She has a new book out about the scattered Anglo-Saxon Royal bones in wooden chests at Winchester Cathedral too.
I have started re-reading Ian MacDonald’s Beatles magnum opus ‘Revolution In The Head’, which analyses the recording of every Beatles song, including post-break up songs such as ‘Free As A Bird’.
Great to read while listening to the track under discussion.
I love Noel Gallagher’s comment, printed on the back - ‘F*cking amazing book, man…’
Available as a Vantage paperback.
I think I’d avoid any version with a Gallagher quote as a point of principle. It’s an excellent book though and I always find myself dipping back into it a couple of times a year.
Ben MacIntyre. I think I have read all of his output and have enjoyed them all. You wouldn’t think there is much new in this subject but he finds a few new angles. Not finished it yet but enjoying it.
Did Ben MacIntyre write the book about a tramp whose body the Allied secret services in WW II dressed up as a Captain, and left on a beach in Spain for the Nazis to find, with a briefcase containing ‘secret’ papers about the D Day assault on the French coast?
I have a vague recollection that it was called ‘Operation Mincemeat’ and that Ian Fleming was one of the secret service agents involved.
Yes, Graham. I first heard of this via a much older book, ‘The Man Who Never Was.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
There was an old B/W film, which may have shared that title.
I remember a scene in which a War Department secretary was asked to write a series of love letters, which were to be found on the body.
Gruesome, but fascinating.
I suppose that, if Ian Fleming hadn’t had those sorts of experiences in the military intelligence community, we would never have got James Bond.
Fleming waas a keen birdwatcher and took the name from a book he owned where he had an estate. Birds of the West Indies, by James Bond.
Absolutely. Wikipedia has a good account of his wartime intelligence activities. He wasn’t a man of action himself, but a planner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming
Listening to this on Audible (read by the author). Fascinating insight into the Cameron-led Conservative Party (needless to say he’s not particularly complimentary!)
As with any political memoir it needs to be read with a degree of scepticism as it is naturally coloured by the authors own viewpoint, but that being said it’s still a fascinating read. Personally I think this country would be in a far better place now if Stewart had won the Tory Party leadership contest.
I’m on holiday and reading this reworking of David Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead. Updated to the modern day and set in the poverty- stricken backwoods southern Appalachians in Virginia. Utterly brilliant - moving, angry and funny. Written in the first person, Demon’s voice is as vivid and original as that of one of my all time favourites - Owen Meany
Been reading the interviews around that. Piqued my interest.
After returning from my wine-tasting vacation, I reread Peter May’s “The Critic,” a mystery set in the French vineyards and all about wine-making. This time I understood it.
Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
Really enjoying re-reading something we first read as fifteen year olds in Mr Purcell’s class at school. I have come across a reference to ‘character is destiny’, which I like.
Girl Woman Other is also on the go too. Brilliant. Will pick it up again.