Micro review 14

 

Underneath the Archers by Graham Harvey (Unbound)

I think that regular readers of this blog, as well as those who know me on social media/in real life, will not be surprised to hear that my nerdiness stretches into all sorts of areas and that I am quite a fan of the radio soap opera The Archers.

I remember it being on the radio in the afternoons when I was a child, and I am sure that I can remember one specific afternoon sitting under the ironing board while the soap was on the radio - not an ideal place for a pre-schooler to play, sorry mum! Listening to the Sunday omnibus in bed as a student is also a fond memory.

More recently I dip in and out listening, but keep up to date by reading the synopses on the BBC webpage. When doing work experience with the BBC at the Mailbox in Birmingham I got to see the 'set' for the show - including the bar at The Bull. Sound effect props included an ironing board which felt very 'on brand' for me!

Anyhow, back to the book. Graham Harvey was the long time agricultural adviser to the soap, as well as a writer and storyline creator, and his book is an enjoyable mix of titbits from the show, thoughts on farming and its future, some rural history of England, and also some really interesting family history.

It is a niche book but it was a little bit like listening to The Archers - wonderfully comforting and like spending time with a friend you've not seen in a while.

Theatre 2016: Review One

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: The Live Tour, Norwich Theatre Royal, January 2016.

Hurrah! 2016 is going to be as theatre-filled as the last couple of years and what a way to start.

A couple of years ago, thanks to the kindness of a friend, Mr Norfolkbookworm and I got to go to a live recording of the Radio 4 'antidote to panel games' and came away thinking that we'd never laugh as much again.  On discovering that the team were coming back and that this time it wasn't going to taped for broadcast we queued early for tickets.

On arrival we discovered that Graeme Garden was unwell and that he would be replaced by Miles Jupp - not something that upset any of us as he is very, very funny in his own right.

The evening progressed much like a radio show, it was possibly a little ruder and a little more on the edge politically than usual but by the interval our sides really hurt.  After the break it got better with audience kazoo participation and possibly one of the best "You'll have had your tea" sketches I've ever heard.  Mornington Crescent with addition of the SatNav had me nearly falling off my seat.

This was just the ticket to start the New Year, and a real antidote to any incipient January blues.  I will confess that some of us are still trading jokes from the show each time we meet.

If you don't know the joy of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue I suggest looking through the Radio 4 and 4extra schedules to look for past episodes, or visit your library and borrow the best of compilations that they are sure to have...just be sure to do it in your pants..!

Shock horror a book review!

Fallen Glory by James Crawford.

I've been wanting to talk about this book for months and months. I read it way back in the summer when it was one of the books submitted for a project I was taking part in. I wasn't allowed to talk about it then but now the book has finally been released to the wide world I can do so.

I think that this may well be my favourite book of the year, fiction or non-fiction.

Crawford tells the history of the world in a new way, via the great buildings of various cultures. We visit, amongst others, the Tower of Babel, Troy, Mongolia, India, South America and then, right up to date, we get to the Twin Towers and September 11th 2001.

Of course it is only giving a snap shot of history but the buildings are cleverly linked and there are a surprising number of connections that I hadn't encountered before. Equally if a building/period of history isn't quite your thing then you can skip to the next location without disrupting the narrative.

Crawford is also good at explaining how myth interacts with reality and at no point did this book feel anything other than engaging, well written and informative. Not a hint of text book about it.

I don't think that the book was selected to feature on the radio as part of the project in the end but that shouldn't stop  you from giving it ago.

At least of the other books that I read and enjoyed did make the cut and details of the whole project can be found here and here.

The pictures are better on the radio

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue recording, Theatre Royal Norwich. April 2014.

Radio comedy often beats that on the television hands down, there are a few exceptions but in the main I'd rather hear things on the radio than watch them - the pictures are better!

Thanks to the generosity of a friend who stood in line outside the theatre on the day the tickets went on sale Mr Norfolkbookworm and I (along with said friend and another) got the chance to attend a double recording of the next series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. 

Without a doubt I think that it was possibly the funniest thing I have ever heard.

I've attended the recording of a radio sitcom before but this straight antidote to panel games was fantastic.  The regulars were all present (Jack Dee, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Crier plus Collin Sell on piano) and the fourth panelist, making her debut on the shoe, was Susan Calman.  Scoring was looked after by both Sven and the ever delightful Samantha.

Each episode recorded at least an hour of comedy and we were lucky enough to have all of my favourite rounds played - Uxbridge English Dictionary, Mornington Crescent and Sound Charades.  Even rounds I don't like so much normally - letter writing with players alternating words - is hysterical when you can see the faces the teams pull at each other and the corpsing it caused!
The laser display screen malfunctioned at one point with the audience thinking one thing was being 'mimed' but the teams acting out another!

The two shows we saw recorded will be broadcast on 30th June 2014 and 7th July 2014 and I can't wait to hear them and see what made the cut.  Oh and even though it was fun to see behind the scenes as the show was taped I still maintain that it makes better radio than it ever would television.

Old Friend

Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

A new book by Kevin Crossley-Holland has always been a treat and this one is no exception.

This is a book about a Viking girl's quest to find her father after he breaks a promise to her, and even in the time of great Viking exploits this stands out as an incredible journey. Solveig follows her father from Scandinavia through the inland waterways of Europe all the way to what we know as Constantinople.

As in all of Kevin's books there is great suspense and adventure mixed with a wonderful amount of mythology and legend. However unlike so many writers the strands weave together perfectly and each is essential to the plot.

I know very little about Norse mythology and I am now inspired to find out more but this lack of knowledge didn't spoil the book at all it just made the story feel more magical in someway.

I knew a little more about the Volga Vikings however as there was a fascinating In Our Time episode on these people last autumn - which is still available on the BBC Listen again service here.

There are usually a few words at the end of a book that strike fear into me as a read, those being "to be continued" but in this case I can't wait. Kevin Crossley-Holland will be coming to the library where I work very soon to talk about this book and I can't wait to ask him how long I will have to wait for the sequel.

My other question is going to be about how he creates such wonderful female characters. Gatty has long been a heroine of mine but Solveig's mixture of boldness, shyness, fear and curiosity has instantly tipped her to the top of my favourite characters.

I've heard Kevin speak on several other occasions and he is inspiring - best of all he usually has some artefacts or illustrations that have inspired his work and I'm hoping that this will be the case for this book too.

I know that this is a book I am going to want to re-read soon but this time I will have a guide to Norse mythology on hand to refer to so that I don't miss any of the detail.

In the name of full disclosure I should say at this point that I have known Kevin Crossley-Holland for many years and like him immensely but this review is of a library book and not 'sponsored' by either the author or his publisher.

Oops still no books!

Cabin Pressure recording (Drill Hall, 11th April)

I'm still not doing so well with the reading, well no I am doing fine with the reading - there are about half a dozen books that I am half way through - it is the finishing that is a problem.

My excuse this time is that I spent 6 hours traveling to and from London just to hear a 30 minute radio show recorded. And I wouldn't change that for the world!

Radio is a passion of mine, especially spoken word radio. I think that I could live quite easily without a television but if radio vanished I'd find it hard to cope. BBC Radio 4 is my station of choice, I don't like everything on it but there are some real crackers to be heard. Comedy in particular.

Mr Bookworm and I came across the wonderful Cabin Pressure either just as, or just after, series one was broadcast and have been hooked ever since. Like the best sitcoms it can be listened to repeatedly and as well as great humour has unexpected depths and sadness too. The BBC offers free tickets to recordings of most of its shows and so I put into the draw for this and luckily I got enough tickets that a Mr Bookworm, a friend, my sister, my brother-in-law and I could all go to a recording.

None of us knew what to expect and it all turned out to be a bit fraught at one point due to slow moving traffic, inability to read a map and non-moving trains. However by the skin of our teeth all 5 of us got in.

The script was more or less read through from beginning to end (only small stops for line fluff and missed cues) with the sound effects that create the atmosphere played to the actors there and then. I had thought that all of these effects would have been added later so to here the whole script almost as is was wonderful.

I'm obviously not going to write about the plot but it was side splittingly funny with wonderful asides just dropped in throughout, including references to one of my favourite songs. The out takes and actor asides were just as funny too.

One of the great thing about radio is the pictures that it lets you create in your mind, and I was bit worried that seeing the actors just read the scripts into a microphone would ruin this for me. It hasn't, it has just highlighted what a superior medium radio really is.

The best news - I also got free tickets to the recording on April 29th so I get to do it all over again! Who cares that it is Royal Wedding Day, that the trains will be packed and that it is 6 hours of travel for such a short thing? Not me!

Cabin Pressure is written by the wonderful Mr John Finnemore (his blog is just as good) and all photos used here are taken from that page.