Poems, as we have seen, can terrify children. But what about the pictures we unthinkingly display in our houses?... At the bookshop years ago I had a colleague named Jefferson who slicked back his hair and wore a black three-piece every day and who claimed that in his childhood living room was ... Read More...
General
Why is it so hard to turn around on the street without indulging in some meaningless ham acting? Here at last is Brit's complete Beginner's Guide to the phenomenon known as Pavement Panto™... Well, he couldn't keep walking north forever. At the next corner he stopped, looked indecisive, then patted himself all ... Read More...
Following his pieces about publisher's sales reps and his first year working in Waterstones, Steerforth completes his book business trilogy by asking: Who becomes a bookseller?... What type of people work in a bookshop? Are they passionate, slightly unworldly bibliophiles, who live and breathe books? Or are they a bunch of slackers, who break out ... Read More...
Stephen gives us two rather wonderful anecdotes... I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Ludwig Wittgenstein admired Samuel Johnson. Perhaps I should not have been surprised: both of them sought -- to use one of Wittgenstein's characteristic words -- "clarity," and both of them abhorred -- to use one of Johnson's characteristic words -- ... Read More...
Following on from his hugely entertaining post about life as a bookseller, Steerforth pays tribute to the now-extinct breed of Full English-eating, Austin Montego-driving publishers' sales reps... In my last Dabbler post I wrote about my first year in bookselling and casually mentioned that every publisher's sales rep' used to be ... Read More...
Today would be the 89th birthday of comic actor Charlie Drake. But did you know he once appeared alongside Peter Gabriel, Sandy Denny, Robert Fripp and Phil Collins in one of the weirdest prog rock line-ups ever?... Born on this day in 1925 was the diminutive comic Charlie Drake, who was, ... Read More...
'It ridiculed humour itself'...A week on from the untimely death of Rik Mayall, Professor Nick Groom pays tribute to that peerlessly stupid yet brilliant sitcom The Young Ones... In retrospect, it all seems so simple: a sitcom based in a dilapidated student house, showcasing upcoming young comedians. But that’s hardly recognisable ... Read More...
Douglas address the fundamentals... Twenty years ago I was somehow able to think about sex all day long. I could think about sex even when I wasn’t thinking about it. Temporarily distracted by bus schedules, term papers, potential muggers, or the likelihood of being able to pay my rent, sex still ... Read More...
Nige visits the French town of Dieppe, once home to Oscar Wilde, Frits Thaulow and a society of Anglophile artists... About this time last year I headed for Dieppe to spend a few days as a summer flaneur, a thoroughly restorative trip. Dieppe retains its unique, slightly faded charm, and its ... Read More...
Working at Waterstone's in the early 1990s, Steerforth quickly discovered that bookshops were magnets for eccentrics, kleptomaniacs and the mentally ill - and that was just the staff... Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I spent the best part of 18 years working in bookshops. Where did all the ... Read More...
