Annus Mirabilis

It has been quite a year. It started with the installation of a new kitchen, to be followed by new radiators and new socket and switch plates and later new flooring and painting. We were glad when it was all over.

My retirement projects have been very satisfactory. I completed my research on "The Seymours" in March. After consolidating all my notes, I wrote the first draft of the screenplay in August. Apart from some minor editing, a printed version lies on a shelf. Channel 4's promise to reply remains unfulfilled, not surprising as they are cutting back. However, I am quite happy to forget about it, now I have achieved what I set out to do.

I had wanted for some time to make a fresh start on my family history since completing some basic research in 1999/2001. So in October I purchased some software called Family Historian and started entering the data I had collected on my father's side. This is almost complete. At the same time, I have been searching the Internet and found some interesting information that I can follow up next year.

Holidays have taken us to Jersey, the Lake District and Cornwall, with days out to the 02 to see the Tutankhamen exhibition, Cambridge, the Tower of London and Kew Gardens. I visited Bletchley Park, found the Chilterns walk described in Ian McEwan's Enduring Love and explored Hampstead. But the highlight of the year was obviously my trip to New York. To spend time with Michael and see the sights at the same time was unforgettable.

Best film of the year had to be No Country For Old Men, the best TV was the last episode of Ashes to Ashes and my best visit to the theatre was Taming of the Shrew at Stratford.

So, all in all, quite a year. And for next year? This will be a big year for my family history project, including a trip to Sheffield to search the archives, and to visit Cutlers Hall and other locations. Watch this space.

Body of Lies, Changeling and The Day the Earth Stood Still

If only the producers of the latest James Bond movie had seen Body of Lies before they started. Maybe they ought to pay it's director, Ridley Scott, whatever it takes. This is what James Bond would be doing today, fighting terrorism in the Middle East with high tech skulduggery and dirty tricks. Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe are passable as the CIA field operative and his home based boss, but the one actor who dominates is Mark Strong as the Jordanian intelligence chief. I loved the film, unlike most of the critics.

An even better movie is Changeling, brilliantly directed by the veteran Clint Eastwood (my mother loved him in Rawhide, he was seven years younger than she was back in 1959). The disturbing story unfolds slowly and deliberately, but never boring. The screenplay is excellent and the acting is very good, just not sure that Angelina Jolie was right for the main role. But what made the film for me were the sets and locations of America in 1928. The costumes, the cars, the lighting, everything was perfect.

I had no great expectations of The Day the Earth Stood Still after the poor reviews. However, I was pleasantly surprised. There was a solid underlying threat that sci fi movies need, and a reasonable pace to the action. It was probably helped that I chose the best seat with the biggest screen.

When I'm 64

With acknowledgements to Paul McCartney.

When I get older (It has been happening for a while) Losing my hair (Unfortunately, yes) ..........

I could be handy mending a fuse (Quite handy these days) ...............

Doing the garden (Looking forward to Spring) Digging the weeds (Never ending)

Who could ask for more (I couldn't ask for anything more) .......

When I'm 64 (And quite happy now it's here)

The Baader-Meinhof Complex, Quarantine and Max Payne

The Baader-Meinhof Complex is a true story about the early stages of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany of the 1970's would never make an easy film. At the beginning, these terrorists were called the Bader-Meinhof group after two of the founders. The film actually starts in 1967 with the visit of the Shah of Persia and the demonstrations that end in bloodshed. This tries to explain how the group was formed. What follows are a series of bank robberies (to gain funds), arson attacks, bombings and kidnapping. How the perpetrators were caught one by one is very well filmed. Their time in prison and the aftermath of their trials plays out against a group of new members. This movie needs a fair degree of concentration, but I found the story gripping, especially as a comparison with modern day terrorism. An excellent piece of film making.

Quarantine is quite good fun. Like Blair Witch and Cloverfield, it uses a single hand held camera as it follows Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter's sister) in making a TV programme about an evening with the LA fire department. At first, you can only guess at why they have been locked in the apartment building they have been called to. Gradually the tension mounts as the residents begin to change and the horror begins. Very clever.

What is there to say about Max Payne? Slammed by most of the critics, there is very little artistic merit. But the sets and location photography do have style. And it was basically a police thriller with a bit of a story. I sometimes don't mind when you can guess the plot early on, and just watch the hero find out for himself. Not too many gun battles always helps, so not a total disaster.

The 1937 Family Tree

Whoever compiled and drafted the Family Tree in 1937 (titled Genealogy of the family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937) is still a mystery to me. My best guess is that it was Charles Augustus Roberts, the younger brother of my great grandfather, Vincent Littlewood Roberts. They were both doctors, as was their father. Charles would be 72 years old in 1937, the right age for a retirement project. And I believe the reason why Vincent came into possession of the original (a spectacular handwritten huge piece of thick tracing paper) was that he was given the task of filling in the details of his children and grandchildren. But the following extract shows that this was never done.

I can only guess that Charles must have died, otherwise he would have made sure his brother completed the tree and sent it back to him. I will try to search for the death certificate of Charles.

So, from the family tree, I have been busy entering the data on Family Historian for all the descendants of Jacob Roberts who was born in 1726. I have left the descendants of his brother Samuel, hoping that his latest descendant, Sir Samuel Roberts of Cockley Cley Hall, will at some point do the same. The 1937 chart is a Descendant Tree and from this, and other information, I now have 166 individuals on the programme. I can now start inputting the details of the 30 individuals of the Ancestor Tree (or Birth Brief) that I researched in 1999/2001 that started with Dad and ended with his 16 great great grandparents. And that is only my father's ancestors, it will be a while before I start on mum's side of the family.

Going back to the 1937 Family Tree, I did find some flaws with some of the dates while carrying out my research. My guess is that Charles entered the dates from information from his family. One day this will all need checking with sources such as birth, marriage and death certificates, census information etc.

No Time For Goodbye, Bel Canto and The Innocent

An emotionally charged thriller, No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay is my favourite book of the year. Everyone who reads it will have their own solution as to why Cythia's family disappeared. But the reality is even more complex than you could guess. What keeps you reading is how the tension builds as you speed your way to the conclusion. Terrific.

Bel Canto is an extraordinary book. The setting is an international party at a grand house in a poor Latin American country where a beautiful American soprano has been flown in to sing. A gang of anti government soldiers burst in to capture the President. But he had stayed at home. A hostage drama develops and the story centres on a number of very interesting characters. The author, Ann Patchett, has won many awards and her story of the relationships that grow over the long weeks is heartwarming.

When I found that Ian McEwan had written a spy novel in 1990, it was irresistible. The setting for The Innocent in post war Berlin was equally encouraging. So why was I disappointed? Probably because the story suited a pacy thriller and what we got were passages of McEwan intricate descriptions, when all I wanted was the story to move on. This seemed to happen about a third of the way through. The first part of the book was interesting enough, and the final chapters were almost too painful to read as the action steps up a pace. So almost a great read, but not quite.

Mr Pancks

All the acting in the BBC's production of Little Dorrit is superb. But one performance that stands out is that of Eddie Marson as Mr Pancks, the debt collector. In the early episodes he is highly unlikeable as he squeezes the last penny for his employer played by John Alderton. But he becomes far more human in his other job as a private investigator. He relentlessly pursues the trail of the Dorrit family and eventually secures their inheritance. His drunken excitement at his quest's conclusion ends with his leapfrogging across the yard outside the Marshalsea Prison for Debt. Fabulous.

Old Family Photos

I spent the end of last week scanning all my old black and white family photos. Most were 2" x 2" taken by a box brownie camera. The scanner was brilliant as I could place six on the bed and it would recognise and scan each individually.

The picture of my brother John and I in Trafalgar Square in about 1954 caught my eye, mainly because the square was deserted, even in the middle of summer. How things have changed.


The same goes for a photo, which now includes brother Paul, at Heathrow, then called London Airport. There is the Queen's Building in the background that opened in 1955 as part of the only terminal, and that is all.

Love's Labour's Lost

On my continuing quest to see as many of the plays of William Shakespeare as I can, I took the advice of the critic in the Sunday Times and made my way on a dark and wet Thursday evening to Kingston Upon Thames and it's relatively new Rose Theatre. Losing my way at night on the infamous one way system, I managed in the end to follow the brown theatre signs and found one of the last spots on the roof of the car park.

I could not have found a better view than that from my seat in a well designed auditorium. Peter Hall's production was lucid and pacy. The acting was first rate in a play with little action. Peter Bowles was outstanding as Don Adriano de Armado. One of Bill's first, the play is an exercise in word play and "linguistic conundrums". If I have one criticism, it was that the actors were too static. I love how the RSC give so much movement to their productions. Just listening to actors delivering the text needs a lot of concentration. The Coca Cola in the interval did help.

Burn After Reading, Ghost Town and Quantum of Solace

You never quite know what you are in for when you go to a Coen Brothers movie. No Country for Old Men was an intense and serious story. However, with Burn After Reading we are back in Fargo territory, an offbeat thriller played for laughs. Fargo worked but this didn't. It was fairly entertaining and humorous, but the plot was stupid and the characters pathetic. The starry cast do their best, but their self obsession is pretty tiresome. Disappointing.

Ghost Town is an enjoyable "romantic" comedy. Ricky Gervais does really well in the leading role given that the dialogue is not always perfect. The location photography of New York is well done, and I have always liked Tea Leoni ever since Deep Impact. Not quite the Hollywood classic they hoped for, but a good try.

Some of the reviews for Quantum of Solace had not been kind, so I went with some apprehension that it would not be in the same league as Casino Royale. Not only was it a poor imitation of a Bond movie, but everything seemed to be wrong. Where do I start. Why a car chase to start? Just compare it with the chase in the previous film. Then the opening song, sorry - not my cup of tea. There were many references to previous Bond movies, all distressingly bad. The story was useless, the villains were wet and there was hardly any dialogue. What was left was a lot of action, mainly chases. You just can't plant Bourne type sequences into a Bond film and think that is sufficient. And the big set piece ending? What a let down. OK, the pace was fast and furious, Daniel Craig did his best and the locations were fine, especially the sequence at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. Just compare that with the horse race in Sienna. Were they really there? Lighten up Mr Bond.

Turville Valley Walk

I had kept the cutting from the Sunday Times of the 3rd of February as it described a walk in the western Chiltern Hills. Friday was sunny and cool, just right to explore this part of Buckinghamshire.

I had never been to Turville which was my starting point. Famous as the village where The Vicar of Dibley was filmed, it certainly is very pretty. The hillsides surrounding the valley were beautiful in their autumn colours.

The first half of the walk had the best views as it followed the ridge in and out of woods above the valley. There seemed to be red kites in the sky whenever I came out into the open, some came extremely close.

Once I reached Northend, the last forty five minutes was not so interesting as the route went through woodland parallel to the road back to Turville. The road was Holloway Lane, but was this the Holland Lane described by Ian McEwan in his book On Chesil Beach as "a sunken chalk track overhung with crumbling mossy banks that ran downhill to Turville". It must have been.

October Snow

It is amazing how the weather can change. Just over two weeks ago, it was a warm 19C. I n fact it was too warm for Alison's running the Ridgeway 10 at Tring. And I walked up Coombe Hill in warm sunshine.

It all changed this week. Temperature plummeted with frost overnight and a maximum of 7C in the day. And last night the snow arrived. Here it was little more than a light covering, but other places nearby had a lot more. Football that had started in the evening at Wycombe, Luton and Northampton all had to be abandoned. The South of England had it's first snow in October since 1934.

At lunchtime, Alison and I went for a walk in Wendover Woods. There had been at least two inches of snow and it made for a great sight, although it was starting to melt.

Brideshead Revisited, Taken and Eagle Eye

Just like when I went to see The Duchess, I was in two minds whether I wanted to see a period drama like Brideshead Revisited. But once again I was glad I did. Yes, the location shots were great, but it was the writing and acting that held the piece together. Emma Thomson had gained all the plaudits from the critics, but I thought the three younger members of the cast were even better, particularly Ben Wishaw as Sebastian Flyte. A man trying desperately to be happy and failing. That makes the movie a better modern version of the TV series.

Taken starts slowly, but you know whats coming. It was all pretty familiar and totally contrived, but you just sit back and enjoy the ride. It is Luc Besson back to basics, and his director Pierre Morel packs a punch. So does Liam Neeson, although he takes a bit of getting used to as the killing machine as much out for revenge as on a rescue mission. Powerful stuff.

Although Eagle Eye had been panned by the critics, I thought the trailer was good enough to give it a go. OK, it was a pretty trashy story and the writing was no better. But as a high tech action movie it worked fine on the big screen. You just have to leave at home that part of your brain designated intelligence.

The Barber of Seville and Sleeping Beauty

We have only been to see an opera once or twice, but I did want to see how the London Coliseum looked after it's major refurbishment in 2004. So I booked to see English National Opera in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. The theatre looked fantastic. The inside of the huge auditorium is highly ornamental and looks brand new. The stage is one of the largest in the world, so is great for big casts, and this production made the most of it. I really enjoyed the whole performance.

This was the fourth consecutive year that we have been to Oxford to see English National Ballet. After Alice in Wonderland and The Ice Queen, this year it was Sleeping Beauty. We always book early, so we are only a few rows from the front. This means that we are very close to the orchestra, which Alison particularly enjoys. The music is superb from the 60 musicians, and the dancing was very good. Alison thought the men were quite weak, but the performances of the princess and the lilac fairy were outstanding.

Walking Tour of Hampstead

Friday was the perfect day to start out on my exploration of Hampstead Village and Parliament Hill. These were high on my list of places to visit when I had retired. The weather was sunny and cool with clear blue skies, just right for my walk. I had plotted a route from "A Hampstead Village Walk" I found at www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkhampvillage.htm and used this as the basis of my tour.
But I wanted to start with Parliament Hill, so I tried the car park on East Heath Road. But as this was full, it meant trying to find somewhere else. I turned down Well Walk and there was meter parking with plenty of spaces. In fact, this turned out to be quite central and I left the car there all day.
I started off towards Hampstead Heath, past the station and up the road named Parliament Hill. At the top, the path in the picture leads up the Heath.

At the top, the skyline of London come suddenly into view. This is the photo showing Canary Wharf, the sight to the City with St Paul's is even better.

I made my way back across the Heath and took the path between Hampstead Ponds.

Back to where I left the car, I started off down Well Walk and , past the Wells Tavern, Burgh House and Campden Baths. At the High Street, a stop for a coffee and cheesecake in Starbucks was a welcome rest. The other side of Hampstead was just as impressive. These are the houses on Church Row.

Most of the streets are very quiet, the hilly squares are very pretty. Holly Walk, Mount Vernon, Holly Hill, Holly Mount, Holly Bush Hill, Admirals Walk and Windmill Hill took me up the Heath once more, before making my way back to Well Walk. It was still early afternoon, so I headed down East Heath Road, and made my way to Keats House. Back up Downshire Hill and Willow Road, it was time to make for the National Trust owned Fenton House which opened at 2pm. This was my last port of call, and well worth the visit.

The views from the second floor are almost as good as those from Parliament Hill. I thought I would enjoy a walking tour of Hampstead, but this surpassed my expectations. I was lucky with the weather, but that is one of the joys of retirement. You can pick the right day.

Family Historian 3.1.2

At last, I have purchased some family tree software. Family Historian 3.1.2 is the best british made programme on the market, and was used for the BBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?". I only installed it yesterday, and already have entered basic data for 32 ancestors and relatives, starting with Samuel Roberts born 1649. I also bought the manual, which is great for getting started.

So far, I have entered five generations. The chart is colour coded, but even in a black and white print, I am very pleased with the result so far. This is the ancestry diagram for Sidney Roberts born 1805.

The most interesting feature so far has been finding the parents of Sidney's mother, Mary Ann Morton. The extracts I took from "Hunters' Pedigrees" (of old Yorkshire families), when I visited Sheffield Archives in 2002, helped to confirm that her father Richard Morton was a silversmith, probably the one described in Edward Laws "Sheffield Silversmiths". This will be worth researching in time.

The Duchess, Tropic Thunder and Death Race

I had low expectations when I went to see The Duchess. One review said it was even less exciting than Marie Antoinette which was one of the most boring films I have ever seen. So I was pleasantly surprised by the charm of the photography, sets, costumes and particularly Keira Knightly. It is not a happy story, so to make it as watchable as it was says much for the director, writer and cast.

It is hard to describe Tropic Thunder. It's like a one trick pony as a pastiche on Hollywood. So it does become a little tiresome after a while. If it had been cut by half an hour, that may have helped. It was watchable in a mesmeric sort of way. Maybe without Robert Downey Jr it would have been less so. This is why I go to the cinema. On a small screen it would not have had the same impact.

Death Race is in the same category. English director Paul W.S. Anderson specialises in action pics ever since the success of Event Horizon and his latest film is all about action. Fortunately, the races themselves are only just not too long. A lot of the money went on the set of the island prison, and it paid off. The photography was splendid. I guess the film was panned by a lot of the critics because it had little story and pretty basic dialogue. But what you get is what you see.

What have I done to the lawn?

By the middle of September, the moss in the back lawn was the worst it has ever been. Alan Titchmarsh in his "Complete Book of Gardening " suggests that the solution is a powered lawn rake. Searching the net, I found a Bosch electric lawn rake and scarifier on Amazon, so off went my order. Two days before we went on holiday, I tackled the far back lawn that, in parts, was almost solid moss. I have to say that the rake does remove most of the moss and thatch. The problem, as advised by most of the reviews on Amazon, was the collection. I only had to travel a few yards and I had to stop to either unblock the debris or empty the basket. This was absolutely tedious and back breaking. But the machine did it's job, probably too well. There are now large patches of nothing.

The remainder of the lawn had to wait until we returned from holiday, and this time Alison did the back breaking part. The photo shows some bare patches, although not as bad as the far lawn. I may have to reseed the worst areas. I just hope it is worth it in the spring.



The bedding salvias behind the tubs are still going strong.

Cornwall in September

We are always so lucky with the weather when we go on our annual trip to Cornwall, and this year was no exception. We had a quiet day on the Saturday, just a stroll to Port Quin in the afternoon. On Sunday we packed our lunch and took the coast path westwards. This is our favourite walk, all the better as we do not have to use the car. The sea reflected the blue skies, the tide was high and the bays never looked better.


The next day Alison did her run to Rock and took the ferry, while I drove to Padstow and hired a bike to pedal down the Camel Trail to Wadebridge and back, before meeting Alison back at the car. Then fish and chips (my annual treat) at our usual cafe, and a stroll around Padstow.

We usually save body boarding for a wet day, but the weather was set fair for the week, so on Tuesday it was nice to go in the sunshine for a change. But there was a chill easterly breeze all week, so it was warmer in the water. The waves were the best ever. There was a period when, if you waited for the right breaker, you always were in for a long ride.

Wednesday was our day to find somewhere different. This year we headed for Penzance, where we spent a couple of hours exploring in the morning, before making for our main destination of St Michael's Mount. This needed a short boat ride as the tide was high and the causeway under water. You can just see the outline of the causeway in the photo. The harbour on the island is very picturesque, and the castle has great views. Well worth the visit.

We always do the same thing on the last day. Drive to Rock, a walk along Daymer Bay, the ferry to Padstow. There we walk up the cliff path and sit on one the may benches with views back to Rock and the harbour. This time we look a pasty to eat at the top. We were going to take a boat trip which goes close to where we stay at Port Quin, but it had become quite cloudy, so we are saving that for next year.

Get Smart, Hellboy II and Rocknrolla

I didn't expect much from Get Smart, so I was pleasantly surprised with this light comedy spy drama. I'm not a big Steve Carell fan, but he fitted the part of the main lead pretty well. And Anne Hathaway is always worth the price of admission. Reasonably funny in places mixed with some tidy action sequences, it was just OK.

I was not captivated by Hellboy II as had been most of the critics. It just seemed to me to be an advanced class in CGI. I found most of the film quite boring, it is hard to be positive about any aspect. I now remember the first half hour being a great opening (no CGI here), but I guess I just find Ron Perlman totally objectionable and wooden. I will not be going to the sequel.

Now Rocknrolla is a different story. Panned by many of the critics, it was my sort of movie. A comedy thriller right in the mould of Lock Stock. Lots of interesting characters ( this is the part Tom Wilkinson was destined to play, a great chief villain equal to Michael Gambon in Layer Cake.) Good story and dialogue, a fast pace and great editing. A real treat. Well done Mr Ritchie.

Memorable Mondays

With Alison's contract at an end, it was an opportunity to start visiting some of the places we had been talking about for some time. It transpired that the weather dictated that the only decent days of a pretty miserable August were Mondays. I had been to Cambridge a few times, but never as a tourist. What a treat was in store. The colleges were beautiful in the sunshine, and most of them were open. We looked inside the church of Great St Marys and I persuaded Alison to go with me to the top of the tower. It was worth it for the views.We spent some time around King's College, especially the chapel. The River Cam was fairly quiet, and it was just nice to stand on one of the bridges and take in the views.

We even found the quiet back road of Portugal Place and the exact terraced house where some of Alison's ancestors lived. She says that is why she always felt at home when she lived near the city.

The following Monday we were off to the Tower of London. We did go about eight years ago, so the only incentive for me was to see again the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula where most of the main characters of my screenplay were buried after their executions. However, I was surprised how much I could not remember from our last visit. This time we just went everywhere. The medieval palace above Traitor's Gate was just wonderful.

I had been trying to remember if we had ever been to Kew Gardens. We had talked about visiting for many years. When we arrived, it was obvious we had not been before. Being a Monday, the gardens were very quiet. Not only were the main large conservatories very impressive, but it was great just to walk around the grounds. Well worth the visit.

Spotted - a Grey Phalarope

When I arrived at the reservoirs at Marsworth this morning for a Sunday walk, I thought something must be up as there were a number of people clustered around the bank with cameras and binoculars. The object of the excitement was a plain little bird swimming on his own. When I asked what it was, I had to ask again. I had never heard of a grey phalarope. It normally frequents the arctic regions and the northern oceans, only coming this far south when there is stormy weather. He was still there when I returned from my walk, and twitchers were still arriving in the car park. Good of him to wait.

Famous Blue Raincoat

Reading advertisements for the mammoth Leonard Cohen tour reminded me how his monotonous and melancholic voice would put me off going. Instead, I will listen again to one of my all time favourite albums Famous Blue Raincoat. Jennifer Warnes has never recorded anything so beautiful as this, and the reviews on Amazon confirm I am not alone in this view. It is hard to believe that it was released in 1986, it sounds so fresh every time I play it. The combination of her voice and the Cohen songs is just perfect. A work of art.

How to be Good, The Outcast and In Cold Blood

Not the best Nick Hornby novel I have read, but How to be Good is quite funny in parts. Unfortunately, it does become a little tiresome and repetitive. If it had been squeezed into a book half as long, it could have been much better.

I found The Outcast to be spellbinding. It starts at the end of the war before plunging into the late 50's, so it conjured up something of my childhood. A cloud of menace hangs over the story, so it was never going to end well. The writing is poignant and subtle. Crucial events have slow beginnings which build beautifully to their inevitable climax. This should become a classic, especially for schools.

Ever since I had seen the two films about Truman Capote, Infamous starring Toby Jones and the inferior Capote with Philip Seymour Hoffman, I had wanted to read In Cold Blood. However, I found the true life story of the murders of the Clutter family in November 1959 heavy going. There was just too much information. There were too many peripheral and obscure characters whose backgrounds and intensively detailed. But I did find if I skipped these passages, I could enjoy the narrative much better. I will stick to fiction for my reading.

Three Generations of Cutlers

A little more information following my blog of 2nd July about Jacob Roberts baptised 1697. On the database of cutlers at sheffieldrecordsonline, he is noted as an apprentice cutler in 1709. We know it is him as his father is recorded as Samuel Roberts of Stubbin House, of whom he was the ninth child. Incredibly, he is followed there by his son Jacob, born 1726, apprenticed as a cutler in 1740, and then by his son Jacob, born 1764, apprenticed in 1785.

The middle of the three Jacobs is referred to in Edward Law's Sheffield Silversmiths Part 1 : "Jacob and Samuel (his brother) had been in partnership together from 1777 as makers of table knives and forks". He then became a partner in a firm of silversmiths with Samuel, John Eyre and Joseph Beldon who registered a silver mark on 8th January 1781. Unfortunately, Jacob died later that year.

His son continued to work for Roberts, Eyre, Beldon and Co and particularly for Joseph Beldon who was the London partner, by running the business in Sheffield. Jacob married Mary Ann Morton, the daughter of Richard Morton, another silversmith. In 1814 Jacob is noted as the treasurer at the first meeting of the general committee of the Sheffield Mercantile and Manufacturing Union. His son Sidney is also recorded as a silversmith on his death certificate.

The First Draft

The first draft of The Seymours is now complete. I was surprised that it took less than a month and that was not full time. The Times did a feature on scriptwriting and interviewed a number of writers. Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) says a first draft "doesn't take long, about ten days. A screenplay is normally 100 pages". That is a minute a page. Mine happens to be 97 at the moment. He goes on "I never look back while writing the first draft, I get too depressed at the gap between my aspiration and the outcome. It always appears frightfully mundane, unevocative, gauche, unfilmable, unreadable, unwatchable." (I know how he feels). "At the end you go back and go through it and through it again". I suppose I had better get going.

The X Files, The Dark Knight and Made of Honour

I was surprised that they made X Files - I Want to Believe. I always think the next in such a franchise has to top what went before. This fell a long way short. I was waiting for something menacingly alien, but all we had was a run of the mill serial killer yarn. Having said that, it was a passable story enriched by the setting. It was supposed to be wintry Virginia, but was in fact filmed in gorgeously snowy British Columbia. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson looked as if they were wondering why they were there, and then remebered the money. But Billy Connoly and Amanda Peet were worth watching. No superheros, no CGI, it made a change.

The Dark Knight does have a superhero, but it seemed that Batman's appearances were strictly limited, and this helped with it being a marvelous film. There have been enough reviews about it's reflection on our current anxieties of terrorism, all distilled into one persona. Heath Ledger's wonderfully disturbing Joker dominated the movie, even getting himself arrested to wreak more havoc. All the talk is about a posthumous Oscar for him, but will Christopher Nolan's direction win an award. It deserves to.

The only two reasons I went to see Made of Honour were it was a drama, of which there are so few in the summer, and the other was for the views of New York. The latter was probably the best thing about the film. After the intro from ten years ago, it fast forwards to the present day, and early morning on a street very much like the one where I stayed with Michael. I can remember when the jet lag kicked in, and watching a similar scene to that in the movie. The street cleaning vehicle, the shops opening, delivery trucks, an early jogger. They were all there.
The scenes in Central Park were similarly familiar: Hope Bridge and the Bethesda Fountain were prominent. Unfortunately, when the movie switched to Scotland two thirds through, the whole thing became acutely embarrassing. If you had been Scottish, you would have had to walk out. The whole time, not a drop of rain fell. Impossible. The only redeeming moment was when Oasis sang "Stop crying your heart out". An unknown, but terrific, track to me as it was from their little played fifth album. And a cameo from Hannah Gordon, a famous TV actress who is now sixty seven. The film ends in a church for the wedding. Not one in Scotland, but actually St Mary's in Edlesborough, a church that I have passed many times on my walks. Being near to Chequers, it was frequented by Mrs Thatcher for many years. I even photographed it a couple of years ago.

Bletchley Park

There was something on TV about Bletchley Park that reminded me I should try and visit, especially as it is only 35 minutes away. I looked it up on the internet, and on Wednesday I was off. Not Alison's cup of tea.

It is called the National Codes Centre and is a heritage site and museum. It was the centre of codebreaking in the war, and 8,500 people worked there. The Germans had the Enigma machine (also on display)to send coded messages. In 1939/40 Alan Turing devised the "bombe" (a polish name), to help search for the right settings, and a number were installed which ran day and night. It has taken 13 years to rebuild one of these machines as they were destroyed at the end of the war.

The allies used a five wheel Typex machine to send codes, and this was adapted to the Enigma'a three wheel to type the messages once the settings were found.

The site is quite large. Some of the huts are in need of repair and funds are needed to improve facilities.

The other interesting exhibit, in huts on the edge of the site, is the Colossus rebuild. By 1943, the Germans had a more sophisticated coding machine called Lorenz. Colossus is called "the world's first semi-programmable electronic computer" and was built to read Lorenz messages. Again, Collosus was taken apart after the war and the web site http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/ explains "the Americans have got away with the myth that the ENIAC was the first large scale digital calculator in the world. It was not, but they got away with it because Colossus was kept secret until the 70's."

Colossus has now ben rebuilt and is working with it's 2,500 valves (mostly obtained free from defunct telephone exchanges) in constant operation. When a Cipher challege was won by a German software engineer who decoded a message in 46 seconds using eight pentium processors and a modern pc, Colossus whirred away for 3hours and 15 minutes to get the same answer. Not bad for a 1944 Mark 2.

Wanted, Mama Mia and WALL.E

When I go to the movies, I prefer a decent thriller or drama. Not a super hero film, a musical or animation. But in the summer, that is all you get. Don't get me wrong. They all have their moments, so I'm glad I saw them all, especially the last.

Another graphic novel turned into a movie, Wanted is a mostly a series of action scenes. The dialogue is very poor, but I guess that is not what the film is about. For me, the best part of the film is an early chase sequence, when James McEvoy runs away from those trying to kill him. So all is fine, until he realises his powers. Then we off into a mish mash of all the shoot em up movies you can think of. With added zest, it just leaves you exhausted at the end.

When I first saw the trailer for Mama Mia, I couldn't wait to see it. I thought the stage show was brilliant. In the end, the film certainly had it's highlights, but was effected by some serious flaws. I have never been to a movie with so many highs and lows. A sentimental blast of Abba coupled with colourful ensemble singing and dancing tugged at the heart, but what followed was normally a big let down. The best people in the stage show for me, were the three men. They sang and fooled around with gusto. In the movie, they are frankly, diabolical. Nearly all their singing has been give to Pierce Brosnan, and his is an embarrassment. All three seem as if they thought it would be a good idea at the time, but wished they weren't there. Very different from the three women. Meryl Streep can sing, and Julie Walters is funny. If only the casting director had got it right, it could have been so much better.

There are very few animated films I like. Wallace and Gromit and that's about it. But the reviews for WALL.E were so good, I had to give it a try. And I'm glad I did. I thought it was a very brave and innovative film, something that all who worked on it were passionate about. And it showed. To have the main character whose only word is Eve-a, is this unprecedented? But the little robot is stuffed with character, whether he was selecting items of rubbish to keep, like the ring box but not the ring, or his excitement on flying through space with the aid of his fire extinguisher, which he even learns to use with delicate effect. I thought the contrast between the dirty, polluted Earth and the pristine space ship was excellent. And there were so many modern references to matters such as waste, obesity and pollution. The music was great. I will always remember Michael Crawford singing "Put on your Sunday Clothes". I will definitely watch next time "Hello Dolly" comes on TV. Brilliant.

A Perfect Day

We have had no summer to speak of so far this year. But the weather became distinctly warmer mid week, and shows no signs of letting up. Yesterday was Alison's birthday, and we spent the whole day together. Unusual for a Saturday.

We had to go to Aylesbury in the morning to sort out something with the business account with the Abbey. Coming out, Alison suggested an iced coffee and cake in M&S, and that was an unexpected but enjoyable start.

We then drove to Waddesdon. There is plenty of shade in the beautiful grounds and being on a hill, just a slight breeze. We took a picnic and sat on a bench under a tree. There are not many summer days as nice.




Back late afternoon, we caught up with some of 20/20 finals day, before getting ready to go out for dinner. When we booked our favourite Italian restaurant, The Akeman, we had no idea it would be so warm, so we wondered if they had a/c. However there was no need to worry, as they had lots of tables outside. Ours was situated on some lovely decking in the courtyard that was all in the shade, there could not have been a better spot anywhere that evening. The food was as good as ever, as was the service.

Back home, we watched the end of the 20/20 final come down to the last ball. A perfect end to a perfect day.

"The Seymours"

All my notes on the first three years of the reign of Edward VI have been consolidated into one chronological set. So, at last, I have started the screenplay in earnest. I am very happy at how the story develops and the order of the scenes. The writing is pretty atrocious, but this is only the first draft. I am told that it can easily take several.

I thought the free software I downloaded from the BBC produced a very basic and ordinary looking product. It was only when I found a website with hundred of scripts that they all at least looked like mine. If I can complete the first draft by the end of the year, I will be very happy.

The Taming of the Shrew

There are only a few plays by William Shakespeare that I have not seen, so that when one of them opens, I try to go. Over the last few years these have included Titus Andronicus and The Comedy of Errors. So when the The Taming of the Shrew opened at Stratford, I booked straight away. It turned out to be one of the best productions of any play I have ever seen. I have to agree with the critic from the Sunday Times who called it "a performance of such unrestrained energy and bravura" and with "the mayhem meticulously choreographed".

All this was necessary for what is a pretty stupid and chauvinistic plot. But who cares when the players arrive out of the back of a lorry and are tipped out onto the Courtyards huge thrust stage and rush to accost all of the surrounding audience. When you are in the third row, like I was, and on an isle, there is so much action that takes place a few feet away, actors dash by you and even land in the lap of the man in front of me, who was then hauled onto the stage. Yes, it is all mayhem, but beautifully staged and acted.

All this is down to the director, Conall Morrison, and a young cast headed by Michelle Gomez and Stephen Boxer. Every character was larger than life, whether using a regional accent or not. Typical of this great acting was Jack Laskey as Biondello. In a smallish part as Lucentio's servant, he lit the stage with personality. The Sunday Times gave the production four stars, I give it five.

In the footsteps of Ian McEwan's "Enduring Love"

I had always wanted to follow the walk described in the first chapter of Enduring Love, and to find the location of the balloon accident. There are a few hints in the description of the walk, but I had to spend some time working out what I thought would be the right way.

I parked the car at 10am to the promise of a sunny day. The first part of the walk is fairly straightforward. From Christmas Common I walked through Queen Wood and followed Hollandridge Lane.

Turning right at Hollandridge Farm, the path arrives at beautiful open fields before going into College Wood.

The book describes going west in the wood and this probably meant a detour that I didn't find. Then out into open countryside on the way to Pishill. This part of the route is as good as the author describes: "This was surely the finest landscape within an hour of central London. I loved the pitch and roll of the fields and their scatterings of chalk and flint, and the paths that dipped across them to sink into the darkness of the beech stands".

Following the Oxfordshire Way, the path goes through Doyley Wood before reaching Maidensgrove.

I then had to decide which route to travel the next three miles to reach the Ridgeway, as this is left to the reader. I headed for Park Corner on a path with equally wonderful views.

I arrived at the Ridgeway just before 1pm. It was lucky I was not wearing shorts as for half a mile the path went through a field of a crop that would have torn bare legs to shreds.

The book then leaves the Ridgeway: "we struck out along one of those broad fingers of land that project westwards from the Chilterns into the rich farmland below". It is hard to say where exactly this might be. I plumped for Harcourt Hill, but it could easily have been Ewelme Downs or Littleworth Hill.

They picnic on the north side of the hill, and this was where I had my lunch.

The route back is not described in the book as the balloon accident, which happens below their picnic spot, takes over the story. But I guessed that as the Ridgeway heads back towards Christmas Common, this is the obvious route. This passes the majestic Ewelme Park.

Then on to Swyncombe and it's 11th century church.

The last part of the walk is not very interesting. At least until I reached Watlington Hill which was close to my starting point.

I was back at the car at 4.15pm, a total time for the walk of six and a quarter hours. The total distance is about 13 miles, further than I have walked for a long time, so I was glad for a rest at the end. And the weather had been fine. Enough shade in the woods not to get too hot, and even in the sun it was not too warm until later in the afternoon. A memorable day.