Gavin Scott | Blog
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Strange Scene

Every now and then I find two or three items from my collection of juvenile ephemera (otherwise known as toys and games) that demand to be put together in the same narrative. Here is the latest, for which the legend reads THE GIANT DUCK OF TOPEKA HAD CLAIMED YET ANOTHER VICTIM PS IF THIS AMUSES YOU, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE IT TOO!...

14 March, 2016 / 2 Comments
Aunts (1946) Part II

Another installment of the enthralling form by H.F. Ellis from 1946. Coming soon: the answer to a question which might be troubling some of you.   PS IF THIS AMUSES YOU, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE IT TOO! THE SHARE BUTTON IS AT THE TOP ...

10 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
George Martin & Nellie the Elephant & Me

I was a fan of George Martin long before I was a fan of the Beatles – though I didn’t know it until just now, when I read Mark Lewinsohn’s extraordinary Tune In, the first of his projected three volume biography of the band. What I learnt there was that in his role as head of the EMI record label Parlophone, George had produced some of the records I’d adored as a child in the 1950’s – including Nellie the Elephant (Off she went with a trumpety trump, trump, trump...

09 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
An important form to fill in about your Aunts

Britain in 1946 was awash with official forms, many a hangover from wartime regulations, others brought in by the new Labour government. H.F. Ellis,who wrote for Punch, felt there needed to be yet another one, about Aunts. Coming soon:Part Two: How Many Aunts Must I have in order to make a claim?       PS IF THIS AMUSES YOU, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE IT TOO!      ...

09 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
Restoring a sculpture

When I'm not writing I make sculptures using old toys and games as my medium, and I've just finished restoring and adding LEDs to a sculpture I call Uptown Saturday Night. Here it is by day and by night. PS IF THIS AMUSES YOU, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE IT TOO! THE SHARE BUTTON IS AT THE TOP ...

08 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
The Beauty of Pan Paperbacks

When I was growing up Penguin books were ubiquitous, elegantly presented and cheap. But also a little bit austere and even - for the under ten set -forbidding. For sheer excitement, on the other hand, Penguin's rival Pan went all out to make their books irresistable on the bookstand, and I still take great delight in their cover art to this day. Even if - perhaps even because - some of the draughtsmanship is rather gloriously bad. Here are three from my collection of Pan books dealing with World War Two adventures, of which there were...

07 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
Airport video diary #2

My second video diary about the battle to turn Santa Monica Airport into a park. https://airport2park.org/video-diary-park-progress-episode-2/  ...

06 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
A quiet place to work

Great Replies of Our Time Volume One: My very talented Production Designer daughter Rebecca Facebooked a picture of the eerie shrine she has just made for a murder show she's working on, and one of her fans asked "Is this something you're building for the TV show?" "No," replied Rebecca within seconds, "I was just looking for a quiet place to work." ...

05 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
A Train called Thomas

Among the cultural event of 1946 we must not forget the appearance of a small blue railway engine. Duncan Forrester did not buy the first in the series, a book called Three Railway Engines by the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry, when it was published in 1945: at that moment he was driving a stolen German motor cycle along a mountain road in Bavaria. But he was back in England for the publication of the Rev. Awdry’s second book, Thomas the Tank Engine, in 1946, and saw it in Brown’s Book Shop,...

04 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
I Know Where I’m Going

I've been giving some thought to the movies which might have been seen in 1946 by Duncan Forrester, the hero of The Age of Treachery, the detective thriller set in that year which Titan Books and Random House are publishing next month. One of the first he saw, had in fact been released in 1945, but he was still able to catch up with it in early 1946 at the Astoria cinema on Holderness Road in Hull, where his mother lived. The film was I Know Where I'm Going, written...

02 March, 2016 / 2 Comments
The Punch of 1946

The venerable British humorous magazine Punch, which began life in 1841, was still going strong in 1946, the year my novel The Age of Treachery takes place. I've been able to get hold of one of the bound editions of the magazine from that year, and from time to time I'll post things you might find interesting. Nothing, I think, gives a better feel of a period than the things people might have been reading in trains, planes or in taxis, on their way to meet friends and enemies, chuckling gently at the gentle...

01 March, 2016 / 0 Comments
The Mitsubishi Commercial

Last year I played the part of a British tailor in a wonderfully absurd commercial for the Mitsubishi Outlander. To my amazement it still keeps cropping up - and just in case you'd like to see it, here it is. ...

25 February, 2016 / 0 Comments
The Great Santa Monica Airport Park: video diary number one.

We won the battle over keeping local control of Santa Monica Airport back in 2014, and the Federal Aviation Authority ought to have relinquished their grip on it in July 2015 – but they keep coming up with excuses to keep it going for another eight years. In the meantime local people are trying to turn it into a park  and this video diary is designed to document the battle. Enjoy!  ...

28 January, 2016 / 0 Comments
The Great Santa Monica Airport Controversy

There's a huge battle going on here in Santa Monica, with pilots and jet manufacturers trying to convert what began as a park into a jetport. It's all getting very fraught, so I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it - and even if you don't live in Santa Monica, you might enjoy the resulting video, which even goes so far as to feature me wearing a tuxedo. ...

26 October, 2014 / 0 Comments
My chance to thank Robin Williams

Entertainment Tonight gave me the chance for a shout out to Robin to thank him for his constant support for Absolutely Anything, through all the ups and downs. Salute to you, my captain! https://www.etonline.com/news/149814_robin_williams_final_days/index.html ...

13 August, 2014 / 0 Comments
Gold Confetti!

Having had an exclusive preview, I can confidently say, this is extraordinary music. Joyous, mind-expanding, sometimes eerie. A major new talent coming into its own....

16 June, 2014 / 0 Comments
Fascinating find at the Long Beach Flea Market

Splendidly drawn top-shot/floor plan of a house in "Mr. Ree" - a 1937 precursor to "Clue" (1949). Beautiful colors! Here's what boargamegeek.com says about it: This game is planned to give you all the thrills and excitement of a true detective mystery. More than that, the game gives you an opportunity to play an exciting part in the creation of the plot, and the thrill of actually playing Detective; an eagerly sought opportunity to solve a baffling crime committed right under your very nose. And, amazing as it may seem, the plot...

16 June, 2014 / 0 Comments
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