2019 Talks

I think that the talk I gave at Treadwells Bookshop on Thursday went very well and as usual I met some interesting people afterwards. I signed a few books, some had even brought in copies of the first edition of Netherwood for signing. I'd like to thank everyone who came along and especially Christina and her staff at Treadwells who have been the best bookshop outlet for Netherwood.

One young man told me about a writer I have to confess I'd never heard of before called Stephen Volk. He recently wrote a book called Netherwood which features as part of a trilogy of novels about famous men and the locations they are often associated with: so we have Peter Cushing at Whitstable and Alfred Hitchcock at Leytonstone (with Aleister Crowley and Dennis Wheatley at Hastings - although I should point out that these two never met at Netherwood in 'real life').

I'll try to get hold of this book The Dark Masters Trilogy see here.

Also various interviews with the author online. In this one there are a couple of details mentioned that  make me think that the author may have read my Netherwood although he doesn't mention it by name.

Certainly the dramatic and fictional possibilities of Crowley's last three years at Netherwood are still ripe for mining - I have met a couple of lovely chaps who wrote a play about it, although I'm not sure if it's ever been staged and it crops up in A Chemical Wedding (by Julian Doyle & Bruce Dickinson, have to be honest I thought this book  wasn't very good; I haven't seen the film with Simon Callow as AC) and Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Century. I'm sure there must be many others. Obviously, the novel of that name by Jane Sanderson has nothing whatever to do with the Hastings guesthouse.

One point I made in the talk was about the huge amount of misinformation on Crowley (and indeed Netherwood, often referred to as a 'cheap' 'shabby' or 'seedy' boarding house in numerous books, articles and online sources). As just one example see the first post here correcting numerous mistakes to be found in a biography of Led Zeppelin (which also includes a very favourable reference to my book in the 11th citation - thank you to the poster).

Further talks in 2019:

Thursday 31 January Folklore of Underground London Kensington Central Library 18:30-19:30 FREE  BOOK HERE

Thursday 21 February Subterranean City: Beneath the Streets of London 18;30-19:30 FREE
BOOK HERE

Tuesday 9 April Underground Folklore of England Kensington Central Library 18:30-19:30 FREE BOOK HERE

In July I shall probably be talking at Westminster Reference Library about Decadent London and the 1890s. TBC

As usual my books will be on sale at all these talks at discounted prices.

Belated Happy New Year!

Personally, whatever else has been going on, 2018 was a good year for me.  Thank you everyone who bought one of my books, or attended one of my talks or events.

I don't often do end of year lists but I'd like to mention, as far as books are concerned, a few of my favourites this year:

• Shawn Levy Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome.

Biographer of the Rat Pack produces another engrossing page-turner that I devoured remarkably quickly, followed by a viewing of some of the key films mentioned in the text. I love Italy and (some) of its culture.

• Damian Le Bas The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain

A much older slant on the 'liminal' school of British geography -see earlier blog entry.

• E M Forster Howard's End

Never read this classic before - put off by Forster's 'heritage' image - but really enjoyed this strangely subversive novel, which I read over the Christmas holiday, part of my mother-in-law's dusty but fascinating old library.

I get very little time to go to the cinema to see new films, so all the films I enjoyed are old and on DVD - most of them in black and white:

(Antonioni) Trilogy  La Notte, L'Eclisse, L'Avventura.
(Franju) Eyes Without A Face
(Varda) Cleo de 5 a 7
(Murnau) Sunrise
(Wilder) One, Two, Three
The Woodfall films box set - I never grow tired of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and all the other films in this set still stand up.

Musically, again it's been mostly old stuff that I've only just discovered. I was particularly impressed by two records by the 1970s English 'Krautrock' band Nektar: Journey to the Centre of the Eye and A Tab in the Ocean. Rather more recent the output of Norwegian (where else?) prog, jazz, fusion, psychedelic trio Elephant 9 see here. Another Norwegian outfit who look interesting are Needlepoint, see here.

Gig of the year - let's go for The Bevis Frond at Blackmarket VIP in December - great psychedelic light show and suitably 'far out'.

Must also mention Dewa Budjana who played in Hastings this year - my second favourite after BF. I knew nothing about him and at the gig bought his cd Zentury, bedecked with one of the worst covers and titles ever, but some interesting music within - I love the first cd but the second is harder to warm to. Some really adventurous electric guitar playing on here in a Mahavishnu style, but with a lot of unusual scales and syncopation - he's Indonesian and seems totally unknown here, although he has some stellar musos playing with him. His website here.