury Gardens, Crouch End. She died aged 79 in 1914 and was buried in Highgate Cemetary. John died a year later aged 82 and is buried in the Roberts tomb in Ecclesall churchyard.

The Social Network, Let Me In and Skyline

I was so looking forward to seeing The Social Network, perhaps a little too much. Yes, it was an engrossing and interesting movie, and very well crafted, given the director was David Fincher and the writer Aaron Sorkin. But in the end, these two heavyweights could not disguise for me what was two hours in the company of some pretty obnoxious people. This made it a rather uncomfortable to watch. And because the final resolution in court was obviously kept confidential, there is no satisfactory ending. What would have been better was if they could have constructed an invention of something like Facebook and gone for a story that was entirely fictional. Now that would be a great movie.

The Swedish movie Let The Right One In was one of my favourites of last year. So it was only Claudia Winkleman, the new presenter of Film 2010 who persuaded me that the American remake, Let Me In, was worth seeing. And she was right. If anything it does surpass the original which is really surprising. Much of the remake is identical to the original, but I found the dialogue to be really good, the young actors outstanding and Richard Jenkins terrific as the father. Matt Reeves did a fantastic job, sympathetic to the original, but with lighter touch combined with some sudden dramatic shocks. One of this year's favourite films.

Humans in peril from alien invasion. Nothing new here and nothing new in the scifi cgi movie Skyline. A film based around the special effects woven by the the brothers Colin and Greg Strause has little in common with Cloverfield and District 9 in that it has a rubbish script, poor acting and only one location. That is if you ignore the extremely silly ending. You have been warned.

The Tenderness of Wolves, Call for the Dead and Music and Silence

I had reservations about reading a novel set in the early settlements of 1867 Canada, but Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves won the 2006 Costa Book of the Year, so I decided to give it a try. It is quite long for a part thriller, part family drama, but once I started I was never going to give up. It is well written but just a little repetitive and slightly tedious as the search for the main protagonists goes deeper into the hard landscape. For me it is the writing that kept me going. It is a good story, and exciting in parts, it just could have done with being condensed, and then it would have been great.

I am catching up on the early novels of my favourite author, John Le Carre. Call for the Dead is a short book written in 1961 and introduces the now famous George Smiley. I was surprised how good it was for his very first novel. It definitely contains his trademark thrills wrapped up in a sense of mystery, but at the same time beautifully written. I'm looking forward to his second book, A Murder of Quality.

Ever since I joined the book club, I am on the look out for something I would not normally read. A long historical novel about a young English lutenist who joins the orchestra of the King of Denmark in 1629 is very different to my normal reading. I'm just not that keen on historical novels. But I so wanted to read another book by Rose Tremain after her brilliant The Road Home and Sacred Country. Her earlier novel Music and Silence had won the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year, so that was that. Did I enjoy it? Well. sort of. I have to admit I nearly gave up a couple of times early on, but something kept me wanting to know what happened. The writing is a little strange as it tries to reflect the language of the time, whilst still trying to be modern. You have to get used to it. It is a little sprawling in it's shifts of character and place, and as such it would have done no harm to condense some of the passages. But it is very atmospheric and the different threads are brought together quite masterfully. I can see why it won the award as it is beautifully written. Not quite my cup of tea, but very glad that I persevered. Oh, and it does have one of the most interesting characters in modern fiction. Kirsten Munk, married to King Christian IV of Denmark, and almost Queen. I'm glad I never have to meet her.

Manchester City v Birmingham City

We had not been to see City play for years, so for Alison's 50th birthday, I managed to buy three tickets for their home game against Birmingham as we had never been to the new stadium. And it was a Saturday afternoon kick-off. We always used to go with Chas, our brother-in-law, and he also came with us to Eastlands this time. I cannot remember the last time we went to Maine Road, but it was a long time ago.

We had been to the occasional away game when City were playing in the south, but again not for a long time. Many of these were when City made regular visits to lower leagues and I still have the programmes for the games at Watford (March 89) Oxford United (April 89) and Luton (November 91). But the last time we watched City play were the games in the Premier League at QPR (February 93) and Arsenal (August) and Tottenham in 1994.

So here we were sixteen years later, making our way by train from Marple to Manchester Piccadilly and walking in beautiful sunshine from there to Eastlands. The City of Manchester Stadium and the surrounds are very open and smart, a far cry from the claustrophobia of Maine Road.

We arrived early and we were able to have a good look round. Inside, the stadium is even more impressive. The only seats available were high up in the Colin Bell Stand, but we still had amazing views. and we were close to the halfway line. The seats in the opposite stand were facing the blinding sun, so again we were very lucky.

The match itself was a disappointment, Birmingham set out for a goalless draw and that is what we got. City did not have the guile up front to break down a stubborn defence. And all that money paid for strikers. But it did not spoil what was a brilliant and memorable day.

Tring Book Club - The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

We had a bit of a problem on Tuesday evening. Book Club was arranged for 7.30pm at The Duck Inn, but when I arrived the car park was deserted except for a couple of large vans and Hilary stepping out of her car. The pub was actually closed for refurbishment, but there was no sign of the others. Hilary and I waited for ten minutes and decided that for whatever reason, the rest had either arrived at 7pm (our usual start time) and had moved on or gone home, or not arrived at all.

We guessed that if they had moved on, the most likely venue would have been The Crows Nest just up the road. And whatever happened, we would have our own meeting. There was nobody there, so Hilary and I grabbed a drink and settled down in a quiet corner and talked about The Other Hand.

I thought that the beginning was excellent. We are introduced to Little Bee, a 16 year old refugee from Nigeria waiting to be turned out of a detention centre. The description of the girls in the queue for the telephone was very entertaining, Then we move to Chapter 2 and a funeral for the husband of other main character, Sarah. This section is one of the most poignant and moving pieces that I have read for a long time. "Death of course is a refuge. It's where you go when a new name, (a reference to Little Bee) or a mask and cape, (Sarah's small boy is never out of his Batman costume, not even for the funeral) can no longer hide you from yourself. It's where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum."

Unfortunately, the book loses it's way towards the end. There is a requirement to partly suspend belief in the characters in any event, (but not detrimental to my enjoyment) but some later events are so contrived that the ending is a little spoilt. However, on the whole I did like the book. There are some decent bits of writing that I liked. "There are countries of the world, (a reference to a disastrous trip to Nigeria) and regions of one's own mind, where it is unwise to travel.") When two world collide, the consequences in this story keeps the reader interested to the last page.

131 Songs - Numbers 63, 64 and 65

Songs from Films

Coming up to halfway through my choice of 131 songs, it's time to list those that, for me, have played such a big part in making a scene in a movie so memorable. There are quite a few. Here are the first three.

Number 63 - I've Waited So Long by Anthony Newley

One of the films I saw in my teenage years was the 1959 movie Idol On Parade. This was basically a vehicle for the twin acting and singing talents of Anthony Newley. He started out as a child actor, graduating to more mature roles when he became an adult. The song has not stood the test of time, it seems very hammy these days. But it did reach number 3 in the charts, due mainly to it's exposure in the film. And it does stay in my memory after all this time.

Number 64 - I Should have Known Better by The Beatles

Everything I want to say was described in my posting of the 8th September 2009: The London Pavilion cinema, the soundtrack of A Hard Day's Night, the guards'van. And I went to see the film twice in a week.

Number 65 - You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry
The world famous Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest is, for me, the highlight of Pulp Fiction. John Travolta and Una Thurman dance to victory to one of Chuck's greatest songs. It provided a never to be forgotten moment in movie history.

Mark Gatiss and The History of Horror

The three part The History of Horror presented by Mark Gatiss was an excellent series. The second episode (Home Counties Horror) was particularly interesting as it concentrated on British horror films of the 1950's and 60's of which I was particularly keen. Although by today's standards, they now seem pretty tame.

It all started for me (and for Mark) with The Quatermass Experiment. This was a BBC TV drama shown in 1953. I can remember that at eight years old I was packed off to bed well before the six half hour episodes started. It was actually a regular sci fi thriller, but one deemed too scary in those days. Now it would be as horrifying as Doctor Who. Two years later, I was still banned from watching Quatermass II. The third and final serial Quatermass and The Pit was shown in 1958/9. I cannot quite remember if this was allowed or not. But I do remember the fuss it caused at the time.

So it was probably my fascination with science fiction that led me to horror films of the 1960's, particularly the British made Hammer films that Mark Gatiss described in his programme. He also surprised me with the fact that Robert Wise made The Haunting in the UK in 1963, in between West Side Story and The Sound of Music. I know which movie I preferred. And to come full circle, Hammer Films are the producers of Let Me In, a remake of the wonderful Swedish movie Let The Right One In, a vampire movie for those who don't like vampire movies.

Roger Rees

We were knocked out by the performance of Roger Rees in two episodes of the first series of The West Wing as the eccentric British Ambassador Lord John Marbury. I was very glad to see that he appears in future series. The West Wing has now become a regular feature of our Saturday Night viewing, being over half way through the first series.

The last episode also had two stand out guest performances. It was brilliant to see Karl Malden as Father Thomas Cavanaugh. Marlee Matlin is an actress I don't know, but what a great job she did as Joey Lucas. Looking forward to seeing her in later series.

Boddington Hill Iron Age Fort

I have walked the circular route at the top of Boddington Hill on countless occasions, being an easy 3/4 mile flat route after the hills of Wendover Woods. Boddington Hill rises in a horseshoe shape above Wendover so it is no wonder it was the site of a Hill Fort. Apparently it was in use between 600 and 400BC.

The two photographs show the remains of the excavations that formed the protective bank and ditch of the fort that run all around the top of the hill. This year the Chiltern Society Conservation Group have been clearing the bank where it has overgrown in order to better show off it's features.

Aylesbury Rugby Club v Swindon

Although Aylesbury Rugby Club play in Weston Turville, I have only been down to the ground on the odd occasion. But on Saturday they were playing Swindon, the leaders of the Southern Counties North league. Aylesbury had gone unbeaten in their last four games which had taken them up to second, so a top of the table clash seemed inviting. I cycled down to the ground and met my next door neighbour and this two sons who play for Aylesbury junior teams.

I have to say that the standard was far higher than I had imagined. It was a mild day, with perfect playing conditions and lots of tries. Aylesbury scored six of them, four in the first half, and went away winners by 36 points to 19. This meant that they took over as league leaders, (the first time they head the table in eight years) much to the delight of the dozens of supporters. Swindon were already struggling when their number eight was sent off, fifteen minutes into the second half, and never got out of their own half after that.

Apparently Aylesbury have rarely played better, possibly due to the presence of their local born part time coach James Buckland, the ex England A international who now plays for London Irish having previously played for Leicester, Northampton and Wasps. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Amy Macdonald at Cambridge Corn Exchange

On the strength of her second album, Amy Macdonald has moved up to bigger venues. From the Shepherds Bush Empire to Hammersmith Apollo and from Cambridge Junction to the Corn Exchange (where I previously saw Sarah McLachlan). I chose this in preference to Hammersmith as it is a more intimate hall. I had the choice of ground floor standing or a seat in the balcony. In one way I was glad that I chose a seat, but Amy's uptempo folk rock fused with a Celtic beat is made for jumping up and down. And that would have probably done me no good at my age. There also seemed few in the audience who felt the way I do about her music, so their participation was sadly lacking.

The concert was a run through almost every song from her two albums, and the ninety minutes went in a flash. LA, Poison Prince and Mr Rock & Roll started the proceedings with many of her latest songs in the middle half, including the frantic Love Love. Coming back on her own for an encore, Amy gave a superb solo acoustic rendition of Born to Run before the excellent five piece band joined her for What Happiness Means To Me and a rousing Let's Start A Band. The only thing missing was her cover version of Caledonia found on the live CD that accompanies her latest recordings.

The sound quality did not seem to be the best, but it was just the right loudness. Amy's voice was spot on and she looked great in her sparkly silver dress. It is just a shame she does not have the same enthusiastic following here as in the rest of Europe. Joining 17,000 at the O2 in Berlin would have been great.

Ingrid Michaelson, Jenna, Jewel and Thea Gilmore

I was going to buy just the latest Ingrid Michaelson album Everybody, but Amazon sold a double CD which includes her first album Girls and Boys and three tracks from her second Be OK. I have to say that Everybody is much the stronger, except for the superb "Glass" from Girls and Boys. Her songs are sometimes a little quirky and lightweight for my taste, but they are beginning to grow on me.

In my never ending search for female singer songwriters I sometimes find a little known gem. This time it is Jenna, or Jenna Witts to give her full name. Another album with acoustic backing to some truly superb songs. The strong title track on Brother sets the standard for a succession of remarkable tunes. Outstanding.

I had given up on Jewel after she went far too country after her excellent albums Pieces of You, Spirit and This Way. But I did find this 2006 album Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. Not up to the standard of the previous three but the odd good track. And not at all too country.

Murphy's Heart is my ninth Thea Gilmore album (I have only avoided her Christmas collection so far) and I have to say one of her best. Although listening to the first five tracks I thought I was hearing something fairly ordinary. But halfway through the songs pick up and one after another they are just great. You're The Radio and How The Love Gets In are already big favourites.

The Hole 3D, Made in Dagenham and Red

The only reason I went to see The Hole in 3D was because it was directed by Joe Dante. It is twenty six years since Gremlins, so letting him loose with a 3D shocker for teens sounded interesting. And it was. With writer Mark L Smith in familiar territory after scripting the scary Vacancy, the movie zips along with good special effects and reasonable dialogue. There are some frights along the way, but none the worse for these being fairly lightweight.

I had put off going to see Made in Dagenham until the last day it was on. A British film about women striking for equal pay did not sound like something I would like. How wrong I was. This is a great emotional rollercoaster, full of lump in the throat moments. Such as when towards the end, Rita (the reluctant leader played by a superb Sally Hawkins) on her way to see the minister, goes to borrow a Biba dress from the bosses wife played by Rosamund Pike. Brilliant. The direction by Nigel Cole is spot on and the opportunity is here for some of our best actors to shine. Geraldine James and Miranda Richardson are wonderful, but it is Rosamund Pike who brings a huge subtlety to her role that is the biggest surprise. The men too are terrific. Bob Hoskins, Kenneth Cranham's awful shop steward and Daniel Rhys Mays as Rita's husband give stand out performances. Watch out for them at the Baftas.

It was half term week, so I decided to pick a movie where any background noise would not be intrusive. Red proved to be a wise choice. Some chatter behind me early on, but quite soon the movie took over and I cannot remember another sound. The plot was pretty thin but the action was pacy enough. The shoot outs were only just tolerable but what made the film was the terrific ensemble acting of Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and a superb hilarious performance from John Malcovich. This was even better than his roles in such movies as Burn After Reading. A good action-comedy.

Eddie Marsan

Ever since Eddie Marsan appeared as Mr Pancks in Little Dorrit, he has been one of our favourite actors. He has had cameo roles in many movies including Gangs of New York, 21 Grammes, V for Vendetta, Mission Impossible 111, Miami Vice, The Illusionist, Hancock and Me and Orson Welles. He had a bigger role in Vera Drake and more recently playing Inspector Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes. He has appeared in many TV dramas including last year's Red Riding. I guess that I first admired his work in Stephen Poliakoff's Friends and Crocodiles in 2005 where he played an author who could not finish his second book. Watching the DVD last week, I just wished that he had a bigger part. And I am looking forward to watching him in The Disappearance of Alice Creed when it comes on TV. His latest role comes in the TV adaptation of Mark Billingham's Thorne:Sleepyhead. As AA Gill wrote in his review "I'd still watch him in anything he'd turned up for". I could not agree more.

131 Songs - Numbers 60,61 and 62

Number 60 - Legacy by Carole King

It would have been usual to choose a track from Carole King's most famous 1971 album "Tapestry", such as "You've Got a Friend" or "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". But she made a brilliant but fairly unknown album in 1989 called "City Streets". There are so many great tracks but I have gone for "Legacy" co written with her producer, and guitarist, Rudy Guess. There are also some great ballads with King's voice on top form. And the production quality is superb, the clarity of the instruments just perfect. One of my favourite albums.

Number 61 - Hard to Make a Stand by Sheryl Crow

After breaking through with "All I Wanna Do" from her eventual Grammy awarded debut album, "Tuesday Night Music Club", Sheryl Crow recorded a self titled album that was released in 1996. This also gained Grammy awards and propelled her to being another highly successful singer songwriter. Although my chosen track from this album, like many of the others, is co written, it has the distinctive Crow voice and the sharp guitar work that runs through this collection.

Number 62 - Goodbye to Love by The Carpenters

You could not get anything more different to the last track than this one. The dreamily soft easy listening of The Carpenters is not usually my cup of tea, but the voice of Karen Carpenter is unique. And it's true, we do play their greatest hits compilation at home when we need something quiet. They did not write all their own material, but Richard Carpenter did compose quite a few of their biggest hits, with contributions from co-writers. John Bettis added some lyrics to my chosen track, but it is Richard's melody that is captivating.

The last warm day of the year

Early October has been lovely and warm. Yesterday was a beautifully sunny 18C as I rode my bike to Princes Risborough. The garden has still had lots of colour with a fresh bloom of roses and the bedding plants still going strong around the patio.

The Acanthus is better than it has been all summer. It originally flowered with just one stem, but after I cut this back in August, half a dozen new stems appeared. Gorgeous.

However, the weather has cooled down today and the forecast is for cloudy and cooler days. Well it is autumn.

Tamara Drewe, Buried and The Town

You have to hand it to Stephen Frears, he does try to make decent British movies and avoid the Hollywood treadmill. Although I prefer it when he explores the seedier side of urban Britain with films such as "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "Dirty Pretty Things". After his success with "The Queen", he is less sure with "Tamara Drewe", a comedy drama set in the rural idyll which is the countryside of Dorset. Moira Buffini has written the screenplay from Posy Simmonds' graphic novel and her inexperience shows. Although I guess that Frears had a huge part to play in it's adaptation. The acting is pretty good, but you would expect nothing else when actors such as Tamsin Grieg and Roger Allam are given parts in, what for them is a major movie. Gemma Arterton plays the title role and does OK, but she is on the screen a lot less than I thought she would be. There were a few funny moments and it was beautifully shot, but there was little intensity and ended up a reasonably diverting couple of hours but without any involvement with the characters or story.

It is very hard to make a judgement on "Buried". A low budget indie movie takes place only in a box below the ground. Ryan Reynolds wakes up to find himself incarcerated by his kidnappers with only a mobile phone they have purposely left him for company. The great strength of the movie is the script by Chris Sparling who must at least have an Oscar nomination lined up. How he and director Rodrigo Cortes ramp up the tension is amazing. If there is one fault, it may be just a fraction too long. There was no reason why it could not have been cut to an hour instead of the obligatory 90 minutes. Then the device of the whole thing being filmed in a box would have worked so much better. Even so, we have a little miracle of film making. I nearly forgot, the only actor on screen is Ryan Reynolds. Who would have guessed he can actually act his socks off.

Ben Affleck revisits Boston after his marvelous movie "Gone Baby Gone". He is assisted on the screenplay once again by Aaron Stockard and this time Peter Craig, based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan. Again the film is shot entirely on location, and what locations they are! It is basically a tale of cops and robbers, but mainly the latter. The Charlestown district of Boston is apparently notorious for breeding bank robbers and it is the lives of it's latest criminals that elevate the movie to such an excellent standard. Ben Affleck not only directs, but stars as the "brains" of the gang while Jeremy Renner is the out of control muscle. However the casting of Rebecca Hall is a gem. She is just brilliant. I have to say that Ben's lead role could have been done by a better actor, but who cares. This could have just have been a great action movie, but the interaction of the main characters elevates the film to being a classic. Stick to directing Ben, we want more like this.

Tring Book Club - Brave New World and The Help

It was my suggestion that we read a classic novel for our next book club. Avoiding popular books such as "Emma" or "Tess of the Durbervilles", I was recommended "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I have to say it did not down at all well with our group. I think mainly that it had very little story before the latter stages. It was a very disturbing view of the future. Amazing to think that in 1932, before test tube babies, cloning and DNA were ever heard of, Huxley's imagination will not be far off the mark. I found that all the made up stuff was just too much, and detracted from the story. The plot takes off about two thirds through when Bernard gets permission to bring back Linda and John from the reservation. What follows is then pretty dramatic.

The writing seemed a little archaic, and there were a number of sentences that I did not understand. But there were a few gems: "One of the principle functions of a friend (maybe even a partner?) is to suffer the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict on our enemies".

But I did find that I had no empathy with any of the characters, apart from maybe Linda. There seemed to be a flaw with the main character Bernard, he is initially the rebel we wanted to triumph, but later he relishes in his fame and reverts to being "normal". The big philosophical debate in the final section between the Controller and John is quite challenging, as if everything leading up to it set the background to a discussion of what constitutes happiness and the Controller's defence of the new regime. Not an easy read, but highly memorable.

The other book was much better received. I thought "The Help" would be a typical woman's novel, and although the three narrators were all women, it was actually a very powerful and dramatic story. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 60's, we gain a huge insight into the relationships between the black maids and their well off white employers. The book is full of racial tension that at times overflows, but it is the writer's clever use of suspense that keeps the reader wanting to know more.

There are some wonderful characters. The two maids, Aibileen and Minny, with their employers, families and friends are very well drawn. But it is the young white woman, Skeeter, who I could not wait to carry on her narration in between the other two. There are some scenes that will live long in my memory. The dinner party at Senator Whitworth's, the loss of the satchel, Minny's secret, the first conversation between Minny and her lost white trash employer Celia Foote, the second time Skeeter sees Stuart when he calls to apologise and the scene at the swimming pool. Not forgetting the descriptions of the food. It really made me hungry.

A bulk bag of topsoil

On Friday, a very large bag of topsoil was deposited on the drive, about 1m3 in size. I had ordered it from Dandy's to spread at the back of where the new borders were cut last year. Planting flowers in the new beds looked a bit odd, as they were all at the front with nothing behind. So the idea was to try and build up the rubbish ground at the back with new topsoil.

Saturday morning started fine and sunny, so I started on barrowing it to the back. Alison had promised to help in the afternoon after her morning's run, I had even thought it would take until Monday to finish as there was a lot to shift. Surprisingly, after an hour or so I had made good progress, and after a break, I was able to finish at a late lunchtime, just before Alison arrived back from her run. My back, despite some early morning twinges, had stood up remarkably well. Having raked the topsoil level, there are humps around existing shrubs, but I guess that when planted, it will look much better. I just need to spend another fortune on plants.

The Caretaker

Even though I am a big fan of Harold Pinter, I have never seen "The Caretaker" on stage. I remember watching part of a movie version years ago, but thinking how it did not seem anything like it would in the theatre. So it took a small touring company called Classic London Theatre to bring this play to the provinces, in my case the tiny Old Town Hall in Hemel Hempstead. The conversion to a hundred seat auditorium in a seedy old building is pretty tatty, but who cares when the lights go down.

I have to say I was not encouraged by the first half hour. The acting seemed distinctly amateurish, but maybe it was just a case of getting used to the three characters. Because half way through it becomes a much better and enjoyable experience. Pinter is not easy to act or to watch. His scripts contains specific instructions about pauses and tone. Some work, some don't but in the end you are lead to find your own meaning to the piece. And in this the production was quite successful. And good luck to an unfunded, unsponsored company to put on such classic plays. Next year it's Ibsen's "Ghosts", I hope they make to Hemel again.

Never Let Me Go at Ham House

The new edition of the National Trust magazine contains this photograph of their property at Ham House near Richmond-On-Thames. It is a shot from the forthcoming movie based on Kazuo Ishiguro's terrific novel "Never Let Me Go", that will be released at the end of this year. The casting of Carey Mulligan as Kathy (the narrator of the book) and Keira Knightly as Ruth is just perfect.

The National Trust say Ham House was chosen as the producers wanted something "seedy" and despite being close to Heathrow, it's closeness to London proved vital. And the photo does seem to conjure up the atmosphere from the author's imaginary boarding school of Hailsham. I can't wait.

131 Songs - Number 59

Number 59 - Rockin' In Rhythym by Duke Ellington

This was one I forgot when I was listing my favourite old jazz stuff. A programme on television about old home movies used an instrumental that was so familiar. I thought it must be a Duke Ellington composition but trawling tracks on Spotify did not reveal the source. So I turned to my old mono LP's from the early 60's and found one containing recordings from 1927 to 1930. The tune turned out to be the title track, and apparently is one of the Duke's most famous compositions. I have to say there are now ore modern recordings which do the composition more justice.

131 Songs - Numbers 56, 57 and 58

Number 56 - First We Take Manhattan by Jennifer Warnes

The next three songs are definitely three of my favourite all time recordings. The first is the stand out track from "Famous Blue Raincoat", released in 1987 and one of my top ten albums of all time. It is tribute to Leonard Cohen, with whom Jennifer Warnes toured as a back-up singer in the 1970's, and includes a number of his compositions from 1969 to 1984. It also has some new songs, of which "First We Take Manhattan" is one. I do not own a Leonard Cohen album, his voice is just too much of a growl, but given a voice like Jennifer Warnes, the songs take on a different dimension. Leonard does sing on "Joan of Arc", but mercifully on no other.

Number 57 - Will You by Hazel O'Connor

Hazel O'Connor burst into fame with her starring role in the 1980 British move "Breaking Glass". The soundtrack includes the extraordinarily beautiful song "Will You" composed by Hazel O'Connor and Wesley Magoogan. Hazel not only took the lead role but as she says, "ended up writing all the songs for the movie". Although she did have big problems with her record company, resulting in damaging law suits, she now has the rights to the songs she wrote and is currently touring "Breaking Glass Live" in the UK. Wesley Magoogan gets co-writing credits for his awesome alto saxophone solo, my favourite sax solo ever. Unfortunately, Wesley lost fingers in a circular saw accident so that ruined his playing career. They were sewn back on, but only one hand works well. However, the combination of such a wonderful song and the fabulous melody of the saxophone solo makes this a classic.

Number 58 - The Weakness in Me by Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading is one of the great British female singer songwriters. I guess that most fans would have gone for "Love and Affection" or even "Rosie", "Me Myself I" or "Drop the Pilot". But I think that "The Weakness In Me", the stand out track on her 1981 album "Walk Under Ladders", is just a wonderful song. Alison and I went to see Joan at Wembley Arena in October 1986. Wow, that is twenty four years ago! She was suffering from a cold, but still gave a blistering performance. A true trooper.

Her Fearful Symmetry, How Far Can You Go? and Adrian Mole The Prostrate Years

After enjoying her "The Time Traveller's Wife", I was looking forward to reading Audrey Niffenegger's new book "Her Fearful Symmetry" and I was not disappointed. The first half is particularly good as the young twin sisters Julia and Valentina move from Illinois to the apartment next to Highgate Cemetery when this is left to them in a will. The story follows their encounters with the other occupants of the house, and their struggle to become individuals. The cemetery itself plays a significant part as the backdrop to so many chapters. However, once the novel turns into a ghost story it is less effective, as a real sense of place and character becomes subservient to fantasy. But on the whole, a terrific book, very well written and a joy to pick up each day.

David Lodge has always been one of my favourite writers. His four latest novels have been brilliant. So catching up on his earlier work led me to his 1980 Whitbread prizewinning "How far Can You Go?" I was seriously disappointed. The story of the progress of a number of friends from the 1950's to the 70's would have been quite interesting if the book was not dominated by their relationship with the catholic church. There were whole passages that I found quite unreadable as it became a dissertation on the relevance of Catholicism in the second half of the twentieth century. OK, it was probably a worthy and intellectually stimulating criticism of religion, but it was not for me.

I must have read Sue Townsend's "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 when it came out twenty odd years ago. So I thought it might be interesting to see how he was doing at the age of 39, not having read any of the seven intervening books. I have to say I did not feel as though I had missed very much. It is quite light, reasonably entertaining and occasionally funny. But having just read the powerful and dramatic "The Help", I wanted something less intense. But all I got was Adrian's continuing miserable life as prostrate cancer takes it's toll. So not a comedy as such.

A Week in Cornwall

Our ninth year of staying in Port Quinn for a week in September. But this time Doyden was full, so we found an NT cottage in Port Quinn itself, right on the coastal path. In fact it passes the gate and climbs around the back of the property where you could touch the roof.

The journey down on Thursday seemed much shorter this year, four and a half hours travel time, perhaps because there were no roadworks or holdups. We arrived to the normal sunshine in time for a walk to the castle at Doyden. We found the wall where Julia Bradbury and Matt Baker start every episode of "Secret Britain". We could not remember it being there when we watched the first episode of the series, and on inspection it did seem new.

We always like to take the coastal path west from Port Quinn on the first day so we do not have to take the car out. Friday dawned to a shower but soon brightened and we started off in the sunshine that lasted through the day. We used to finish at Rumps, but now we go on to Pentire Point for views over to Polzeath and round to Padstow and beyond. It is a superb viewpoint and we had a fabulous spot to have lunch.

The next day Alison likes to run from Port Quinn to Rock and take the ferry to Padstow where she meets me after my bike ride down the Camel Trail to Wadebridge and back. I even had time to have a walk around Wadebridge which was quite busy as it was a Saturday morning. I enjoyed my fish and chips at the Quayside cafe in Padstow before a walk up the hill to look over to Rock.

It was a little cloudy on Sunday, and wanting to avoid the crowds on the coast, we decided to visit the NT estate at Lanhydrock which is not far away. We had not been for a few years and we were glad to be there again. The weather brightened as we arrived, the gardens looked spectacular and we found an area with nice paths through the trees on the hillside above the house which we had not seen before. Before a longish walk down to the river, we had lunch sitting on a bench with this great view of the estate.

We always try to find somewhere new for one of our days and this year it was Falmouth. We were looking for a park and ride but actually found a "Park and Float" which took us on a ferry from the car park at Ponsharden to a quay in the middle of Falmouth.

After a coffee and a walk around the town, we caught another ferry to St Mawes from where we had good views of it's castle.

Again we were very lucky with weather and St Mawes is a very pretty place to visit.

On Tuesday we parked in Rock, as we do every year, for a walk along the beach at Daymer Bay and the ferry over to Padstow. It was sunny but quite windy which meant we did not stay too long on one of the benches above the port. Although when the tide is out, the sandbanks are really beautiful.

We did not want to be back late as that evening we had booked for a return visit to Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" at Watergate Bay. Again we had a excellent dinner and although this time we did not have a window seat, we could still see the surfers through the glass wall from our elevated table, and a very nice sunset.

Our last day started off a little cloudy, though still bright. We wanted to revisit Lundy cove as the tide was in on the walk of our first day. Alison ran to Rumps and met me there. On my walk I had time to take some good photos of the sandy bays around this part of the coast, the tide this time being out.

At Lundy, the waves were great and we were able to walk along the sand to a beach that is only accessible when the tide is right out. Previously, we have only seen the caves from above.

The last day turned out to be one of the best. Although it remained cloudy, we had a very nice bacon roll in The Granary, our favourite cafe in Wadebridge (a very heavy shower was over by the time we left). And then we off for bodyboarding at Polzeath. The waves were pretty good, the odd one would take you fifty meters if you were lucky to catch it.

Back at Port Quinn, we had time to take a last look at the tiny harbour before starting our packing for the journey home.