Review of 2020

 

A year like no other started just the same as a normal January. Except that it was fairly mild, and I was able to do quite a lot in the garden. Running was going fine, parkruns at Wendover Woods as the main course at Aylesbury was flooded as usual. Some decent films at the cinema and "An Inspector Calls" at the theatre in Milton Keynes. I had started watching Series 1 of "The Directors" on Sky Arts and this month completed Series 5.

In early February I was even able to give the lawns their first cut of the year. But one of the tall silver birches came down with Storm Ciara. Roses were pruned with still mildish temperatures. A visit to Grant and Stone to look at sanitary ware and fittings for the family bathroom, followed by quotes for the installation.

March started as normal. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" at the theatre in Aylesbury and then the last performance before lockdown of any play with the brilliant "Pride and Prejudice Sort Of" at Oxford on 12th March. The very last parkrun was Alison's 250th on the 14th March when I volunteered, and now stuck on 249. The day after I ran the Milton Keynes 10K, a third of those who entered did not turn up.  

Into lockdown in April, Fortunately, lots to do outside (jet washing pavings etc) and in the garden and still out for runs. Book club now on Messenger. Not very successful. A visit to Amersham Dermatology and a prescription for 5-Fluorouracil Cream for those sun damaged areas on my head. It made a horrible mess while working, but now completely healed. 

May was quiet, getting used to lockdown. The weather was superb, lots of days in the mid 20's. More to do in the garden with the arrival of bedding plants. Book Club had found Zoom and this worked extremely well.#

By June I was watching DVD's of films and the National Theatre Live at Home. But great to be outside, and the Premier League and FA Cup returned. The weather became very warm by the end of the month, above 30C two days running. Out for a walk with Alison at 8.30am in the shade of Wendover Woods.

By the end of July, National Trust gardens had re-opened. On Alison's 60th birthday, we went to Waddesdon in the afternoon. We were also meeting friends in their garden and were able to have coffee outside the cafe in Wendover Woods.

Restrictions were easing in August, more garden visits and a meal at The Akeman in Tring. Test matches were back and some cinemas were open. 

But "Tenet" at Cineworld Hemel Hempstead in September was a disappointment. In the middle of the month we were off to Cornwall for a week. It was so nice to be somewhere different, and we were very lucky with the weather. At the end of the month the new bathroom was installed. (The fittings had been in store for months).

A lot of sport was back in October. Some nice older films were on at the Rex Berkhamsted. It was almost like normal. Still nice to be outside in the garden. 

Later in November restrictions were returning but  I was back doing long walks which I had not done for a long time. And we managed a visit to Stowe on a beautiful day before it closed again. The new bathroom was completed with the floor finish being laid. 

Lights were going up outside in early December and our tree came down from the loft. But with the darker evenings came a darker lockdown, Tier 3 then Tier 4. And we were back to where we started. But today there maybe light at the end of the tunnel (that's Boris) with the approval of the Oxford vaccine. Let us hope so.

It was easy to choose this year's favourite theatre and films at the cinema as there were so few. Pride and Prejudice Sort Of at Oxford was a delight and I will seek it out to see again when theatre returns. Amelie at the Rex Berkhamsted was similarly uplifting. For books, the highlight was reading the Old Filth trilogy this year. Jane Gardam followed that title with The Man in the Wooden Hat and lastly my favourite book of the year Last Friends. Talk about saving the best for last. I was just disappointed that I had not chosen the Old Filth for book club instead of this author's prize winning Queen of the Tambourine. It has been great to continue book club on Zoom. 

The highlight of TV this year has been Ghosts, a comedy brought to us from the creators of Horrible Histories. In sport, it was great to watch the IPL in the middle east without crowds. The England Australia 20/20 and ODI series were riveting in the summer. This year I have graduated from easy Sudoku to tricky and now fiendish, the top level used for competitions. I try one every evening before dinner.    

And finally, on the subject of parkrun, the New Year message from Paul Sinton-Hewitt included the following words: 

As it is for so many of you, parkrun is my sanctuary. It was born as a result of, and has helped me through, some difficult times.

The regularity and reliability of parkrun provides a comfort that comes from knowing it is always there: the same time, the same place, the same friendly faces, support and encouragement. A chance to escape, or to catch up, to be in the fresh air, and amongst others. parkrun’s mere presence is a reassuring island of calm in often choppy seas.

Arise Sir Roger

 

The New Year's honours has brought a well deserved knighthood to the number one cinematographer Roger Deakins. This is what I said in my post of the 16th March 2018.

At last. After thirteen previous nominations for the Oscar for cinematography where he didn't win, Roger Deakins (CBE) was presented with his deserved first award for Blade Runner 2049. When I reviewed the film, I particularly mentioned the brilliance of his work.

He has won BAFTA's before (four so far), and I just wonder if his British (Devon) background did him no favours. He still lives there. As The Sunday Times reported:

Shortly after Roger Deakins was awarded the Oscar for best cinematography last Sunday, he received an email from the manager of the marina in his native Torquay, where — as the grandson of a fisherman — he keeps a small boat. “He said: ‘Congratulations on your Oscar and — by the way — the marina’s deep in snow, but your boat’s OK,’” laughs Deakins. “I wrote back: ‘The Oscar’s great but it’s even better to know my boat’s fine.’ I meant it.”

He discovered a passion for photography at art school in Bath. Having failed to get into the National Film and Television 
School, he spent a year photographing Devon life for a local archive, before successfully reapplying.
When you look at the list of his movies, you then understand that his is a wonderful story.

Discovering: Christmas Films on Sky Arts

 

The same team who presented "The Directors" series on Sky Arts, were brought together for the first time to discuss Christmas movies. It was good to see them all talking to each other, Ian Nathan, Neil Norman, Stephen Armstrong, Derek Malcolm and Bonnie Greer are always worth listening to. 

However, and for once, I was very disappointed with their, or their producer's selection. These films can hardly be festive fun: King Kong, Mary Poppins, Laurel and Hardy, To Catch a Thief, The Tale of Winter, The Sound of Music, Rear Window, Fargo, The Apartment, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Shop Around the Corner. I could see that We're No Angels (not a film with which I am familiar from 1955, but could be interesting), Trading Places and The Bishop's Wife might just be appropriate for Christmas.

So we are left with Miracle on 34th Street (the old black and white original but no mention of the Richard Attenborough remake), White Christmas (why no mention of the earlier Holiday Inn whose big song White Christmas led to the loosely plotted remake of the same name), Scrooged, Die Hard, Fanny and Alexander and, of course, It's a Wonderful Life. But no mention of more recent films such as the superior  Love Actually, The Holiday, The Man Who Invented Christmas and (heaven help us) Office Christmas Party.

The Directors on Sky Arts: Series 5

Episode 1   Francis Ford Coppola

The next few directors are so familiar, they need little introduction from me. Stephen Armstrong did say that Francis Ford Coppola was at "the leading edge of the new Hollywood directors" and Derek Malcolm wittily added that he was "the Godfather to dozens of film makers". Coppola's ancestors were, of course, Italian immigrants. He studied at film school at UCLA and became an assistant to the director Roger Corman. It was Corman who gave him a chance to make a film with some funds left over from his own project and, on a tiny budget, Coppola made Dementia 13 that made back it's cost. It was Jack Warner of Warner Brothers who then gave him the opportunity in 1966 to make You're a Big Boy Now that had been his thesis at UCLA. Stephen Armstrong concluded that it was a very strange film.

The episode showed clips form his next film The Rain People from 1969. One showed a wedding that was a prototype for that in his next movie. That film was Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's best seller and The Godfather was born in 1972.  Paramount wanted a cheap movie with a cheap director. What they got was a classic. It won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay that Coppola shared with Puzo. Neil Norman said it was a masterpiece. In 1974, Coppola directed The Conversation with Gene Hackman that might have been a remake of the British film Blow Up. It became a critical success and won the Palme D'or at Cannes. 

Also in 1974 came The Godfather: Part II. Paramount wanted more of the same but Coppola decided to make something different, part prequel and part sequel. It was nominated for eleven Oscars and won six including best picture, director and screenplay. Then in 1979 Coppola released Apocalypse Now, a staggering piece of work with a difficult production to say the least. Now a classic and one of my favourite films.

In 1983 came The Outsiders followed by Rumblefish, both filmed together and the latter another strange movie. 1984 was The Cotton Club and 1988 Tucker: The Man and his Dream. This was followed by 1990's The Godfather:Part III and 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stephen Armstrong then told us that Coppola carried on making small intimate movies although his days of big successes were over. The clip from Tucker showed at at the end of the programme just showed how proficient he was at the highly populated set piece. Magnificent.

Episode 2   Ridley Scott

So much in this episode was all so familiar to me. From Ridley Scott's birth in South Shields in 1937 to his work in advertising and then movies. However, I had not realised that he was in Hamburg at the age of eight while his father was working there on reparations. He would have seen close up "the wreckage of war", a vision that would haunt some of his movies, as one of the contributors told us. Ian Nathan's opening remark was that "I don't think there is a better eye in film". This came from his time at West Hartlepool School of Arts and then the Royal College of Art. Amongst notable students he befriended was David Hockney. Whilst at RCA, he borrowed an old film camera and started making films at home. 

Scott joined the BBC as a trainee designer and ended up on a directors course where he actually directed an episode of Z Cars. But the pay at the BBC was very poor, and Scott branched out with some freelance work in advertising where he could make some money. He became extremely successful and Derek Malcolm said "his commercials won award after award". We were shown a clip of that iconic advertisement for Hovis. He formed  Ridley Scott Associates, a successful venture over ten year, and he brought in his brother Tony and worked with Alan Parker. 

But it was David Putnam who gave hi the chance to direct with 1977's The Duellists. Neil Norman said it was "an extraordinary first movie", it certainly had an amazing mix of acting talent. It was actually nominated for the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival and won an award for best debut film. And then in 1979 came Scott's first big success with Alien., only his second feature. He famously swopped the original male lead to female with Sigourney Weaver. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios. Scott's next film was 1982's Blade Runner that had those spectacular visuals which were all Scott's own work.

There were elements of that design in 1989's Black Rain, a huge success, much more that Blade Runner. Then came Thelma and Louise in 1991 which won Scott his first Oscar nomination. The ultimate American road movie directed by a Brit that made the careers of Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. White Squall in 1996 was not a big hit, unlike Scott's next success that was 2000's Gladiator. This reinvented the epic movie and Scott wanted to make us feel as if we were right there in the arena, another Oscar nomination for best director.

Hannibal in 2001 was Scott's sequel to The Silence of the Lambs and then the same year came Black Hawk Down, another Oscar nomination for best director. Ian Nathan said it was "visually stunning" and Neil Norman called it " one of the most authentic war films ever seen". Kingdom of Heaven in 2005, a film about the Crusades was not a big success. In 2007 came American Gangster with Denzel Washington. Did I spot the same New York staircase we saw in Joker? I did. Next came Prometheus in 2012, a complicated and strange prequel to Alien.

The Martian in 2015 was a more upbeat film about survival that I enjoyed a lot. It was nominated for an Oscar best picture. In 2017 came All the Money in the World, where Christopher Plummer famously, and very successfully replaced Kevin Stacey.  It was left to Neil Norman to tell us that Scott's films "were the luxury items of cinema" and reminded us how important music and sound were in accompanying his superb visual pictures.

Episode 3   Martin Scorsese

Another director who needed no introduction. Neil Norman said that his films "derive from something inside him". Born in 1942 in Queens, he lived his formative years in Little Italy in New York. The Sicilian and Italian neighbourhoods would influence his movies for his whole career. He attended Washington College and for a year studied to be a priest! But he left to go the New York University to major in film. 

But it was when he went to work for Roger Corman in Hollywood that he directed a very cheap film called Boxcar Bertha in 1972. However it was the following year that he started to impress with 1973's Mean Streets with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel and shot in Little Italy. In 1974 came Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore with Ellen Burstyn (winning the Oscar for best actress), Kris Kristopherson and Jodie Foster. It was awarded best picture at the BAFTA's. Next came Taxi Driver in 1976 with De Niro, Cybil Shepherd and Jodie Foster. Already Scorsese was using the same actors time and again. Neil Norman caled this "his first masterpiece". It was nominated for best picture at the Oscars.

1977 was New York, New York with De Niro and Liza Minelli and The Last Waltz which was called the best live concert documentary ever. Next came De Niro's own passion project in 1980's Raging Bull with Oscar nominations for best picture and best director. 1982's King of Comedy with De Niro and Gerry Lewis was called unique. 

Up to this point, I cannot remember seeing any of these movies, nor have I any great desire to we them. That all changed with 1990's Goodfella's referred to as "one of the greatest gangster movies ever". De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta made this a huge box office success. The presenters didn't touch on the best tracking shot of all time through the back of the Copacabana night club. It was nominated for six Oscars, but only Joe Pesci won for supporting actor. But it did win big at the BAFTA's including best film and best director.

So the following films were very familiar: Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). There was a final mention for 2019's The Irishman but this is on Netflix. Thanks Martin. To wrap up, it was Stephen Armstrong who thought Scorsese was so generous with his actors. All the presenters were glowing in their praise, more than anything that he loved film and was a great film historian.

Episode 4   Oliver Stone

Ian Nathan reminded us at the beginning that the films of Oliver Stone were all part auto-biographical and were reflections of American history. Bonnie Greer agreed that they asked questions about America and Neil Norman said Stone's control of technique was extraordinary.

Stone was born in 1946 in New York City. He had quite a cultured upbringing, his father was a broker on Wall Street. Stone went to Yale although in between he volunteered for the army and had one tour in Vietnam. He had always loved French movies and as a result he went to New York University to study film. He graduated in 1971 and had various jobs in the industry and made a well received short called Last Year in Viet Nam. He was working partly as a screenwriter and in 1974 made a low budget horror called Seizure. Ian Nathan remarked that it already had signs of the director's trademark weirdness. This was followed by another low budget film The Hand  in 1981. 

But it was as a screenwriter that Stone first came to prominence and in 1979 he gained his first Oscar with his adaptation of  Midnight Express. He also wrote for Scarface and Conan, The Barbarian. His directing career took off in 1986 with Salvador starring James Woods and James Belushi and in the same year released the successful Platoon which won the Oscar for best picture and best director. Stone would always write or co-write the screenplay for all his films. 

With Platoon echoing his own experiences in Vietnam, so his next film 1987's Wall Street was, according to Bonnie Greer, a homage to his father. It was described as "one of the quintessential movies of the 1980's". Next came Talk Radio in 1988, adapted from the stage play, and in 1989 came Born on the 4th of July with Tom Cruise. This gained Stone his second best director Oscar for a biopic about a returning Vet from Viet Nam. In 1991 The Doors was a tribute to Jim Morrison and in the same year came JFK with Jim Garrison trying to prove that the president was assassinated by the mafia and elements in government. Stephen Armstrong described it as "his defining work" and "a masterpiece of film making". 

In 1993 Stone released Heaven and Earth, his third and last Viet Nam film, but it was not a critical or commercial success. The following year came Natural Born Killers, a highly controversial satire about violence depicted on  TV. Ian Nathan called it Stone "at his most frenzied". In 1995 came Nixon with Anthony Hopkins. Stephen Armstrong thought it was "almost Shakespearean" as it reminded him of King Lear. 1997 was a standard thriller U-Turn and was followed in 1999 by the American Football movie Any Given Sunday with an all star cast including Al Pacino. Ian Nathan said it was a cynical take on the rituals of sport.

Stone's first big epic came with Alexander the Great in 2004, a great spectacle but that was all. World Trade Centre came in 2006. Instead of a film about a conspiracy dwelling on cause and effect, the director went in the opposite direction and concentrated on the human story of two guys in the middle of the rubble. And a rescue. Stone looked at another president in 2008's W and in 2010 came Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps. A lazy rip-off of the original movie with Gecko now out of prison.

I his later career, Oliver Stone concentrated on documentaries, although in 2012 came Savages about drug cartels and Snowden in 2016. How obvious. Neil Norman called Stone " a committed and unafraid film maker. Ian Nathan concluded that he made the best war movies although he was "a contrarian". 

Episode 5   Nicolas Roeg

Why didn't I know this British director? Stephen Armstrong called him influential, Ian Nathan said he was revolutionary and Derek Malcolm found him imaginative. Nicolas Roeg was born in 1928 and grew up in St John's Wood. After private school he crossed the road from home to Marylebone Studios to find a job. He started at the bottom worked himself up, eventually becoming an assistant cinematographer and later taking the main role capturing many films, some of which gained  BAFTA nominations including Far from the Madding Crowd. 

Roeg's first film as director ( a credit as co-director disguised the fact that most of the film was directed by him) was Performance starring James Fox and Mick Jagger. Despite a troubled release, given it's strange feel, it was eventually successful and has become a cult classic. In 1971 came Walkabout with Jenny Agutter that Ian Nathan called mesmerising. Then in 1973 came the film for which Roeg is best remembered. Don't Look Now was highly controversial, a mixture of almost  horror and a portrait of grief said Simon Armstrong. Set in Venice, it starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. 

Up next was 1976's The Man Who Fell To Earth with David Bowie, a strange sci fi movie that the studio didn't understand! In 1980, Bad Timing was perhaps even more obscure, difficult and experimental. Although it did have a cast that included Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel and Art Garfunkel. Eureka in 1983 had  an equally good cast including Gene Hackman. A gangster movie that Neil Norman said was like a mystery thriller and "beautifully shot". Theresa Russell starred again in 1985's Insignificance, then Roeg directed Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe in 1986's Castaway. Stephen Armstrong said that this was one of his most mainstream films and Ian Nathan thought he was at his most fluent.

But another oddity came in 1988 with Track 29, based on Denis Potter's play with Theresa Russell again. In 1989 there came another adaptation of a stage play with Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth with Elizabeth Taylor and Mark Harmon. But Roeg was finding funding hard to come by and resorted next to a children's horror in Roald Dahl's The Witches. A small budget, most of which looked as if it was spent on make up. Although it was quite a big hit and made the studio money. Heart of Darkness released in 1993 was the Joseph Conrad story set in the Belgium Congo and starring Tim Roth. Nobody mentioned Apocalypse Now. Roeg's final film was puffball. Stephen Armstrong said it was a quiet farewell.

Ian Nathan was not that complimentary about Roeg's career, his films did not follow a traditional format. Although he did say they were "greater in hindsight". Derek Malcolm was complimentary and Stephen Armstrong said that he did inspire future film makers. I had not seen any of Roeg's films. I did not visit the cinema in the 1970's, and all his later films were far too weird. I wonder why he was included in this series.

Episode 6   David Lynch

Ian Nathan started the episode with likening David Lynch to Andy Warhol, in that he was great surrealist. Derek Malcolm thought he was "the most important radical film maker in America" and that "he wanted to tell the story completely differently".

Born in 1946 in Montana, he attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, dropped out, went to Salzburg, came back and moved to The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His talent at painting came alongside the making of short films. In 1971, he moved to LA and began studying film at the AFI Conservatory. He nearly left after a year, and it was only the Dean that persuaded him to stay and allowed him free rein for his next project.  

He actually spent five years making Eraserhead. that was released in 1977. Derek Malcolm said it was full of "darkness and pessimism". It has gained over the years a cult following. Lynch followed this film with The Elephant Man made from a script that "gave him a structure" to work on. Stephen Armstrong likened it to a "Victorian Melodrama". Ian Nathan thought it was "very moving". It was a big critical and commercial success and gained eight Oscar nominations including those for best picture and best director. A great cast included Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt.

The success brought him a big budget movie with the Dino de Laurentis production company. However, Dune was to be a big flop. A sci fi classic book, Lynch was never comfortable making it. A big name cast with Patrick Stewart was unable to save it. He was never going to do something like that again and Stephen Armstrong said this was the real "beginning of David Lynch as we know him". Because up next came the classic Blue Velvet in 1986. Ian Nathan and Derek Malcolm thought it was his best film. The former thought it was like a film noir that subverted into dream textures. Stephen Armstrong thought it was quite unsettling. A horror story, a drama, a film noir, a dream, pop culture, a mystery, it was called all these things. Kyle McLachlan, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper  and Isabella Rossellini were all excellent. Another Oscar nomination for best director followed.

In 1990 came Wild at Heart with Nicholas Cage and (again) Laura Dern. Ian Nathan thought it seemed like a "pantomime" and Lynch's "most violent film". A road movie about lovers on the run, it won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1990. The same year, Lynch made the TV Series Twin Peaks. Although strange in the Lynch fashion, it was a big hit and Neil Norman called it a "monumental success" about "another small town". The second series without Lynch failed, but he returned in 1992 to make a film called Twin Peaks: Fir Walk With Me. Ian Nathan thought it was his "strangest film2 and Neil Norman said it was "heavy going".

Next came Lost Highway in 1997 with Bill Pullman and Roseanna Arquette that Neil Norman was "most puzzling" of his films. But Straight Story in the same year was called by Derek Malcolm as "the most orthodox film he ever made". With Richard Farnsworth and Harry Dean Stanton, Stephen Armstrong thought it "so simple, charming and strangely touching" while Neil Norman said it was "an absolutely wonderful film". 

In 2001 came what Neil Norman said was "David Lynch's undisputed masterpiece", although it was "impossible to explain the plot". Mulholland Drive with Naomi Watts shared the prize for best film at Cannes and won Lynch his third nomination as best director at the Oscars. Stephen Armstrong added that it was "incredibly puzzling". It was the last feature film he made. 

David Lynch was "such a distinctive director" and according to Derek Malcolm "a master of radical film making" and an "ingenious artist". Neil Norman thought he was a "surrealist avant garde film maker" that made the mainstream. I agreed with Ian Nathan when he said "you never forget a David Lynch film".

Episode 7   Preston Sturges

Again, a name with which I was not familiar, Not really surprising as he worked on films in the 1940's. But such an interesting story of a brilliant screen writer turned director. Neil Norman said he was "the conquering hero of screwball comedy" and that the six films he made between 1940 and 1944 were all classics and three of these were masterpieces". Stephen Armstrong thought these comedies were set at "an incredible pace" and Ian Nathan added that his "his ideas were too modern for the 1940's".

Preston Sturges was born in Chicago in 1898. His father seems to have dropped out of the picture but his mother was quite bohemian. She actually took the three year old Preston to Paris when he was onlt three. He was soaked in culture from a very early age but grew to despise it. His surname comes from his step father. During WW1 he signed up for the US Army Airforce but never saw action. 

After the war he went briefly into acting before starting to write his own plays. The first called The Guinea Pig was a success and transferred to Broadway. His second play was even more successful. Strictly Dishonourable made his name. Hollywood came calling and he was able to make a lucrative deal on the back of this meteoric rise. He had a hugely successful time as a screen writer all through the 1930's. Ian Nathan said that when he submitted The Power and the Glory, the producer said he couldn't change a single word.

It was Stephen Armstrong who told us that in these days you didn't get writers who became directors. My guess is that they were fat too valuable. However at the mature age of 40, Sturges was in a "torrent of creativity" according to Ian Nathan and wanted to direct his script for The Great McGinty. He sold it to Paramount for $1 on the basis that he could direct. It was very successful and won the first ever Oscar for best original screenplay in 1940. 

Next up the same year was a farce called Christmas in July with Dick Powell. In 1941 Sturges directed The Lady Eve, a romantic comedy with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. Neil Norman said it was "one of the most perfect screwball comedies ever written" and Ian Nathan thought it was "a marvel" and "hilarious". Again the same year came Sullivan's Travels starring Joel McCrea and Veronika Lake. Neil Norman told us it was "one of his masterpieces" and "almost about himself".  Joel McCrea also starred in Sturges' next film The Palm Beach Story that also featured Claudette Colbert. Neil Norman said it was almost like a Marx Brothers film. 

In 1943 came The Miracle of Morgan's Creek starring Betty Hutton. Neil Norman reminded us that this was the film that had most trouble with the censors. Ian Nathan described "the chaotic farce" but had "such pace and non stop dialogue". It won Sturges another Oscar for best original screenplay. Next came Hail the Conquering Hero in 1944. At Paramount Studios, a new producer didn't like directors who wrote and vice versa and tried to take hold of the final edit. But Sturges got his way in the end and took back the editing himself. Another Oscar for best original screenplay, the second in that year. 

This experience led Sturges to leave Paramount and helped set up an independent film company. However, this was not successful. 1944's The Great Moment and 1947's The Sin of Harold Diddlebock were flops. But he was back to form with Unfaithfully Yours with Rex Harrison. In 1949 his first film in colour was The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend. But his bankability had disappeared and led Sturges to move to France and made one film there that was to be his final directing feature. He returned to America but died soon after.

The presenters agreed that he should be classed alongside all the great directors. It was a relatively small output, but he did start quite late in his career. But what impressed me was that it was his writing that shone through. Yes, he was ahead of his time.

Episode 8   Mervyn LeRoy

Yet another unfamiliar name, not surprising as Mervyn LeRoy directed most of his films in the 1930's and 40's. I had heard of some of his later movies. In fact when Derek Malcolm opened proceedings he said that LeRoy would be "most peoples favourite director of the 1950's". Ian Nathan said that he "transformed Hollywood" and Neil Norman added that he "understood the power of movies".

Mervyn LeRoy was born in San Francisco in 1900. After his mother left, his father losy everything in the 1906 earthquake. When young Mervyn won a Charlie Chaplin contest, he went into a Vaudeville group for nine years! When they broke up he was stranded in New York  He was rescued by a cousin, Jesse Lasky who was a movie producer. He found LeRoy jobs in the studio which gave him great experience in lots of departments. From camera assistant to small roles in early silent movies, he began to co-write scripts and by the late 1920's was directing his first silent pictures and then those with sound.

It was Warner Brothers who saw his potential, where we were told by Ian Nathan as being "the working class studio, making gritty films". LeRoy's first film there was 1931's Little Caesar" with Edward G Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Junior. This was the first proper gangster movie on that scale. The following film LeRoy directed was Five Star Final, again with Edward G Robinson, that Stephen Armstrong said showed "the worst excesses of the tabloid press".1932 saw I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, that we were told was very successful, full of ambiguity and uncertainty. Anthony Adverse came in 1936, a historical drama. Not LeRoy's kind of film, but he understood what the studio wanted, and the film was Oscar nominated for best picture.

The following year came They Won't Forget. "Back to his social realism roots" said Stephen Armstrong, Ian Nathan adding he was "ahead of his time". He went on to say that LeRoy was now a major force in Hollywood that prompted MGM to employ him on double his salary as producer and director. In the former role, he had much to do with the production of The Wizard of Oz. Derek Malcolm gave an interesting piece about Le Roy's role at this time. Back in the director's chair, LeRoy made Waterloo Bridge in 1940 with Robert Taylor and a superb Vivienne Leigh. The extracts shown reminded me of those big romantic films of the time, but this was more of a tragedy. 

In 1942 came Random Harvest with Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson, another big romantic drama. Neil Norman said that it got his vote for "the most romantic movie ever made". Ian Nathan added that "at last a LeRoy happy ending". The film was a big hit, being Oscar nominated for best picture and best director. Thirty Seconds over Tokyo in 1944 was based on a true event and was described by Neil Norman as "one of the best aviation movies ever made", although the raid inflicted horrific devastation on the civilian population. In 1946 came Without Reservations, described as a curious comedy with Claudette Colbert and John Wayne in a romantic role? 

!949 saw the advent of colour with Little Women with a fantastic cast and being true to the book and the time. It was predictably a smash hit. Next came Quo Vadis in 1951, a big Roman epic. Le Roy took over when the production got into trouble in it's Italian location. Sergio Leone was taken on to help. It was three hours long but a big hit. In 1962 Leroy directed The Devil at 4 O'clock, with Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra, that Stephen Armstrong called "the first disaster movie made in Hollywood". Gypsy starring Natalie Wood came in 1962, a movie about the pressures of show business.  Ian Nathan said it was quite a dark story, typical of the director, and a massive hit for his last film.

Derek Malcolm summarised his career with the words "no other director had won so many nominations at the Academy Awards without ever winning". Neil Norman reminded us that LeRoy took us from silent movies to sound, black and white to colour and was "capable of doing anything" in an "extraordinary career". Stephen Armstrong said his movies "explode with life".


Episode 9 James L Brooks

Ian Nathan introduced yet another director whose name was not familiar to me. He said James L Brooks "mixed drama and comedy to a perfect cocktail". Stephen Armstrong said that he "loved language". Brooks was born in 1940 in Brooklyn. He was brought up by his mother and older sister to which Ian Nathan added "women would fill his creative life". And how!

He dropped out of New York University and it was his sister who found him a job at CBS, entering at the very lowest level. But once he was given a chance to fill in for an absent news writer, he never looked back. He went on to work in documentaries in LA but this did not last long. However, a chance meeting at a party with the CBS producer Alan Burns led to another job at CBS, this time as script writer. Here he wrote for many of their TV shows, eventually teaming up with Burns to create "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1970-1977). It was set in a news room but, unusually, with a female lead. It was highly successful, a programme that everybody watched. Brooks had proved he was a top comedy drama writer.There were two spin-offs in "Rhoda" and "Lou Grant" (1977-1982). 

Brooks and Burns then set up a production company so that they could retain overall control. First up came "Taxi" (1977-1983). Brooks wrote the script for his  first feature film that was "Starting Over" in 1979 with Burt Reynolds. Here Brooks learnt the art of directing so he was ready for his next film. He had saved his own baby for such an eventuality. "Terms of Endearment" released in 1983 won the Oscars for best picture, best director and (not mentioned in the programme, but I guess more importantly for Brooks) best adapted screenplay. Acting Oscars went to Shirley MacLaine (best actress) and Jack Nicholson (best supporting actor) as well as nominations for Debra Winger (best actress) and John Lithgow (best supporting actor) as well as nominations in other categories. All this for Brooks' first time directing and producing. Really quite something. He knew how to write female roles with "comedy and tear jerking elements".  Brooks followed this enormous success with his love letter to his early years at CBS with "Broadcast News" in 1987 with Holly Hunter and William Hurt. 

At the same time, Brooks had set up a production company called Gracie Films and produced for television, "The Tracy Ullman Show". To break up the scenes, Brooks commissioned a series of short animations from Matt Groening featuring The Simpson family. This later became "The Simpsons" that is still going today. We were told that this was the very first animated series for adults. Brooks was now a well respected producer and helped "Big" in 1988, "Say Anything" ad "The War of the Roses" in 1989, and "Bottle Rocket"  and "Jerry Maguire" in 1996. "Bottle Rocket" was described as an amazing experience as Brooks brought Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson from Texas to Hollywood to eventually finish writing, directing and acting in their first main feature.

Before this, in 1994, Brooks wrote and directed "I'll Do Anything" which the programme must have missed. He followed this with "As Good As It Gets" in 1997 with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. Almost and anti-romantic comedy with Ian Nathan saying it was "making comedy serious". "Spanglish" came in 2004 with Adam Sandler and "How Do You Know" in 2010 with Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson and Paul Judd. This last film from Brooks was not a success. 

But he had an enormous talent for words, his writing took all that experience from the TV sit-coms through to major productions on the big screen. But just as importantly, in his later role as producer, he brought together other film makers to make important contributions to cinema. Ian Nathan said he reflected the "truth of American life".

Episode 10   Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich was born in 1918 to a wealthy Rhode Island family. Neil Norman described how he "walked away from privilege and wealth to live an independent life". Stephen Armstrong added that "he was one of the great unsung influencers". Aldrich loved his mother but she died when he was thirteen. He was expected to go to Yale, but failed the entrance and instead headed for Virginia University. This was so different to his rich background but it started a huge education.

 He actually dropped out when his uncle found him a goffer's job at RKO Studios.  His father was livid and disinherited his son. But Aldrich didn't care.  When WW2 started he volunteered for the US Army Air Force. However due to an old football injury, he was invalided out. He took the chance of getting work in Hollywood as numbers there were now scarce, and worked his way up to assistant director. Then on to New York where he was able to direct many episodes of various TV series. 

It was MGM who gave him a chance to direct a feature with the small production that was Big League  with Edward G Robinson. He was also able to use the same crew and studio for World for Ransom that was almost an independent movie. These were successful enough for Aldrich to be able to direct 1954's Apache with Burt Lancaster and in the same year Vera Cruz with the same actor and Gary Cooper. These two westerns were both successful, the latter was a huge hit, pioneering as it was the types of spaghetti westerns that would follow. Stephen Armstrong said that  he was "already a very influential figure".

On the back of these hits, Aldrich set up his own independent film company with his own studio. His first film was 1955's film noir  Kiss Me Deadly  and this was followed by Attack in 1956 with Jack Palance and Lee Marvin. Next came 1959's The Angry Hills with Robert Mitchum, taking cast and crew to Greece. Aldrich continued to be more interested in human motives than anything else in his films.

The Last Sunset in 1961 starred Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson and Joseph Cotton, another unusual western with echoes of the hit Vera Cruz. Neil Norman thought it had elements of "Greek tragedy". Then in 1962, Aldrich pulled off a great coup in getting Bette Davis and Joan Crawford together for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The rivalry of the two actresses helped to make this an iconic movie, almost a horror film. The 1964 follow up Hush ....Hush, Sweet Charlotte saw Olivia de Havilland replace Joan Crawford.

1965's The Flight of the Phoenix with James Stewart was only moderately successful, but then came the blockbuster hit The Dirty Dozen in 1967. A big star cast with Lee Marvin was described as hugely influential. Then came The Longest Yard, an American Football film in 1974 with Burt Reynolds described as funny and thrilling. Burt Reynolds starred again in 1975's Hustle with Catherine de Neuve. Aldrich made his last film in 1979 with The Frisco Kid, typically another western, but a comedy this time with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.

Ian Nathan summarised the career of Robert Aldrich, saying that he was a " great Hollywood radical, ahead of his time". Stephen Armstrong added that "He changed Hollywood completely, inventing new forms of cinema and inspired a new generation of film makers". It was left to Neil Norman to conclude that he "made movies like no-one else could".

Rebecca at the Rex Berkhampstead

 

I usually post my movie reviews in threes, but as Tier 4 restrictions could last for a long time in the South East, here is something about my visit to the Rex cinema last week. Rebecca is actually a Netflix film, so I'm not sure how the Rex managed to find a copy of this very recent release. All the other films that were on their schedule are much older movies.

I was surprised to see that this production had such a decent budget. The picture was colourful and the sets excellent. The short pieces from the servant's quarters were very well filmed, and the old cars were gleamingly beautiful. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian noted that the film was "overdressed and underpowered".

I was not impressed with the casting of Lily James and Arnie Hammer as Mr and Mrs de Winter. There was a lack of magnetism between the newly married couple. I know the story relies on the secrets of the past, but there is more excitement in the relationship between Lily James and the wonderful Kristin Scott Thomas as the dangerous Mrs Danvers. 

The supporting cast is good, it was nice to see Ben Crompton as Ben after his turn as the mate of Cormoran Strike on TV. And Keeley Hawes is always great in what was a cameo role. But not having Netfix, I was glad to see this film in the cinema.

Fourteen Years

The first posting on my blog was on the 8th December 2006, eleven days before my last day at work. So I have now been retired for fourteen years. Some things have changed and some things have stayed the same. My post about retirement in week one noted my back suffered from moving compost on a mild January day. Last week it didn't even need working in the garden to start playing up. 

But there has certainly been no year like this year. Here we are in the week before Christmas in a Tier 4 lockdown. Here's hoping 2021 sees a return to normality. Merry Christmas.

The Librarian, The Girls of Slender Means and The Old Boys

 

I was thirteen in 1958 when the book is set, so not very different in age from the children who meet the librarian. Sylvia is twenty four when she moves to East Mole to supervise the children's section of the library. There are reminders of the popular culture of those days. We never missed "Six Five Special", Cliff's "Move It" was in the charts, but like The Beatles first hit "Love Me Do", it never reached number one.

The first half of the book, although interesting, is nothing special, however after half way it suddenly gains momentum and turns into an emotional drama. The children who dominate early on, are left behind as the writing and the story become more intense. The characters are all well drawn, even Ned (who I thought might be more important) with "his ugly lumpish face, innocent of any malice, seemed to her suddenly beautiful". And an unexpected, but marvellous, short section at the end.

There are so many words to describe the prose of Muriel Spark. Enigmatic, subversive, idiosyncratic, quirky, astounding. Just some typical extracts from "The Girls of Slender Means": "Tilly ...... was a tiny redhead of lively intelligence and small formation". And sentences ending "...but was youth, merely" and "she was highly thought of for it". Not the grammar we were taught.

The book is centred around The May of Tech Club, the name in honour of Queen Mary, wife of George V, and originally Princess May of Tech. The area around the building is so familiar, situated as it is opposite Kensington Gardens and a short way from The Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall.

I was, unusually, unimpressed by the early part of this short book. However, it takes an amazing turn in the latter section, almost the script for an early disaster movie. This is brilliantly written.

This was the first novel that William Trevor acknowledged as his own. He always disowned an earlier book. After the first chapter of an old boys committee, we jump back 50 years to schooldays at their boarding school. This clever flashback explains the tensions that inhabit the first. Somehow their lives now revolve around memories of school. Each character gets their own introduction so we know their background and how the old boys are with each other.

The most amazing thing about this book is the brilliant dialogue. There are vast quantities in what is only a short novel. The arguments between Mr and Mrs Jaraby are a joy to behold. Similarly, the conversations between Mr Ridley and Mr Sole. Even the similarly elderly Mr Turtle talking to a young scholar at the open day is superb.

The book was written in 1964, ten years after Trevor moved from his native Ireland to England. His obituary in the Guardian reads "To say the novel was a hit is to underestimate both it's brilliance and originality". Adding "Perhaps he never wrote a better book". For me, it doesn't quite stand up to "Felicia's Journey", but the dialogue makes it a five star book. Maybe I'm biased as the main characters are all in their early seventies.

John le Carre RIP

 

John le Carre, who has died at the age of 89, has always been one of my favourite authors. I have read all of his twenty five novels. I first became a fan of his books with the Smiley Trilogy in the 1970's and have always eagerly anticipated his next novel.  His last, Agent Running in the Field, I read in October.

There is a superb obituary by Eric Homberger in The Guardian. 

Christmas 2020

 

This is the ninth year for our artificial pre-lit Christmas tree. It seems to get harder lugging the three pieces up and down from the loft. But it is worth it when it's done. The photo above is from 2011 and below from today. I'm always amazed when all the lights work.

We had to clear the cupboard top for Archie to lean on the radiator.

Tring Book Club - Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach

 

An easy, fast read that improved in the second half. We are introduced to a number of love lost characters who eventually gather at Buffy's run down hotel. To begin with they seemed somewhat pathetic lot, but as the story gathers pace, they all come out of their shells. Predictable, yes, but in these extraordinary days, a lot to be said for something light and frothy.

The writing, as with all this author's books, is no literary masterpiece, and at times even seemed lazy. Maybe she was trying too hard to be light-hearted. But Deborah Moggach knows how to tell a good story. There are the odd twists along the way to keep us guessing, but the book works best when it delves into the depths of human relationships. There is a classic section where only women sign up for a course on cooking, each one hoping that all the others would obviously be men.

Buffy's friend Harold tells him his first wife Doris was "a plate thrower ..... but I probably deserved it. I'm a lot easier to live with now". Me too.

Sweet Sorrow, Death in Summer and Master Georgie

The only "sorrow" for me was when I finished the book. David Nicholls has written a wonderful story about what it's like to be sixteen. Only these people are far more mature than I was at their age. But the book did bring back many memories of those days. Sweet Sorrow starts on the last day of school, our last assembly always finished with the hymn "Lord Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing", corny but with an emotional tug. In the book, "they trooped out to the disco" that was in the gymnasium. Ours was outside on the playing fields, at eighteen in 1963 we "danced" to The Beatles' first LP.

The book is set in 1997 and Charlie is at a loose end for the summer holidays. Convinced he has flopped his GCSE's due to family turmoil, he becomes a little estranged from his gang (thank goodness) and ends up at the Full Fathom Five theatre company who are putting on Romeo and Juliet. It is only because of meeting Fran that he reluctantly joins. Their blossoming relationship is at the heart of the story, although we guess that not everything will go to plan. There are some vague parallels with the plot of the play, but nothing obvious. Nobody dies.

Any novel that describes the workings of putting on a play will grab me every time, especially as it is written with warmth, humour and poignancy. All the characters Charlie meets there are superbly drawn, a real mixed bag. Charlie is given the part of Benvolio. "Benvolio was a sidekick, a conformist and observer; characters confided in him but felt no need to listen in return. Amazing, really, that people I barely knew had cast me so well". Quite a big part, actually!

All the roads where Charlie lives are names of authors. When Charlie learns about Fran's favourites: "She liked Thomas Hardy, but thought of him more as a poet than a novelist, to which I could only nod because I only knew him as a street name, and so thought of him more as an Avenue than a Crescent".

Near the end Charlie mentions "Lipstick on your collar. Told a tale on you". Not sure why the author mentions The Andrews Sisters. I only know (and own) the Connie Francis version. Sad, I know. There are many cultural references, most of the nineties stuff I didn't know (heard of Pulp, couldn't name a song). Although, again near the end, I had seen Webster's "The White Devil" in 2014 at the RSC in Stratford.

You would think from the back cover of Death in Summer, that the story is about Thaddeus Devanent, whose wife has just died, and Mrs Iveson, his mother-in-law who comes to look after baby Georgina. But for me the plot revolves around Pettie, the ex-children's home damaged "survivor" and would-be nanny whose experiences have left her bitter and dark. Early on, as the author paints in the background of these characters, he sometimes gets too wrapped up in character at the expense of moving on the story.

On occasions. William Trevor's undoubted masterly language is all that matters. When Thaddeus ruminates on the death of his wife: "The cruel ending of a life aggravates this shrouded disposition, while permitting it's exposure now." But as usual, the expert later development of the plot leads to a dark and emotional but satisfactory conclusion. The writer seems to be at his best when describing difficult or troubled young women, his brilliant "Felicia's Journey" being a case in point.

Despite the excellent prose, there is no real story to Master Georgie. Just a number of set pieces told by three alternating narrators who are from the same family or group. So almost short stories. The second half of the book describes how these characters get caught up in the war with Russia in 1854. I just found it terribly boring.  Quite a disappointment as I had enjoyed  the other six novels by this author.

A new bathroom

 

We had for some time been meaning to convert the separate bathroom and toilet into one room, and at last it is now complete. The photo above shows where the wall came down between the two rooms.

The photos above show how the old sanitary ware was stripped out and the final look. We are very pleased with the result.

Movies at Home - The Band Wagon, The Fourth Protocol and Vertigo

 

Choosing a film for a Saturday night, I came up with the Fred Astaire musical The Band Wagon. Although it was released in 1953, it has passed the test of time in some respects. It does have that big number "That's Entertainment" (written especially for this film) and "Dancing in the Dark" that was over far too quickly. Fred's dancing with Cyd Charisse was a dream. However, the big dance number near the end called "The Girl Hunt Ballet" was a big disappointment. Too long and too boring. Made no sense. Only for the very ending to be again, over too soon.

The Fourth Protocol falls into that category where the writer of the book should never be engaged to write the screenplay. My guess is that Frederick Forsyth's thriller is better in book form than on the screen. Here it seemed all pretty predictable and at times, quite hammy. Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan probably thought the same.

I was amazed that Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo seemed so dated. Again the writing did the film no favours. No wonder the script development was a difficult process. There is also a lot of time sitting in the car with James Stewart on the tail of Kim Novak. That needed a serious cut. The editing also left a lot to be desired. Then the only time the lead suffers from vertigo, the same shot is used time and again. I believe that when the film was released in 1958 it would have seemed quite ambitious. I did like the scenes filmed in San Francisco. It has apparently become a classic and that was why I bought the DVD. But I don't know why.

Wendover Woods, Pavis Wood, Aston Hill - The circular route revisited

 

It was a few years since I had walked one of my favourite Chiltern circuits. I started with the idea of walking from the car park at Wendover Woods to Pavis Wood and to come back the same way. However, once I had reached what I thought was my destination, I decided to walk on through Pavis Wood, down the hill at the end (using the tricky high level rocky path and not the low level muddy bridal way) and return climbing up Aston Hill. A two hour, six mile round trip.

Although the weather started off reasonably sunny, it soon clouded over and was pretty dark by the time I arrived back at the car. The paths were far less muddy once I reached Pavis Wood, so that decision worked fine.  Only I'm not used to long walks these days, so not sure how the run will go tomorrow.

An Englishman in Phillipopolis

An update on this post from November 2008

Rummaging through some old photographs, I found three from the Braintree County High school play of 1963. This was Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw where, in my final year, I played the part of Major Petkoff, a bumbling old army veteran. In Act II, I had a long speech where at some point Petkoff says "There was an Englishman in Phillipopolis who use to wet himself with cold water every morning when he got up. Disgusting!" On the first night I was completely thrown when the audience laughed. As they did again on many other occasions in what is Act II (wikisource has the whole text.)

  The last of the performances was on a Saturday evening. There was one big problem. Kenny Ball was playing that night at the Dunmow Jazz Club where my friends and I never missed a show, with a lager and lime in the pub before it started. All the big trad jazz bands played there: Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, the Dutch Swing College Band. And Kenny Ball was the biggest of them all. I think he may have only ever played one night at Dunmow. But there was no point buying a ticket. However, after the play, one of my friends arrived and, although it was late, persuaded me to go and see what was left. He must have had a car to get there? For some reason, we were allowed in without a ticket, and the band had just started it's second set. It was wonderful.

13th November 2020: A book I am reading about a sixteen year old boy who joins a theatre group in the summer holiday reminded me of when I was sixteen and successfully auditioned for the school play that year (a play always alternated each year with a Gilbert and Sullivan). For the life of me I cannot remember what the play was called. I only had a very small part, and I may have had only had one line if that. Then there was the after play party.

4th March 2024: Revisiting this post, I wondered if the night when Kenny Ball played Dunmow was actually the dress rehearsal for the play. That would make more sense, but who knows?

Agent Running in the Field, The Ballad of Peckham Rye and The Man in the Wooden Hat

 

Having read a damning review of John Le Carre's "Brexit" novel, I was dreading what it might contain. Fortunately, there seemed to me hardly any interruption to what is a very decent spy thriller. OK, the two main characters are very much pro Europe, but why not? The book is tightly written in the first person and moves along at a speedy pace. The prose is as good as ever, this is a writer still at the top of his game.

This is one of Muriel Spark's early novels written in 1960, twenty plus years before those later books that I thought were so much better: "Loitering With Intent", "A Far Cry From Kensington" and "Symposium". Peckham in South London does not come out of it well. Although our anti-hero Dougal Douglas (or is Douglas Dougal?) will not travel north of the river. I had to think back to those days in the city when I was fifteen.

The parts of the book I enjoyed most involved dialogue. This is Spark at her best. The story itself is strange and flat, until the frantic ending that is. I recently watched a documentary about the author on Sky and found out why she only wrote one long novel (The Ballad of Peckham Rye is only 140 pages). I actually chose the "The Mandelbaum Gate" for book club. It turned out that this longish book was not successful and she never wrote one of that length ever again.

This book is the "sequel" to Jane Gardam's wonderful "Old Filth". I say sequel, but it is more of a companion piece as it reveals the story of Filth's wife Betty. Well, her story from when she met her husband to be. I would have loved a section about her time as a young code breaker at Bletchley Park in the war. Maybe another book to come.

Here we are treated to some devastating moments in her later life. The author is so good at setting up an event before the actual revelation. Sir Edward Feathers QC still has a large part to play in this excellent domestic drama, as has his rival from the first book, Terry Veneering. I had forgotten that Eddie Feathers' specialty was building contracts, so when the book mentions their bible "Hudson on Building Contracts", I was transported back to my days as a QS and finding the "Hudson Formula" for the calculation of the costs of delay. (See note below).

In the Sunday Times this week, I found I was not the only one who was hugely impressed with these novels. Maggie O'Farrell, one of my very favourite authors, wrote in her full page spread about reading in lock-down, that "Jane Gardam's Old Filth trilogy (was) a revelation".

Back to Hudson. Contract Law was always my favourite of all the many subjects for my Institute of Quantity Surveyors (now the RICS) examinations. But perversely, it was the only paper I failed first time. I did have an impacted wisdom tooth during this second batch of exams (extracted the day after the last one) so I do have an excuse. It was the only paper I had to resit, that being successful in Leeds the following year. I prepared my first ever claim for delay in 1974 on a contract for 271 dwellings at Bretton in Peterborough. I used the Hudson Formula for overheads and this seemed to be partly accepted as my directors were able to negotiate a decent financial settlement. But not before we attended a lawyer's office where I was the only one of the team he wanted to talk to. Maybe it was Old Filth himself.