Current Reading

I'm interested in history. I think there's something really fascinating in learning about what happened in the past, how things perhaps several hundred years ago have an impact on things today. I've read several books on 20th century history, first the Andrew Marr 2-book The Making of Modern Britain. The first goes from the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 up until the end of World War 2 and he second from 1945 up until the present day. I have Peter Ackroyd's first four books of his four-part series on the History of England.  The first is called 'Foundation, 'the second, 'Tudors', the third 'Civil War', and the fourth 'Revolution.' I'm not sure exactly when the final two books will be published or how far the series is likely to go. All these are worth reading. I've just finished reading 'Hope and Glory' by Peter Clarke, a history of the 20th century. I had wanted to read up as much as possible about the history of this period, so as to get a better understanding of why we're where we are now, with such things as Brexit, the E.U. and so on. I probably know more about the Tudor period, in particular anything to do with William Shakespeare, rather than this century.

My interest in history has always been there, but as we are members of both the National Trust and English Heritage you can't be ignorant of all the properties we visit which have connections to some aspect of history. One of our favourite places is Kenilworth Castle. It is a place just brimming over with history, particularly when connected to Queen Elizabeth 1. I read BBC History Magazine and recently started a subscription to History Today, which has had a revamp and is now in a far more compact format.

I've got a copy of  'The H.G. Wells Complete Short Stories.' I had watched a Sky Arts series called 'The Nightmare World of H.G. Wells,' which took a handful of his short stories and adapted them, rather in the style of 'Tales of The Unexpected' or 'The Outer Limits,' which are fantasy or science fiction-based shows. They did four of the stories as 2016 was the 150th anniversary of his birth. They adapted 'The Purple Pileus, 'The Moth', 'The Late Mr Elvisham,' and 'The Devotee of Art,' I've read the most famous story in the collection, which is a good deal longer than the average short story (I think it would be termed a novella) 'The Time Machine' and have read several of his novels, such as 'The Invisible Man' and 'War of The Worlds' but don't know the other stories so well. Today I read 'The Strange Orchid.' All these are exceptionally creepy and strange and not to be read when it's dark. I think 'The Strange Orchid' must have been the inspiration for 'Little Shop of Horrors.' 'The Time Machine', which I'm currently re-reading, is so good because it's convincing. The opening sequence, where 'The Time-Traveller' (who is never given his real name) is explaining his theories of time-travel, is done in such a way you can't not get drawn in, in a similar way to those of his friends who he's talking to. Then I have to ask, who is telling the story? As it's a first-person narrative, are we supposed to believe that it's actually H.G.Wells himself? It's no clear whether it is, but one is lead to suppose that it must be, probably because he wrote the story.

We have a bookcase which is bulging with books. Infact, we probably have more books than most people would usually have. A good deal of them need sorting and taking to a charity shop as they aren't likely to be read again. 

Reading and Writing

I'm currently reading a book by Andrew Marr, "A History of Modern Britain." It's about the period from the end of the Second World War right up to the present. I'm not exactly sure how far forward it ends, as it was last published in 2009, so I presume it closes with the financial crash of 2008. I read his other book, "The Making of Modern Britain,"which covers the period from the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 right up until V.E. Day. Apparently they were written and published in reverse order, which doesn't make sense, but I suppose if you'd had a success with one book it would make complete sense to do a history of the 20th Century. I read them in chronological order. I'm around one-third of the way through the book. As I'm interested in history, I was fascinated to read something which put things into perspective, makes some sort of sense of how we got to where we are now. The book covers the Atlee government which came in in 1946 and ushered in the N.H.S., the Welfare State, and other things we now take completely for granted. Particularly interesting to find out about such things as the Profumo Affair, The Bay of Pigs, the Harold Wilson government and the foundation of the E.U., with particular reference to that with relation to the recent E.U. referendum and Brexit. I have the first four volumes of Peter Ackroyd's History of England, the first being 'Foundation', second 'Tudors', third 'Civil War' and the latest, which Carol got me as a birthday present this year, 'Revolution' covering the Glorious Revolution. He seems to bring these books out every two years, so I expect the next will come out in 2018, and the final one (not too sure whether it will reach the 20th Century) in around 2020. Good to read these as it gives a sort of general history of England from about the time of the Romans up until modern times, and, like the Andrew Marr books, puts things into perspective.

I'm still watching 'The Man in The High Castle' and I've two more episodes of the second season to watch. Just as captivating as the first season. It's very subtle and clever. The period detail is quite brilliant. I can't imagine that either the BBC or ITV would produce this series. It's co-produced by Ridley Scott . Meanwhile, on BBC1 on Saturdays there's another series 'Taboo,' which is also a Ridley Scott co-produced series and stars Tom Hardy, who not only acts in it but co-produces the series. It's interesting to see so many film stars and directors moving into television. It must say something about the poor state of the Hollywood film industry when creatives return to television to tell stories, probably because most movies are just so thin plot-wise. Far too many superhero franchises, aimed at the 18-30 age group. Mindless stuff in my opinion. Television can tell far more complex stories, when they can have longer playing times, 10 hour-long episodes. If these shows are then shown on Amazon or Netflix, with all episodes available at the same time, not shown weekly as they would be on traditional television, the audience can binge on as many episodes as they like over a long period, and it saves having to wait a week before the next episode is shown.

I'm busily writing again. I've been spending a lot of time developing storylines and it means that by the time I've tweeted things sufficiently I can use these plot lines to help write stories and keep things ticking over.

More Reading and Viewing

I'm currently reading Andrew Marr's book 'A History of Modern Britain.' I read his earlier volume, 'The Making of Modern Britain' which starts with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and concludes with the end of the Second World War in 1945. This second book (which, apparently, was written before the other book.) takes up the story in 1945 with the General Election which saw Labour win a landslide victory and Clement Attlee becoming Prime Minister. This administration ushered in the Welfare State, the birth of the N.H.S.,  and National Insurance. I'm not sure this wasn't written to compliment a documentary series which Marr wrote and presented on BBC 1. I think I may have seen it, but, when I saw these two books in The Works in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre I had to buy them. Full-price they cost £9.99 each, but they were selling for £6 for both.  I have to say I love a good bargain, and at that price they were more than a bargain.

Yesterday evening there was a documentary on BBC1 which was a sort of complimentary programme to the drama series 'Call The Midwife,' which gave a background to that series and mentioned the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, so it was interesting to read about this in the Marr book and hear people talking about this on this programme.

I also learned that in 1947 there was a 'Big Freeze' that winter. Roads were blocked and food had to be rationed, even more than it had been during the war which ended in 1945. Things were certainly extremely tough. It reminds me of the winter of 1962-3. That was exceptionally cold. I lived on a farm and my father had real problems keeping pigeons off the Brussel sprouts which they grew on the farm.  They used what are called gas guns, contraptions which ran on cylinders of what I imagine would have been like caller gas, with a timer, and these things had a charge in them, with a timer, which was let off at a pre-determined length of time and which scared off the pigeons. It was one of these gas-guns which went off in the back of the Land Rover, which my father was driving at the time, and perforated my father's ear-drum and as a result made him profoundly deaf which he was forever after until he died in 1993. He did wear a hearing aid, when he could be bothered to wear it, but his hearing was never the same after that incident, as you can imagine. It must have been a very loud explosion, and in an enclosed space, as it would have been in the back of a vehicle and he would have been sitting quite close if he was driving the Land Rover. 

It was also the year I had my appendix out. I was supposed to go into Victoria Ward at Bedford Hospital over Christmas that year, but fortunately I went in well before Christmas so I could be at home for the Christmas period. I remember that ward, it had tile panels on the walls, each one showing illustrations for nursery rhyme characters. I don't imagine that old Victorian ward is still being used as a children's ward. Anyway, at Rushmoor School which I attended, no doubt after I returned to school in 1963,  the playground became so snowed over because it snowed and then thawed and then froze I seem to remember, the snow became so thick we had to go out and help shovel it off the surface (unlike today, when children don't have to help with anything at school, no doubt they would say it was contravening their 'Human Rights' to have to work, or even help to pick up litter which is something we had to do at school. Anyway, the snow was heaped at one end of the playground, against a wall, and when it was frozen solid, it began to push over the wall. I'm not sure it was able to actually collapse it, but I do remember it was pushed to a quite sharp angle.