What are you reading now?

[HighlandDougie]

(have put Doctor Faustus to one side... )

Jocelyn Brooke, The Orchid Trilogy

a neglected master, I think. The influences of Proust, Huxley, Firbank are evident, but he has his own voice. Elegiac but also funny - observant and wry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Brooke

.

I had forgotten all about Jocelyn Brooke. 'The Orchid Trilogy', and the Denton Welch Journals are in Scotland. I'm in France so, in the interim, have ordered, 'The Dog at Clamberdown', through Abe Books to remind me of how much I enjoy his writing. Un grand merci, M. Vinteuil for the reminder.

[richardfinegold]

The Sea Runners, by Ivan Doig. It’s about 4 Swedish men indentured for 7 years in Russian Alaska in the 1850s. They make their escape by stealing an Inuit Canoe and paddling 1000 miles to reach Astoria in current day Washington State, fighting the sea and Natives along the way.

[gradus]

The Scarlet Tree vol 2 of Osbert Sitwell's autobiography, now running alongside Evelyn Waugh's diaries and The Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius both of which more or less fell out of the book shelves whilst I was looking for something else.

[Ian Thumwood]

I've just finished re-reading King John. It's a few years since I last read it and I'd forgotten what a superb play it is, a considerable advance on the Henry VI plays I think. Quite satirical and aimed at an Elizabethan audience with its references to a threatened invasion and a quarrel with the Pope.

Marc Morris 's account of King John is excellent too. He was easily our worst ever King .There was more to him than the films about Robin Hood might suggest.

[smittims]

Oh, I wouldn't say John was that much worse than Charles I. Whe one considers the number of lives unecessarily lost,the Stuarts were surely one of the worst things that happened to England and Scotland between the Black Death and the First World War.

[LMcD]

Oh, I wouldn't say John was that much worse than Charles I. Whe one considers the number of lives unecessarily lost,the Stuarts were surely one of the worst things that happened to England and Scotland between the Black Death and the First World War.

I didn't realize (or had forgotten) that Leonard Rossiter died between the production and transmission of his portrayal of King John as part of the BBC's 'Bardathon'.

[smittims]

How sad to hear. A man of many parts. Who could forget his 'The Lead Man cometh' in Steptoe and Son.

[Leodis]

Now reading “Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie” an intriguingly candid memoir by the hairdresser who created his Ziggy Stardust look. She went on to marry another pop idol Mick Ronson. Bowie’s music featured in a BBC Prom in 2016.

[LMcD]

How sad to hear. A man of many parts. Who could forget his 'The Lead Man cometh' in Steptoe and Son.

He reappeared in 'Steptoe and Son' in 'The Desperate Hours, in 1972, He passed away on the 5th of October 1984, aged just 57.

[Petrushka]

He reappeared in 'Steptoe and Son' in 'The Desperate Hours, in 1972, He passed away on the 5th of October 1984, aged just 57.

There was a wonderful extended article in the Guardian about three weeks ago about Rossiter. I haven't yet worked out how to do a link on my phone but a Google search should find it easily enough.

Well worth reading.

[french frank]

Now reading “Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie” an intriguingly candid memoir by the hairdresser who created his Ziggy Stardust look. She went on to marry another pop idol Mick Ronson. Bowie’s music featured in a BBC Prom in 2016.

I didn't know he was David Jones. Bryn Terfel was also a Mr Jones. Tom Jones was a Mr Woodward.

[french frank]

There was a wonderful extended article in the Guardian about three weeks ago about Rossiter. I haven't yet worked out how to do a link on my phone but a Google search should find it easily enough.

There were three Guardian articles at that time. Michael BIllington:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/07/leonard-rossiter-physicality-british-theatre

Interview from 1969 with Terry Coleman:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/06/leonard-rossiters-rise-interview-1969

Remembered by various colleagues:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/oct/04/leonard-rossiter-rising-damp-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin

[Petrushka]

There were three Guardian articles at that time. Michael BIllington:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/07/leonard-rossiter-physicality-british-theatre

Interview from 1969 with Terry Coleman:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/oct/06/leonard-rossiters-rise-interview-1969

Remembered by various colleagues:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/oct/04/leonard-rossiter-rising-damp-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin

The last one of those was the one I had in mind. Thanks for the other two which I hadn't seen.

[gurnemanz]

I saw Leonard Rossiter twice on stage: the famous Artur UI and Feydeau farce at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon. Both were vivid and memorable theatrical experiences.

[Ian Thumwood]

Has anyone else struggled with Maggie Shipstead's Grand Circle?

I love books about aviation but this one was on my shelf for a year before I picked it up this month. It was nominated for the Booker yet I found it extremely annoying with the story about the aviatrix being drawn out and the alternate chapters about the actress portraying her in a film being bogged down I hipster speak. The story was not gripping at all and it became quite depressing. However the language was the most problematic issue for me.

I quite like foreign writer yet have often found American writers too wordy or alternatively writing trash like Tom Clancy. This effort was far too pretentious and was extremely tedious in comparison with other authors writing about aviation. Not a patch on St. Exupery and I had to concede defeat after about 150 pages. Picked up another Ian Rankin instead ...