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.