Two Netherwood Events in December

 

Over 200 (of 500) copies of the Green third edition of Netherwood have now sold and it's less than a month since publication.

The book launch and signing went very well last Sunday. I'm sorry that some people could not get in to hear my reading as it was so crowded. I met a lot of interesting people who I hope will enjoy reading the book.

There are two events arranged for December - close to the date of Crowley's death on 1 December.

I'm doing a talk on the book at the wonderful Twelve Hundred Postcards bar in Hastings on Wednesday 2 December at 7pm. 

Tickets are available here.

Esteemed author Jake Arnott has recently published a novel called Netherwood and he and I shall be talking about our similarly-named books at Mayfair Library in London on the evening of Thursday 3 December.

Details to be announced here soon.

Netherwood Big Cartel Page Live

The new paperback edition of Netherwood is now available from Big Cartel HERE and HERE

See also the Mansion of Gloom website HERE

The new edition includes two articles not in the previous two editions and an envelope of enclosures secured in the inside cover flap. Also some new illustrations black and white and colour.

Copies will be for sale at the Hastings Book Festival in September HERE

 

Mansion of Gloom available for online purchase on The Big Cartel

Mansion of Gloom: the Unsettling Legacy of Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is now available to purchase online through The Big Cartel Accumulator Press shop. The ideal Christmas present at £25.00 for what is bound to become a collector's item with a limited edition of 500 (50+already sold).

Click here to visit the shop.

The book should also be available from the following shops:

Hastings Hare & Hawthorn

St Leonards Black Gull Books

London Watkins

London Treadwell's Books

Mansion of Gloom Launch, Website and Trailer

 

The new book Mansion of Gloom: The Unsettling Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher will be launched on 7 December at Tadhg Mae Projects in George Street, Hastings Old Town. Please note I shall be there between 3 and 5.30 (possibly staying a bit later) to sign books and have a chat. Apart from being an art gallery Tadhg Mae also sells Poe-related items, witchy stuff, candles and cards. 

Quality 650-page paperback retailing at £25. Also includes a bookmark and separate booklet with Poe's tale in full (see website).

There will be other book-related events including a London launch and film and music evenings in 2025. 

The website for Mansion of Gloom can be found here.

Trailer by Luciana Haill here.

Netherwood and Father Divine

Watching the recent harrowing BBC4 documentaries on Jonestown (I remember buying a cassette of the 'Jonestown  Death Tape' from a street vendor in New York many years ago), reminded me of my interest in younger days in religious cults and charismatic cult leaders (Anthony Storr's Feet of Clay is an excellent introduction) - of course Crowley also fits perfectly into this category.

It also brought to mind an episode in the history of Netherwood before the arrival of the Great Beast, that I discovered by laborious wading through microfilm editions of The Hastings & St Leonards Observer (it wasn't digitised until after the first edition of Netherwood was published).

Netherwood under the ownership of Vernon and 'Johnnie' Symonds played host to a series of radical, stimulating and varied events that drew famous speakers and enthusiastic audiences to the Hastings guest house. In January 1939 The Daily Mirror proclaimed that Netherwood was to host: 'Europe's first "Extension Heaven" according to the style of America's Father Divine, the negro who calls himself "God"'.

Father Divine (c1876-1965), probably born George Baker - his early life is shrouded in mystery, he later called himself Reverend Major Jealous Divine - was a charismatic African American spiritual leader who from around 1912 claimed he was God. He built up a significant following amongst African Americans (around 25% of his followers were white) and from 1932 to 1942 was based in Harlem, New York.

Disciples purchased several hotels there, which became known as 'Heavens', where followers could live cheaply and practice his teachings; other local businesses were also bought up - further 'Extension Heavens' were soon established elsewhere. Dogged by controversy and scandal (much of it no doubt racist-inspired), Father Divine relocated to Pennsylvania, where his following and health gradually declined, although he continued to preach in favour of certain civil rights and against bigotry. He died in 1965 and was succeeded by Mother Divine (his Canadian wife Edna Rose Ritchings (c1925-2017). An obituary of Mother Divine here.

Feastings and lavish banquets were part of Father Divine's form of worship and celebration and it was this aspect of a 'Heaven' that was to be emulated at the Netherwood gathering, together with 'all night dancing and singing'. There's a very useful article about the Father Divine and the feasts here.

The 'rally of Father Divine's English disciples' centred around a Mrs Joyce Newton from Fulham who, having spent two weeks in Harlem, returned converted to the doctrine of Father Divine - her husband and three sons were also followers.

In the article Vernon Symonds is quoted as telling the Mirror reporter: 'that there must be something in the doctrine that has attracted so many people black and white' and had therefore, 'agreed to make his home the starting point of a national campaign'. He added 'I have no financial interests in the venture, but believe that these well-meaning people should be given a chance to make their faith known in England.' On the evening of 4 February 1939 around 40 people were to arrive at Netherwood, where 'disciples of Father Divine will mingle with those who want to learn something of the new religion.'

A few days before the event was due to take place the Hastings & St Leonards Observer carried an article with the headline 'Father Divine Party -"Misleading" Newspaper Publicity' in which Vernon Symons commented: 'The statements alleged to have been made by me to newspaper correspondents over the weekend are completely fictitious and should be disregarded.' He explained: 'I do not know anything about the teaching of Father Divine. From what I have been able to gather from the popular press, I imagine I shall have little sympathy for his message, but I am anxious to know all I can about any movement that achieves wide publicity.'

Despite the fact that Vernon's political and religious views would probably have made him sympathetic to Father Divine's cause, the event was cancelled, owing to the 'very unpleasant publicity' (his words) it had received in advance; Vernon Symonds had no plans to rearrange it.

More Magickal Battle of Hastings

Christopher Josiffe has kindly agreed to talk about Rollo Ahmed and Eric Dingwall (of Borley Rectory fame - see earlier posts here) at the Magickal Battle of Hastings.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite here.

Events

I did manage to get to the Folk Horror Revival conference at the British Museum last month.  It was totally sold out and very busy (how I dislike modern lecture theatres with long continuous cramped rows with no aisles between them).  A lot of the subject matter was already familiar to me, but one or two leads will be followed up.  A few days earlier I watched Robin Redbreast for the first time, a Play for Today with a nicely sinister performance from Bernard Hepton.   Two special guests put in an appearance towards the end - Shirley Collins and Reece Shearsmith, who both participated in the Q&A.  Shirley Collins mentioned that when she lived in Hastings and walked with her mother and sister along the Ridge, there was one point where they crossed over the road - to avoid 'the house where Aleister Crowley lived' (Netherwood - see my book).

Even though I don't make an effort to see him talk any more (as I once did) Iain Sinclair was one of the most interesting speakers, making some insightful comments on Witchfinder General and its director Michael Reeves.  A good review of the event here.  Very nifty badges given out, by the way.  I met English Heretic (who should have been asked to speak or perform - he was name checked at the conference) at the end and we went for a drink.  We discussed doing a joint event next year in Hastings similar to the one at the Electric Palace in 2012, but at a different venue.

Richard Cavendish died a couple of weeks ago.  A historian who wrote extensively on the occult before it was being seriously investigated by the Academy (very different situation these days), Cavendish was the editor of the hugely influential early 1970s journal Man Myth and Magic (I picked up a bound edition from Treadwells a few years ago) - he also wrote on Arthurian matters.  Obituary here (cannot find one that is non-subscription at the moment).

Gary Lachman will be talking about his new biography of Colin Wilson at Westminster Reference Library on Friday 9th December between 6.30 and 8.00.  This is a free event.  Booking details very soon.  Copies of the Secret Tunnels of England book will be on sale - Gary contributed an excellent essay.

The monumental Pink Floyd Early Years box set is released next week, at great expense.  I think their transition from avant grade experimentalists to multi-million selling chart act is fascinating, although I could safely never listen again to anything since Wish You Were Here.  Amongst a number of rarities are recordings made with the book-destroying artist John Latham.  See this article by David Toop.

Netherwood and Borley

Still in a Halloween mood I've been looking through a few ghost books in my collection and came across photographs of the notorious Borley Rectory, subject of some highly imaginative 'psychic investigations' by ghost hunter Harry Price.  I couldn't help noticing a certain architectural similarity with Netherwood - both houses were built in the 1860s.  There's also a link to Price through C.E.M. Joad who was a regular visitor to Netherwood and who collaborated with Price on a number of projects.  Photos above: top Borley Rectory; two of Joad and Price in the Brocken, complete with goat; bottom Netherwood.  Some relevant text by me below:

Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (1891–1953) was an English philosopher and prolific writer, a socialist and a member of the Fabian Society.[1]  Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he later produced a steady stream of philosophical texts while working as a senior civil servant, until in 1930 he was appointed Head of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London.  He left his wife in 1921 and lived thereafter with a succession of lovers, introducing them all as ‘Mrs Joad’.  In his opinion sexual desire was like a buzzing bluebottle that had to be swatted before it distracted a man of intellect; he had been expelled from the Fabian Society in 1925 for sexual misbehaviour at a summer school (he did not rejoin until 1943).  Learned, opinionated, witty and a gifted explainer, through books such as his Guide to Modern Thought (Faber & Faber, 1933) and Guide to Philosophy (Victor Gollancz, 1936) Joad became this country’s foremost popularizer of that thorny subject.  He was interested in Eastern philosophy and regularly contributed to the Anglo–Indian Theosophical journal Aryan Path.  In 1932 he founded, with H. G. Wells (1866–1946) and others, the Federation of Progressive Societies and Individuals. 

Joad also became involved in psychical research and from June 1934 was Chairman of the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation (not an official body of the University and not based there), whose Honorary Secretary was the controversial psychic investigator and ghost hunter Harry Price (1881–1948).[2]  In June 1932, as part of the centenary celebrations of the poet Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Price and Joad had travelled to the Brocken in the Harz Mountains (where the Devil had tempted Faust) to conduct a black magic experiment, the so–called ‘Bloksberg Tryst’, in which a goat, through the incantations at full moon of ‘a maiden pure in heart’, was to be transformed into a ‘youth of surpassing beauty’; unsurprisingly, the demonstration, which in any case was intended to show the inefficacy of ritual magic, failed.[3]  On 5^th October 1932 Harry Price invited Aleister Crowley to speak at his National Laboratory of Psychical Research at No.13 Roland Gardens, SW7.  The Great Beast delivered an erudite talk on ‘Amrita’, the ‘Elixir of Life’ while avoiding the subject of sex magick.[4]

A garrulous and gregarious figure like Joad could always be sure of receiving dinner and speaking invitations.  In his autobiography he described visiting an establishment very similar to Netherwood, although the book was published in the same year (1935) that Vernon and Johnnie took over the guesthouse:

‘I have been in the habit for many years of spending occasional weekends in the country with a couple who cultivate weekend entertainment as an art.  Very carefully they select their guests.  The chief qualification in a guest is that he or she should be a prominent person, with the reservation the kind of prominence should vary as much as possible from guest to guest and from weekend to weekend.  For example, if there are prominent politicians one week, there will be prominent painters the next.  If famous people cannot be had, they will stage a weekend consisting entirely of the relations of famous people.[5]

---

[1]  Geoffrey Thomas Cyril Joad (Birkbeck College, 1992); Kingsley Martin ‘Cyril Joad’ New Statesman and Nation 45.1154 18^th April 1953 pp.446–447; ODNB article by Jason Tomes

[2]  Paul Tabori Harry Price, the Biography of a Ghost–Hunter (Athenaeum Press, 1950), Trevor H. Hall Search for Harry Price (Duckworth, 1978), Richard Morris Harry Price, The Psychic Detective (Sutton Publishing, 2006)

[3]  Harry Price Confessions of a Ghost Hunter (Putnam & Co. 1936) pp.334–343; Morris Harry Price, The Psychic Detective op. cit. pp.155–160.  This absurd publicity stunt was witnessed by, amongst many others, Dr Heinrich Brüning (1885–1970), Chancellor of Germany, author Boris Pastenak (1890–1960) and artist Paul Klee (1879–1940)

[4]  Aleister Crowley ed. and intro. by Martin P. Starr Amrita, Essays in Magical Rejuvenation (Thelema Publications, Kings Beach CA, 1990) p.xv

[5]  C.E.M. Joad The Book of Joad, A Belligerent Autobiography [first pub. as Under the Fifth Rib 1932] (Faber & Faber, 1935) p.57 

The Corvo Cult, The Yellow Peril and Netherwood

The launch party at Maggs for The Corvo Cult by Robert Scoble was very enjoyable.  Some reports with pictures here and here.  Fortunately, I resisted the temptation of buttonholing Barry Humphries and probably making a fool of myself talking about the 1890s.  I've always wondered if he's read Decadent London - I asked my publisher to send him a copy on publication, but I doubt that happened.  The book itself is very entertaining and would probably be of interest to non-Corvines: AJA Symons, author of the classic Quest for Corvo appears in an unflattering light as an untrustworthy individual and avid collector Donald Weeks as a belligerent obsessive - see earlier posts on Corvo.  One strange mistake - twice we are told that the Corvines celebrated the centenary of his death in 1960 - he was born in 1860 and died in 1913 aged 53.

Christopher Frayling's new book on Fu Manchu and the Yellow Peril was reviewed in yesterday's Guardian.  It's a pity that Lord of Strange Deaths was not out last year as was intended as it's unlikely to be reviewed, given the fact that this book with a major publisher is already on the market.  I have to say this is not a new experience for me in the dog-eat-dog world of publishing.  The book is still being worked on and is unlikely to appear for the talk in December I would imagine.

Frayling's book is an admirable attempt to cut through the more fantastic aspects of Rohmer's biography - rather than revealing any new information about him, he trawls through the types of newspapers and journals that Rohmer wrote for in the period just prior to the First World War, uncovering the roots of the spread of Yellow Peril coverage in England and the appearance of proto-Fu Manchu figures in their pages.  I found this the most interesting part of the book - it clearly showed the influences, not just on Rohmer, but on an entire population, of this type of journalism.  The historical side of things was less sure I felt, but the final chapter on the long lingering death of Rohmer's fiendish villain in popular culture is characteristically encyclopedic.  There was stuff in there that I knew nothing about, but then Frayling had access to archives in the US that I had no chance of seeing and presumably had some funding for his efforts.  The illustrations are imaginative and excellent.

However, from this week I plan to work solely on my next Accumulator Press book, which is about 25% done, with the aim of publishing it myself as soon as possible.  It will revisit a couple of subjects I've covered in the past, but in more detail and will hopefully be attractively designed, by me and the street artist Stewy and his partner, like Netherwood.

Talking of Netherwood, I recently subscribed to the British Newspaper Archive which includes a long run of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer and have gone through every reference therein to Netherwood.  Fortunately it doesn't appear that I missed much in plodding for weeks through the microfilm version, but one area that I couldn't face scanning every week was the ad section in which for example the date of the sale of Netherwood by Vernon and Johnnie Symonds was recorded.  On 21st December 1949 it was sold to Harry J Kaye and his wife.  In February 1951 a case was recorded in the County Court, with Vernon Symonds claiming a £99 balance on the sale; the plaintiffs eventually withdrew their action and the defendants agreed to pay £75.

Rollo Ahmed in Hastings

The second part of Christopher Josiffe's piece on Rollo Ahmed can be found in this month's Fortean Times.  He lived in Harpsichord House in Hastings Old Town in the mid-1950s (according to electoral registers Abdul Said Ahmed and Theodora M. Ahmed lived there in 1954 and 1955).  When I was going through parts of the huge Yorke Archive at the Warburg Institute I found a letter written in 1954 by Ahmed's wife to Lady Frieda Harris asking to be put in touch with friends and followers of Aleister Crowley.   In the same year the Daily Sketch carried a story about him, wherein he is described as a 'black magic practitioner' and 'father of five, [a] dark-skinned slim man with white hair and a carefully trimmed Vandyke beard.'

His 'temple of black magic', a locked room on the first floor, consisted of 'a vast, clean, sparsely-furnished room with tall latticed windows...A cheap lithograph of Christ on the mantelshelf is crowded by jungle idols, an incense burner and a painted sphere used in occult rites.'  The room's walls are lined with '30 hard uncomfortable chairs' with a table at one end, where Ahmed sits, dressed in a 'red silk scarf, fawn beret and duffel coat'.  This is probably the room that's used as a studio by the Royal Academician who currently lives in Harpsichord House.   I've always thought this building had a slightly sinister appearance, the room in question sits above a footpath with steps down to the Old Town in Cobourg Place and makes this part of the path quite dark, although there is a lamp - opposite the front door a metal-covered opening (frequently peeled back) is presumably a disused entrance to the St Clement's Cave complex.  As I said in the previous post, John Martyn lived two doors down from here in the 1970s.

In the article Ahmed awaits the arrival at the weekend of a woman seeking to re-ignite the affections of a former lover; the ritual he has devised will be lit by a single candle.  He will 'receive her in a purple-cowled cloak and a black cardboard mask to the throb of jungle drums - a gramophone record.  Music will play too...'  Ahmed had already sent her a talisman (he had received the man's army identity bracelet and a lock of his mother's hair) which has 'called for work on two periods of the new moon.  The aim of the power is to compel the person to do as you wish.  If they do not then misfortune will be their lot.'  The article under the headline Father Practises Black Magic in Temple at Holiday Resort includes a rather unsettling photograph of Ahmed sitting hooded and masked at his desk in his temple.

A few years ago I went on a ridiculously sensationalized ghost walk around the Old Town (apparently Sweeney Todd spent his early years at a butchers in the High Street - see my Folklore of London for the history of this fictional character).  By Harpsichord House we were told that Aleister Crowley had lived nearby (place unspecified) and would repair to the nearby castle in the small hours to sacrifice children.  Crowley's only place of residence in Hastings was Netherwood on The Ridge and by that time he was in no fit state to slaughter the innocent. However, I wonder if some confusion with Rollo Ahmed (who had known Crowley, as is clear from Josiffe's article - he helped him find lodgings in London according to A Memoir of 666 by Alan Burnett Rae that can be found in Sandy Robertson's The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook p.23) has fed this rumour about a so-called Black Magician living in that vicinity.

Looking for a photo of Harpsichord House I found this article (unfortunately it's from the Daily Mail) about Alastair (!) Hendy's restored Tudor house in All Saint's Street, which we visited once on an open day.  He also runs a very old-fashioned (and expensive) ironmongers (and occasional restaurant) where I bought my favourite much-used feather duster.

Netherwood Updates

I've been meaning for a while to add any additional research and information here for the benefit of those who may have purchased the Netherwood book - still just about available I believe.

I recently wrote a letter to Julian Bream, who I idolized as a young man attempting to play the classical guitar and I saw him give recitals many times in London, especially at the Wigmore Hall.  I wasn't really expecting a reply, so I was very chuffed to receive a hand-written letter in beautiful copperplate last week.  My enquiry was principally about the online interview with 'Johnny' Symons, wife of the proprietor of Netherwood, wherein she says;

'A couple called Caplan frequently brought down a boy named Julian Bream who would play the guitar for the guests. After his recital we would pass the hat around and the money collected would pay for his next lesson. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.'

The book on Bream's early years by Stuart Button contains no mention of this and I was unable to contact the author.  I thought I'd go to the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Julian Bream's concert debut was in Cheltenham on 17 February 1947 at the age of 13, so the visits would have to have taken place during the following  couple of years, before the house was sold.  According to his written recollection he visited Netherwood in 1948 in the company of 'commercial artist' David Caplan who drove him down from London.  Interestingly, he says that he only played one recital there and that the 'small fee' he received was 'not for the next lesson...but the next meal!'  The intriguing possibility that his audience might have included Aleister Crowley can therefore be dismissed as he had died at the guest house the previous December.

The Hastings & St Leonards Observer is now available online and fully searchable for much of the period of Netherwood's existence.  As I had to spend many hours trawling through the microfilm version I intend to subscribe, hoping that I didn't miss some vital news story (looking through the headlines it doesn't look as if I did, but I will certainly check).

Weekend Otherworld

A reminder about this fascinating event at Goldsmith's College at which I'm booked to speak early on in the proceedings about my latest book (which has almost sold out now) - I'll be sharing the bill with Haunted Shoreline (see Blog List opposite).  Organised by the indefatigable English Heretic.  Other speakers/performers/artists include John Cussans, Lisa Cradduck, Blue Firth,  Nicola Woodham, Ken Hollings and Dean Kenning.

Events in the coming months

Time to advertise a few events coming up over the next nine months or so.  Firstly, Sophie Parkin will be talking about the Colony Room Club at Westminster Reference Library on the evening of Thursday 13th December between 7 and 9pm.  Details here, an article on her history of the club here and a tour here.  There's also a talk at the same place on actress Ellen Terry this coming Tuesday 4th December, which I would recommend.

Another noble venture is London at the Library - A Salon for the City who are organising a series of events at the same venue on the last Thursday of each month.  I'm involved in one of them and other speakers will include Sukdev Sandhu, Rachel Lichtenstein, Matt Brown from the excellent Londonist, Catharine Arnold and possibly Robert Elms and Iain Sinclair.  The full programme should be available on this site at some point.

Also at the library, on Friday 8th February 2013 from 6.30 to 8.00pm, A Gentleman of Hastings will be talking about Aleister Crowley's final three years at the Netherwood guesthouse and Gary Lachman will discuss Madam Blavatsky, the subject of his latest book.

I enjoyed this fascinating interview with Jonathan Meades on The Quietus site this week.