What are you reading now?

[Stanley Stewart]

I picked up John Heilpern's biography of John Osborne at an Oxfam the other day and have been ploughing through it. I'm up to the bit where Osborne has had his breakthrough success with LBIA and is just about to go through his doomed marriage to the equally doomed Mary Ure. So far, an excellent and engaging read - it's clear that Osborne was a very typical young person of his time, who embraced 'socialism' without a clear idea of what it really meant and whose 'radicalism' was little more than a reaction to the times he found himself living in (the blue and boring fifties). Looking forward to reading about his years as a Spectator columnist....

Thanks, Conchis, for prompting me to remove the two vols of John Osborne's autobiographies from the shelves: A Better Class of Person, 1929-1936 and Almost a Gentleman, (1955-1966) - both faber & faber. His later career was fully covered by several documentaries, including a two- part Omnibus. In turn, I am two years younger than the playwright, the 'dandy with the machine gun' (Ken Tynan) who covered the social upheaval of five decades with a use of invective which could enrage, yet still makes me laugh out loud at every reading. Sadly, I also remember his decline and watched him harass theatregoers as he moved around the aisles at the Old Vic who mocked the bathos in his last play "Watch It Come Down" in 1975.

In turn, as a thesp for 15 years, I also knew him on a casual basis at the Royal Court Theatre when I was short-listed to the last two as Nicol Williamson's understudy in Inadmissible Evidence which transferred to Wyndham's and, later, to New York circa 1964. Brian Cox got the job! Our last encounter was an unexpected meeting in Shaftesbury Avenue when he was accompanied by his fifth wife, Helen Dawson. John was also surprised that I already knew Helen who worked on the editorial staff of Hansom Books; Records & Recording, Music & Musicians, Plays & Players etc my first job in London, 1959, before I got a RADA scholarship! I was also acquainted with his first wife, Pamela Lane, a fine actress who never got her dues, but that's show biz. His pet hate was his mother, Nellie, followed by Jill Bennett his third/fourth wife? - always referred to her as Adolf.

"I have only one regret remaining now in this matter of Adolf. It is simply that I was unable to look down on her coffin and, like that bird in the Book of Tobit, drop a good, large mess in her eye."

I noticed that A Patriot for Me was recently broadcast on R3 but the ocassion passed without mention. My first memory was George Devine in the Royal Court production doing a delicious drag act. I'm confident that the wheel will eventually turn to the advantage of John Osborne for several plays and two outstanding biographies tabling change throughout the 20th century.

[Richard Tarleton]

Just finished Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends - Philby and the Great Betrayal. Not a biography of Philby, rather it seeks to tell the story through the prism of the friendships in particular between Philby, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 (his career-long friend, who conducted his final interrogation in Beirut) and the Anglophile James Angleton of the CIA - and of course a host of other characters. Since MI6, KGB and CIA files remain closed much will remain forever unknown and subject to conjecture, but there is vastly more source material available since the last books I read on this subject - Peter Wright's Spycatcher (1987) and Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville's Philby - The Long Road to Moscow (1973).

Macintyre tells a great story, and the extent of Philby's betrayal and the human consequences are chilling. The insights into the workings of the old boy network, club and class system are eye-popping. How either side - British or Russian - put up with Guy Burgess remains a mystery to me.

There's an Afterword by John Le Carré who had long conversations with Elliott in the late 1980s.

[Conchis]

Thanks, Conchis, for prompting me to remove the two vols of John Osborne's autobiographies from the shelves: A Better Class of Person, 1929-1936 and Almost a Gentleman, (1955-1966) - both faber & faber. His later career was fully covered by several documentaries, including a two- part Omnibus. In turn, I am two years younger than the playwright, the 'dandy with the machine gun' (Ken Tynan) who covered the social upheaval of five decades with a use of invective which could enrage, yet still makes me laugh out loud at every reading. Sadly, I also remember his decline and watched him harass theatregoers as he moved around the aisles at the Old Vic who mocked the bathos in his last play "Watch It Come Down" in 1975.

In turn, as a thesp for 15 years, I also knew him on a casual basis at the Royal Court Theatre when I was short-listed to the last two as Nicol Williamson's understudy in Inadmissible Evidence which transferred to Wyndham's and, later, to New York circa 1964. Brian Cox got the job! Our last encounter was an unexpected meeting in Shaftesbury Avenue when he was accompanied by his fifth wife, Helen Dawson. John was also surprised that I already knew Helen who worked on the editorial staff of Hansom Books; Records & Recording, Music & Musicians, Plays & Players etc my first job in London, 1959, before I got a RADA scholarship! I was also acquainted with his first wife, Pamela Lane, a fine actress who never got her dues, but that's show biz. His pet hate was his mother, Nellie, followed by Jill Bennett his third/fourth wife? - always referred to her as Adolf.

"I have only one regret remaining now in this matter of Adolf. It is simply that I was unable to look down on her coffin and, like that bird in the Book of Tobit, drop a good, large mess in her eye."

I noticed that A Patriot for Me was recently broadcast on R3 but the ocassion passed without mention. My first memory was George Devine in the Royal Court production doing a delicious drag act. I'm confident that the wheel will eventually turn to the advantage of John Osborne for several plays and two outstanding biographies tabling change throughout the 20th century.

Fascinating stuff, Stanley. Thanks for sharing!

I made very short work of the Heipern biography, which was extremely readable and engaging, despite - or perhaps, because it told such a bitter tale. Like you, I think Osborne's best work (and I'd rate PATRIOT as not just O's best play but one of THE best plays of the twentieth century) will survive as long as drama does - it certainly deserves to.

I'd rate Helen Dawson as one of the finest drama critics who ever drew breath: she's hardly remembered now, largely I think because she didn't try to score points or make herself look clever at the expense of what she was reviewing. Her reviews in P&P managed to convey her own impressions while also being as objective as they could be about the evening's own merits. A difficult feat and not one many critics achieve - or, these days, aspire to. I never knew either her or J.O. but I think it must say something good about them both that they had such an enduring and affectionate partnership.

[verismissimo]

The Hebrew Melodist: A Life of Isaac Nathan by Catherine Mackerras.
Catherine was the mother of Charles Mackerras, who was great-great-grandson of Nathan.
Isaac Nathan: composer and writer, pupil of Domenico Corri; Hebrew Melodies composed by him to Byron's poetry, requested by Nathan; associations with royalty and aristocracy did not prevent him running into debt; emigrated to Australia as a consequence, the first established professional musician there; first operas composed in Australia: Merry Freaks in Troublous Times (unperformed) and Don John of Austria (1847, revived 1997 by Charles Mackerras).

[LeMartinPecheur]

Just read Wilkie Collins' No Name, a mere 740 pages in the Wordsworth edition.

A 'good read' in that it kept me turning the pages, mainly to find out whether it was to be happy ending or sad, and how/ why. Won't spoil it for those who don't know and may wish to find out. Anyone else here completed the marathon??

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just read Wilkie Collins' No Name, a mere 740 pages in the Wordsworth edition.

A 'good read' in that it kept me turning the pages, mainly to find out whether it was to be happy ending or sad, and how/ why. Won't spoil it for those who don't know and may wish to find out. Anyone else here completed the marathon??

Oh yes - and isn't the first chapter a shocker? Pre-reminiscent (?! - by which I mean, if it were taken out of context and people asked "Who do you think wrote this?", they might suggest an early/obscure fragment) of Virginia Woolf. I think it's my favourite of Collins' novels - less sensationalism (though that isn't absent) and a real probing of the nature of identity.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Oh yes - and isn't the first chapter a shocker? Pre-reminiscent (?! - by which I mean, if it were taken out of context and people asked "Who do you think wrote this?", they might suggest an early/obscure fragment) of Virginia Woolf. I think it's my favourite of Collins' novels - less sensationalism (though that isn't absent) and a real probing of the nature of identity.

Not sure what sort of shocker you mean fhg! The end of Ch 1 has the girls' parents mysteriously leaving their Somerset idyll for London, to get married (whoops!) as we later learn. No great shocks plotwise yet. Or do you mean stylistically, like Virginia W as you suggest? Must confess that it hadn't struck me that way.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Err ... am I getting it confused? Doesn't their father set off to catch a train and ... well, doesn't?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Err ... am I getting it confused? Doesn't their father set off to catch a train and ... well, doesn't?

Indeed, but quite a bit later (p.104, end of Ch X).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Indeed, but quite a bit later (p.104, end of Ch X).

Yes!! (Page 80 in the Penguin edition) - so much I'd forgotten! Just checked, and started reading the marvellous first chapter - I think it's time to read this again!

[richardfinegold]

Tell Me Who I Am, a Spanish novel recommended but R.T. I am enjoying it, but it does seem as though the Author has borrowed from Maria Duena's two books

[gradus]

A beautiful and sparely written book, The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks. About as remote from The Lake District of Wainwright as you'll get but just as affectionate.

[vinteuil]

Just read Wilkie Collins' No Name, a mere 740 pages in the Wordsworth edition.

A 'good read' in that it kept me turning the pages, mainly to find out whether it was to be happy ending or sad, and how/ why. Won't spoil it for those who don't know and may wish to find out. Anyone else here completed the marathon??

... many thanks for the nudge : haven't read it for thirty years, but loved it then. We're off on our hols on Monday ; the weather forecast not brilliant - I shall pack No Name as my good read. Mme V is taking The Old Wives' Tale ....

[Richard Tarleton]

I read Armadale many years ago, I just had to have a look at Wiki to remind myself of the plot I thought it a ripe melodrama at the time, but another view to be found in the Wilkie Collins Journal....

[LeMartinPecheur]

I read Armadale many years ago, I just had to have a look at Wiki to remind myself of the plot I thought it a ripe melodrama at the time, but another view to be found in the Wilkie Collins Journal....

When vinteuil has finished his holiday read it may be interesting to discuss 'W Collins and Melodrama' further...