04
Mar
04
Mar
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,...
02
Mar
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...
01
Mar
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...
25
Feb
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. ...
28
Jan
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! ...
10:30 /
Santa Monica Airport
26
Oct
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. ...
15:19 /
Santa Monica Airport
13
Aug
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! http://www.etonline.com/news/149814_robin_williams_final_days/index.html ...
22
Jun
A shout out by the BBC!
http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/2014/06/20/journalist-turned-screenwriter-gavin-scott/...
20:07 /
Interviews
16
Jun
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....
12:34 /
Pop Culture