Wonderful sofa

The Saturday Sofa broadcast from ELFM is wonderful, especially the excellent contributions from the children of Shire Oak and Spring Bank primary schools. Thanks to everybody in the caravan parked outside St Michael's!

It was Dmitri Hvorstovsky

The music for Gaby's reminiscence in Déja-vu last Sunday caused a bit of a stir. This is what it was - Non ti scordar di me sung by the Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. It is on a CD entitled Passione di Napoli.

North Noir

Re-watching the discomforting Red Riding television series, I couldn't help thinking of Martin Wainwright's talk at the LitFest last week, on people's perceptions of the North, and his passing mention of David Peace, "who might be a brilliant novelist, but....."  No doubt there will be audience members tomorrow (New Headingley Club at 3pm) who will ask suitable questions and make appropriately pithy comments on bloodstained depictions of Yorkshire, although the focus will be 1948 Tokyo and the 1984/5 Miners' Strike. A different kind of bloodstained.

Anyway, the TV backroomers really got it right when it comes to seventies clothes, interior design and tobacco, I am thinking. The wallpapers are authentically nightmarish. And I used to drive one of those Zephyrs. And all those smoke-filled rooms and characters with cigs drooping from their mouths... was it that bad?

Lettice Cooper

Lettice Cooper comes into the category of 'neglected women writers' and she had strong Leeds connections, so she may well feature on next year's programme. Get in touch if you have something to say on that.....

Damned United. Damned good.

Monday's showing at our beloved Cottage Road Cinema (100 years old in 2012) of The Damned United, directed by Tom Hooper using David Peace's factional account as a starting point, was enjoyable, and funny. Poor old Billy Bremner doesn't come out of it very well, because we are reminded of spectacular deliberate dives as well as spectacular playing. Don Revie becomes a blustering manipulator too. 


Actually not that much spectacular playing (difficult to make it credible in a film like this) in spite of all attempts. Michael Sheen is a more than convincing Cloughie, and Timothy Spall a great Peter Taylor, but the screenplay does steer clear of certain parts of Peace's narrative, and the ending is well....cosmetic. Heartwarming though.


For all the genuine low-down, read Anthony Clavane's Promised Land, just out. Find it on Amazon.

Kettle and Bennett

I have just noticed a Guardian piece by Martin Kettle (see previous post on the Kettle connection) who writes about how he 'knows' Alan Bennett through a shared Headingley upbringing. He used to walk up to 'the grammar school' (now Lawnswood) every morning as well and mentions a sadistic PE teacher with the surname King that they both knew about.  It is in the context of last year's Hay Festival: that's the one in marquees with celebrity chefs.