Where beards wag all

The Golden Age of Angling

I love looking at some of the delightful old films and footage of yesteryear from British Pathe and the BFI.......with only a week or so of the traditional coarse fishing season left here are some films to get you in the mood. The Kentish Stour film looks like a Golden Scale Club excursion. I especially like the film of Ray Mumford fishing and making floats with his brother Vernon (suitably attired for a fishing trip I must say, splendid jacket Vernon). Watch out for Bernard Venables in the very last film. Settle down and enjoy, pass the port Gramps!

Holiday reading and viewing

I always have a healthy reading pile on the go. During the holiday season I do try to keep it realistic, so here it is for this holiday period. I also include a film which will be viewed at some time as, this year, we have not migrated east to our usual haunt of the North Norfolk coast. We are in the shadow of Black Hill - made famous in that most superb book by Bruce Chatwin. So, as you can see, the film of the book is essential viewing as I have not seen it for many a year.

Little Toller Books continue to release every book I have ever dreamt of........I don't know how they do it, but they are utterly brilliant. I thought it would be nice if someone published a book on mermaids - they did it! A book on Rena Gardiner I thought would be rather fine - they did it! The list goes on, but for the next week or so I am looking forward to reading Black Apples of Gower along with the other titles you see above. Happy holidays!   

Have you had enough yet?

I did weeks ago, before they even started. All of them totally removed from reality and nothing at all in common with ordinary folk on the street. I used to love getting updates from Oliver Postgate who had it all sussed out in his blog posts for the New Statesman - he made good sense of it all in this wonderful short 1974 Clangers film. You can see the full episode (courtesy of the BFI) by clicking here.

The Educated Trout

The start of the river trout season today - I am not out, but many will be braving the elements on this the opening day. May the spirit of Izaak be with you. As way of a celebration here's a little batch of films (1980) to get you in the mood - absolutely splendid stuff from The World About Us team (remember Salmo the Leaper?).Tight lines!

The Man From Nowhere

Seeing as we are in the spooky season I thought you would like this little bit of children's trickery from 1976. I can imagine this giving younger children the collywobbles but back in the day we were made of sterner stuff..........I don't like the look of him in the hat though. I must ask The Captain not to ask me to let the dogs out for their last sniff round the garden before bed tonight.

O Lucky Man!

Not only a great film, but an even greater soundtrack. My gatefold sleeved LP is well warn, but still gives off that nice 1973 crackle - magic! Enjoy! 

No digging here!

With the weather being so grim of late I have needed a fix of something slightly in keeping with these dark days. I remember as a child being especially fond at Christmas of such things as The Signal Man (1976) a BBC adaptation of the Dickens short story, The Stalls of Barchester (MR James) and also A Warning to the Curious (MR James) starring Peter Vaughan which had me cowering under the cushions.   

Friend Ferneyhough reminded me of an absolute gem (he watches it every Christmas) that petrified me and I watched it for the first time in years the other night. Really good for a winters night beside the fire. Another gem from good old Monty James - Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968). Michael Hordern is wonderful in the 1968 Jonathan Miller adaptation.

For the time being I hope you will enjoy this.......I won't be able to walk through the woods at Holkham Beach without looking over my shoulder......no digging here!

Such larks as never

It must have been my jaunt on the marshes, but I couldn't get one of my favourite films out of my mind. Not the whole film, but the first three or so minutes. The 1946 David Lean adaptation of Great Expectations, especially those first few minutes are probably some of the most atmospheric cinema minutes I know. Spine chilling for a young lad, poor old Pip - I dare not show it to my children......not just yet anyway.

Sounds Natural

This coming Sunday (26th May 2013) the gentleman of horror, Peter Cushing, would have been 100 years old. As a teenager I was a huge fan. I still am really. I find it very hard to turn over if one of his films are being aired - Not only was I a Hammer aficionado, but a Sherlock Holmes fanatic and he was one of the best.

I met him all too briefly as a teenager - I ventured to London to a signing that both he and Christopher Lee were attending at Forbidden Planet Bookstore I think. The queue was huge. I took along my VHS copy of the Hammer classic Hound of the Baskervilles. My turn came and sensing my nervousness he asked me where I was from. He was astounded that I had travelled from rural Gloucestershire and we had a natter for a while about birds (which he knew an awful lot about) and rivers. He loved the names of my Cotswold streams especially the Windrush and Evenlode. An over zealous shop assistant moved me on as there were rumblings in the queue, but it was worth it!

This Sunday, for the first time since January 1972, BBC4 Extra are airing the radio programme Sounds Natural. Peter is interviewed about his love of the British Countryside and birds.

You may enjoy his lovely voice here in a programme of appreciation (Great Lives from 2008) that Mark Gatiss did for Radio 4.

I thought of him this week as I heard my first cuckoo of the year in the Dorset Purbecks - I think he too would have liked that very much. I'll be raising a glass in his memory this Sunday and I hope you will too.