Ted Hughes; Stronger than Death, BBC2

[Stanley Stewart]

Last night's feature (10 Oct), Ted Hughes: Stronger than Death, a stimulating harbinger for the Poetry season, provided a compelling experience and a welcome companion to the Miller season now underway - a heads-up for the R3 documentary at 18.45 hrs today, before Death of a Salesman at 21.00hrs - and the Bernstein season, 25 years since his death, is also beginning to register its presence. Time, even in retirement, now at a premium!

I thought the Hughes feature did much to counter his reputation as a promiscuous and dominating man and was fascinated to see his daughter, Frieda, in her first TV interview, -she must now be in her early 50s - sympathetically redressing the balance. The writing had a Strindbergian intensity in its power-play and I'm now eager to revisit his Birthday Letters and Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar. Even the graphic imagery throughout managed to disturb. Contributions, too, from other family members, friends, poets and writers. A gripping 90 mins.

[antongould]

Last night's feature (10 Oct), Ted Hughes: Stronger than Death, a stimulating harbinger for the Poetry season, provided a compelling experience and a welcome companion to the Miller season now underway - a heads-up for the R3 documentary at 18.45 hrs today, before Death of a Salesman at 21.00hrs - and the Bernstein season, 25 years since his death, is also beginning to register its presence. Time, even in retirement, now at a premium!

I thought the Hughes feature did much to counter his reputation as a promiscuous and dominating man and was fascinated to see his daughter, Frieda, in her first TV interview, -she must now be in her early 50s - sympathetically redressing the balance. The writing had a Strindbergian intensity in its power-play and I'm now eager to revisit his Birthday Letters and Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar. Even the graphic imagery throughout managed to disturb. Contributions, too, from other family members, friends, poets and writers. A gripping 90 mins.

Thanks ss look forward to catching up on iplayer - the reviews of the Bate book are very "varied" ..

[Ferretfancy]

I'm not trying to start a fight, but for me the whole Ted Hughes saga is only pipped to the post for boredom by the interminable ramblings in the press about the Bloomsburys which I have been encountering in the Sunday papers for about the last fifty years.

[DracoM]

What is so sad that in a sense thought-provoking POETRY of both is getting mired in tirecsome and titillating psycho-babble.

[Stanley Stewart]

I did wonder when the usual negative nay-sayers would arrive!

"Be as thou was wont to be;
See as thou was wont to see;
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power." Oberon

[Ferretfancy]

I did wonder when the usual negative nay-sayers would arrive!

"Be as thou was wont to be;
See as thou was wont to see;
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power." Oberon

The concentration on bed hopping is my gripe, together with the excessive coverage.

Auden summed it up --

To the man in the street
Who I'm sorry to say
Is a keen observer of life
The word 'intellectual' suggests straight away
a man who's untrue to his wife.

[Stanley Stewart]

:) Auden lived in Bootham, a little more than a mile away from my front door. I always nod in affection as I pass the blue plaque at the entrance.

[Lat-Literal]

:) Auden lived in Bootham, a little more than a mile away from my front door. I always nod in affection as I pass the blue plaque at the entrance.

I lived at No 37 Sycamore Terrace off Bootham Terrace. Isn't/wasn't the plaque black?

Anyway, thank you for the reminder of an interesting part of a nice road in a great city.

[Stanley Stewart]

Indeed, L-L, a thoughtless blip on my part re the WA plaque! In a more positive vein I don't know whether you have visited York recently as the past two years have delivered an architectural facelift on t'other side of Bootham Bar which extends to the Museum Gardens. The Art Gallery closed for two years and opened its doors again on Aug 1st. the premises extended towards Marygate and, externally, Exhibition Square was re-paved and is now free of parked buses. The Theatre Royal has been closed all this year for major renovations, and is due to re-open with the panto in early December. The attractive Council buildings opposite, extending round to the Library, are also undergoing external renovations beneath the plastic sheeting. Overall a handsome vista. An on-going controversy re Museum charges although I must enquire how this is progressing, a possible compromise with free-entry days.

I first came to York during my national service stint, in the early 50s, when I was based at RAF Linton-on -Ouse - a brylcreem boy! - and instantly fell in love with the City. Even during my 36 working years in London, another City of magnetic attachment, I regularly returned to York for part of my holidays, especially during the triennial Arts Festival, alas no longer feasible in a draconian age, although the Early Music Festival continues to flourish on an annual basis.

Car parking was quite easy until the mid-90s when restrictions gradually required drivers to move in the direction of the footie grounds, Bootham Crescent. My niche on Bootham was between the Grange Hotel and St Peter's School. How often I would leave my car and unexpectedly meet thespian colleagues leaving the hotel for shopping trips; Ian Carmichael and Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden in Corrie) quite regular visitors - not together, I hasten to add!

Glad to see that the Clifton Cinema is still operational, albeit as a Bingo centre. It used to be owned as an independent cinema, together with the Rialto kino, Fishergate, by a local businessman, Prendergast. His son, John, formed a rock group in the mid 50s, the John Barry seven. A few years later, he started composing film scores, James Bond, The Ipcress File, etc and established a rich niche for himself in Hollywood!