D.C. Barclay's Blog
August 29, 2025
Easter Eggs (Book 3)
*** Spoiler Alert! ***
And so to the Easter eggs in the third book, The Dead Do Lie...
Song Titles
I started with a few really obvious ones, when Gareth, Marv's old friend, is described as the "the love child spawned of an unholy threesome between Tom Jones, Yoda and Ron Weasley". Unsurprisingly, three Tom Jones song titles are hidden around here: Delilah, Sexbomb, and It's Not Unusual. (I use the term 'hidden' exceedingly loosely here - they're concealed about as well as that baby elephant photographed hiding behind a post after being caught eating sugarcane. And the next one's even more obvious.)
With a character called 'Fly', there was no way I could pass up the opportunity (or baulk at the challenge) to include the song title Pretty Fly (For a White Guy). Surely no-one can have missed that one? Other than my wife, that is.
Closely following that one, after Marlborough has been talking to Roxy and Fly in Hell, we find a number of Green Day song titles: Basket Case, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), One-eyed Bastard, Holiday, and 21 Guns, although I had to admit defeat with the second title in that list and split it in two. And feel free to call me a coward, but I bottled it with Wake Me Up When September Ends.
At least I offered a clue to the next set, though, when Paulie's thinking back to his 'manic' early life, with a 'street preacher' for a dad. Accordingly, we have five songs from Manic Street Preachers around here: [A] Design for Life; NatWest, Barclays, Midlands, Lloyds; You Stole the Sun From My Heart; [Of] Walking Abortion; and Motorcycle['s] Emptiness.
In the same area, we have a couple of songs from The Mamas & The Papas, a vague hint to their existence supplied by the name of Paulie's mum, Cass (i.e. Mama Cass): Dancing In The Street, and Words Of Love. ('Cass' is doing some heavy lifting here by also acting as a reference to Only Fools And Horses - see below.)
Then, after Marlborough has met with his line manager, we find four Queen songs: A Kind of Magic, Body Language, Under Pressure, and Play the Game, with the latter three hidden in the same sentence - I'm making this too easy for you now.
Film, Television and Book References
We start early with a tribute to the classic Life Of Brian, when Fly is in the queue to exit the Legow Room, and we have the following exchange between Dieter the Man-eater and the guard, Graham:
"Nice one, guard. Like it, like it."
"Shut up," replied the guard.
"Right, right."
Replace 'guard' with 'centurion' and it's as if Michael Palin and John Cleese are in the room with you.
The references to the film The Shawshank Redemption are generally pretty obvious, I imagine, but I included a hint anyway (albeit an extremely tenuous one) in the sentence "He waited a moment – just to be 'sure' – then pulled a 'shank' out from between the mattress and the bed frame." ("sure...shank" was supposed to lead to 'Shawshank', and the word 'redemption' can be found skulking somewhere vaguely nearby. I know, I know. <Shakes head apologetically.>) In the film, the escape tunnel is hidden behind a poster of Raquel Welch from the movie One Million Years B.C. One of her other films was Bedazzled, hence why Fly hides his escape hole behind a poster of Elizabeth Hurley from the remake of that film. And we have Fly recalling another would-be escaper from Hell, Andy 'Doo-doo' Fresne, who tried to escape through a sewage pipe, much like the main character in The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne. Finally, there's a nod to a seemingly much-discussed potential plot-hole in the film: how did Andy Dufresne reattach the Raquel Welch poster from behind?
Silence Of The Lambs is up next, when Fly passes the cell of Dieter the Man-eater. The interaction begins with Dieter's greeting, "Hello, Fly", his words 'so softly spoken [Fly] might have imagined them' - this is a nod to an apparently common misconception that Hannibal Lecter greets Clarice in the film with "Hello, Clarice." Dieter's neighbour, Multifarious Mick (the Swinging Seaman) is a play on Multiple Miggs, who hurls something unpleasant at Clarice from a neighbouring cell as she walks past. The whole "A sommelier once tried to test me..." bit pays homage to Hannibal's "A census-taker once tried to test me..." speech, of course. And if the link to Silence Of The Lambs is somehow still not clear by that point, I really try to hammer it home with the following in Dieter's monologue as he reminisces about the sommelier:
"'What goes with lamb?'
"Silence.
Subsequent references are admittedly somewhat more subtle, including Dieter having been a lecturer (a play on 'Lecter'), earning his doctorate in Florence (where some of Thomas Harris's third novel of the series, Hannibal, is set) studying Anthropophagy (human cannibalism). Finally, the last two words of the chapter, when Dieter asks of the fate of the guard, are a reference to the FBI profiler in the first Hannibal novel, Red Dragon: Will Graham.
A token nod to Hill Street Blues comes next, with Marv admitting to a bit of the blues and lamenting that it's "hard not to expect some action when the sarge sees you off with a 'Let's be careful out there'" (as per Sergeant Esterhaus's catchphrase in the TV programme).
Dotted around the Manic Street Preachers and The Mamas & The Papas references, we have a few references to the classic sitcom that was Only Fools And Horses: Paulie wondering whether he would be a millionaire this time next year; growing up in Peckham; his parents' being named Rodney and Cass[andra]; and, the simple inclusion of the word 'trigger' - a loose but necessary reference to surely one of the best sitcom characters of all time.
Next, we move on to Fly being on a high from his escape - "his own personal 'great escape'". Cue references to that classic war film: Fly believing it to be the sworn duty of every inmate to try to escape, much as it is stated in the film to be "the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape"; Fly kicking at the dirt below him, his trouser leg shaking as he does so, mimicking the sly disposal of dug-out soil by the 'great escapers'; and, a few paragraphs before, the phrase "every Tom, Dick and Harry" recalling the nicknames of the three tunnels.
Later on, when Marlborough and Islington find Gareth at the parkrun, we have a number of quotes from Star Wars and its sequels and spin-offs: 'I find your lack of faith disturbing.'; 'Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.'; '...you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...'; 'This is the way.'; 'I've got a bad feeling about this.'; 'It's a trap.'; 'You underestimate the power of the dark side.'
Songs Themselves
Whenever there's a song playing in the background, in any of the books, the reasoning for the choice of song is hopefully pretty obvious and doesn't require explanation - and it's really not a good sign if you're having to explain your own jokes. (You definitely got the Ride of the Valkyries and "I love the smell of lip balm in the morning" reference in the first book, right?) However, it appears that one particular song choice in this book is sailing over everyone's merrily oblivious heads. As Fly and his fellow inmates run the Lego gauntlet in Room 1958, an Eels song is playing on a loop: Novocaine For The Soul. Anaesthetic for the sole. Get it? Anyone? Bueller?
Character Names
Both Fly's name (Henry Carrier) and original nickname (Butterfly), and his escape from Hell, link to the book / films Papillon (French for 'butterfly'), where Henri Charrière (Papillon) escapes from Devil's Island. Fly's fellow inmate Louis was named for Louis Dega, Papillon's fellow prisoner.
Zoe's sidekick in the pub, Robyn Grayson, was named for Batman's sidekick, Robin (real name Dick Grayson). There is a slight link to Zoe's name here, and the fact that Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away plays at one point in the pub - Zoë Kravitz played Catwoman in the film The Batman.
The origin of Paulie's name (Paul E. Scobar) should be pretty obvious - Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug lord. As for Paulie's muscle, Walnut, his name comes from Paulie 'Walnuts' in The Sopranos.
Bunny's cousins, Frank and Tony (initially assumed by Paulie to be Bunny's bodyguards), were named after Whitney Houston's bodyguards in the film The Bodyguard.
Marlborough's line manager, Nelson, was named for a wine region of New Zealand (Marlborough being another such region).
The bartender in The Dealers Arms, Sam, was named for Sam Malone in the TV programme Cheers. (Hence also why, at one point, Sam is watching an episode of Frasier, a spin-off from Cheers.)
The only member of Fergus's 'flock' to turn up to his service, Mrs Merino, was named for the breed of sheep.
When Roxy's in Sink The Pink, Moth mentions a customer called 'Potato'. This is a play on the character Spud from the film Trainspotting.
In the flashback to Fly's demise, Paulie mentions the 'Messier-13 gang'. This is a play on the MS-13 criminal gang in the USA and the Messier 13 (aka M13) star cluster in the constellation Hercules.
Place Names
Amy Dudley House, the building where Roxy died, was named for Lady Amy Dudley (née Robsart), who died falling down a flight of stairs in 1560.
Hell's Room Numbers
Room 1958 (the 'Legow Room'): Lego was apparently launched in its present form in 1958.
Paulie's Crossword Clue
In Paulie's cryptic crossword, 'Boundless Scot and English hold murderer in snow' was the clue to a seven-letter word. If we make 'Scot' boundless, we're left with 'co', 'English' can sometimes represent the letter 'E' in a cryptic crossword, and Cain (from the Bible) is an example of a murderer. So, if 'co' and 'e' hold 'cain', we get 'cocaine', for which 'snow' is a slang term. (Also, it's clue 'one across' in the crossword, written '1A' in the book, and 'A-1' is apparently another slang term for cocaine.)
And that's your lot. For now.
Cheers,
D.C. Barclay
And so to the Easter eggs in the third book, The Dead Do Lie...
Song Titles
I started with a few really obvious ones, when Gareth, Marv's old friend, is described as the "the love child spawned of an unholy threesome between Tom Jones, Yoda and Ron Weasley". Unsurprisingly, three Tom Jones song titles are hidden around here: Delilah, Sexbomb, and It's Not Unusual. (I use the term 'hidden' exceedingly loosely here - they're concealed about as well as that baby elephant photographed hiding behind a post after being caught eating sugarcane. And the next one's even more obvious.)
With a character called 'Fly', there was no way I could pass up the opportunity (or baulk at the challenge) to include the song title Pretty Fly (For a White Guy). Surely no-one can have missed that one? Other than my wife, that is.
Closely following that one, after Marlborough has been talking to Roxy and Fly in Hell, we find a number of Green Day song titles: Basket Case, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), One-eyed Bastard, Holiday, and 21 Guns, although I had to admit defeat with the second title in that list and split it in two. And feel free to call me a coward, but I bottled it with Wake Me Up When September Ends.
At least I offered a clue to the next set, though, when Paulie's thinking back to his 'manic' early life, with a 'street preacher' for a dad. Accordingly, we have five songs from Manic Street Preachers around here: [A] Design for Life; NatWest, Barclays, Midlands, Lloyds; You Stole the Sun From My Heart; [Of] Walking Abortion; and Motorcycle['s] Emptiness.
In the same area, we have a couple of songs from The Mamas & The Papas, a vague hint to their existence supplied by the name of Paulie's mum, Cass (i.e. Mama Cass): Dancing In The Street, and Words Of Love. ('Cass' is doing some heavy lifting here by also acting as a reference to Only Fools And Horses - see below.)
Then, after Marlborough has met with his line manager, we find four Queen songs: A Kind of Magic, Body Language, Under Pressure, and Play the Game, with the latter three hidden in the same sentence - I'm making this too easy for you now.
Film, Television and Book References
We start early with a tribute to the classic Life Of Brian, when Fly is in the queue to exit the Legow Room, and we have the following exchange between Dieter the Man-eater and the guard, Graham:
"Nice one, guard. Like it, like it."
"Shut up," replied the guard.
"Right, right."
Replace 'guard' with 'centurion' and it's as if Michael Palin and John Cleese are in the room with you.
The references to the film The Shawshank Redemption are generally pretty obvious, I imagine, but I included a hint anyway (albeit an extremely tenuous one) in the sentence "He waited a moment – just to be 'sure' – then pulled a 'shank' out from between the mattress and the bed frame." ("sure...shank" was supposed to lead to 'Shawshank', and the word 'redemption' can be found skulking somewhere vaguely nearby. I know, I know. <Shakes head apologetically.>) In the film, the escape tunnel is hidden behind a poster of Raquel Welch from the movie One Million Years B.C. One of her other films was Bedazzled, hence why Fly hides his escape hole behind a poster of Elizabeth Hurley from the remake of that film. And we have Fly recalling another would-be escaper from Hell, Andy 'Doo-doo' Fresne, who tried to escape through a sewage pipe, much like the main character in The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne. Finally, there's a nod to a seemingly much-discussed potential plot-hole in the film: how did Andy Dufresne reattach the Raquel Welch poster from behind?
Silence Of The Lambs is up next, when Fly passes the cell of Dieter the Man-eater. The interaction begins with Dieter's greeting, "Hello, Fly", his words 'so softly spoken [Fly] might have imagined them' - this is a nod to an apparently common misconception that Hannibal Lecter greets Clarice in the film with "Hello, Clarice." Dieter's neighbour, Multifarious Mick (the Swinging Seaman) is a play on Multiple Miggs, who hurls something unpleasant at Clarice from a neighbouring cell as she walks past. The whole "A sommelier once tried to test me..." bit pays homage to Hannibal's "A census-taker once tried to test me..." speech, of course. And if the link to Silence Of The Lambs is somehow still not clear by that point, I really try to hammer it home with the following in Dieter's monologue as he reminisces about the sommelier:
"'What goes with lamb?'
"Silence.
Subsequent references are admittedly somewhat more subtle, including Dieter having been a lecturer (a play on 'Lecter'), earning his doctorate in Florence (where some of Thomas Harris's third novel of the series, Hannibal, is set) studying Anthropophagy (human cannibalism). Finally, the last two words of the chapter, when Dieter asks of the fate of the guard, are a reference to the FBI profiler in the first Hannibal novel, Red Dragon: Will Graham.
A token nod to Hill Street Blues comes next, with Marv admitting to a bit of the blues and lamenting that it's "hard not to expect some action when the sarge sees you off with a 'Let's be careful out there'" (as per Sergeant Esterhaus's catchphrase in the TV programme).
Dotted around the Manic Street Preachers and The Mamas & The Papas references, we have a few references to the classic sitcom that was Only Fools And Horses: Paulie wondering whether he would be a millionaire this time next year; growing up in Peckham; his parents' being named Rodney and Cass[andra]; and, the simple inclusion of the word 'trigger' - a loose but necessary reference to surely one of the best sitcom characters of all time.
Next, we move on to Fly being on a high from his escape - "his own personal 'great escape'". Cue references to that classic war film: Fly believing it to be the sworn duty of every inmate to try to escape, much as it is stated in the film to be "the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape"; Fly kicking at the dirt below him, his trouser leg shaking as he does so, mimicking the sly disposal of dug-out soil by the 'great escapers'; and, a few paragraphs before, the phrase "every Tom, Dick and Harry" recalling the nicknames of the three tunnels.
Later on, when Marlborough and Islington find Gareth at the parkrun, we have a number of quotes from Star Wars and its sequels and spin-offs: 'I find your lack of faith disturbing.'; 'Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.'; '...you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...'; 'This is the way.'; 'I've got a bad feeling about this.'; 'It's a trap.'; 'You underestimate the power of the dark side.'
Songs Themselves
Whenever there's a song playing in the background, in any of the books, the reasoning for the choice of song is hopefully pretty obvious and doesn't require explanation - and it's really not a good sign if you're having to explain your own jokes. (You definitely got the Ride of the Valkyries and "I love the smell of lip balm in the morning" reference in the first book, right?) However, it appears that one particular song choice in this book is sailing over everyone's merrily oblivious heads. As Fly and his fellow inmates run the Lego gauntlet in Room 1958, an Eels song is playing on a loop: Novocaine For The Soul. Anaesthetic for the sole. Get it? Anyone? Bueller?
Character Names
Both Fly's name (Henry Carrier) and original nickname (Butterfly), and his escape from Hell, link to the book / films Papillon (French for 'butterfly'), where Henri Charrière (Papillon) escapes from Devil's Island. Fly's fellow inmate Louis was named for Louis Dega, Papillon's fellow prisoner.
Zoe's sidekick in the pub, Robyn Grayson, was named for Batman's sidekick, Robin (real name Dick Grayson). There is a slight link to Zoe's name here, and the fact that Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away plays at one point in the pub - Zoë Kravitz played Catwoman in the film The Batman.
The origin of Paulie's name (Paul E. Scobar) should be pretty obvious - Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug lord. As for Paulie's muscle, Walnut, his name comes from Paulie 'Walnuts' in The Sopranos.
Bunny's cousins, Frank and Tony (initially assumed by Paulie to be Bunny's bodyguards), were named after Whitney Houston's bodyguards in the film The Bodyguard.
Marlborough's line manager, Nelson, was named for a wine region of New Zealand (Marlborough being another such region).
The bartender in The Dealers Arms, Sam, was named for Sam Malone in the TV programme Cheers. (Hence also why, at one point, Sam is watching an episode of Frasier, a spin-off from Cheers.)
The only member of Fergus's 'flock' to turn up to his service, Mrs Merino, was named for the breed of sheep.
When Roxy's in Sink The Pink, Moth mentions a customer called 'Potato'. This is a play on the character Spud from the film Trainspotting.
In the flashback to Fly's demise, Paulie mentions the 'Messier-13 gang'. This is a play on the MS-13 criminal gang in the USA and the Messier 13 (aka M13) star cluster in the constellation Hercules.
Place Names
Amy Dudley House, the building where Roxy died, was named for Lady Amy Dudley (née Robsart), who died falling down a flight of stairs in 1560.
Hell's Room Numbers
Room 1958 (the 'Legow Room'): Lego was apparently launched in its present form in 1958.
Paulie's Crossword Clue
In Paulie's cryptic crossword, 'Boundless Scot and English hold murderer in snow' was the clue to a seven-letter word. If we make 'Scot' boundless, we're left with 'co', 'English' can sometimes represent the letter 'E' in a cryptic crossword, and Cain (from the Bible) is an example of a murderer. So, if 'co' and 'e' hold 'cain', we get 'cocaine', for which 'snow' is a slang term. (Also, it's clue 'one across' in the crossword, written '1A' in the book, and 'A-1' is apparently another slang term for cocaine.)
And that's your lot. For now.
Cheers,
D.C. Barclay
August 20, 2025
Easter Eggs (Book 2)
*** Spoiler Alert! ***
Hi,
Now that summer has given up its Mediterranean pretensions and finally revealed its true British identity (it's raining, so I've had to pause painting the fence), I can finally move on to the 'Easter eggs' in book 2, Can’t Keep a Dead Man Down.
Song Titles
As with Status Quo in book 1, This Is My Dad. He's Dead., there's a hint to the existence of the first batch of hidden song titles with the following interaction, when Roxy secures her first ride:
"I like your style," she said. "Roxanne. You can call me Roxy."
"Music?" asked the driver as the car pulled away.
Admittedly, 'Roxy Music' is split across two paragraphs, but it's a hint nonetheless to the three songs that follow in close proximity: Oh Yeah (On The Radio), More Than This, and Jealous Guy.
The next batch have an even less obvious hint, when Marv is talking to Maurice, the double-dipper:
"Would have been my birthday tomorrow, would you believe?" said Maurice.
"How old would you be?"
"Forty."
And so we find four UB40 songs hidden within the next few paragraphs: Breakfast In Bed, Kingston Town, Higher Ground, and Red Red Wine.
Roxy's own name, Roxanne, is of course a song by The Police, so we have two further songs of theirs where Roxy attends the AA meeting: So Lonely, and Spirit[s] In The Material World. In addition, given 'Sue Lawley' is a well-known mondegreen (misheard lyric) for 'So Lonely', there was really no option but to use that for Roxy's AA pseudonym. And then there's Roxy's brother, who shares his name with Sting, the lead singer of The Police: Gordon Sumner.
Finally, we have a smattering of other single-name song-titles when Roxy secures a lift that results in a near-miss with a lorry: Daniel (the driver), Kayleigh (Daniel's daughter), and Rosanna (his wife).
Character Names
As I mentioned in my previous post, although I like to find names that sound right for the character in question, I also aim for some kind of meaning behind them, if only for my own amusement.
When Marv's working the check-in desk in Paradise, he meets a number of characters:
Winnie and Chris Ferkel are named for Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, with Ferkel happening to be German for 'piglet'. There's a slight hint to this when I note that Marv is unable to resist 'poking the bear' (i.e. Winnie) by mischievously directing his introduction solely to Chris.
Herb Spinello is Marv's next 'customer'. This one is a play on words, with 'herbe' being French slang for marijuana, and 'spinello' being Italian slang for a joint.
Then we have Warren and his disciples, with 'Andrew' and 'Peter' being the names given by Marv to the two disciples who interact directly with him. 'Disciples' should presumably be enough of a hint for the inspiration behind their imagined names, and it's supported by Marv finding the pair 'a bit fishy' (Andrew and Peter are described as fishermen in the Bible). (I have no recollection as to whether there was any particular meaning behind Warren's name, Warren Temple. If anyone thinks of one...)
When Warren is dragged off to Hell, one of the angels from Hell is called Otto, named for Otto Friedli, one of the founding members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Along related lines, a biker, Mr Roth, appears in the portal when Marv is trying to get back down to Earth – this character was named for Ed Roth, a famous builder of custom motorbikes.
Marv is accompanied down to Earth by the rookie angel, Clarence Oddbod, who was named for Clarence Odbody, the guardian angel to James Stewart's character, George Bailey, in the film It's a Wonderful Life.
When Clarence later asks Marv about a gentleman he has seen Marv with (i.e. Marlborough), Marv makes up the name 'Mr Bovine', seemingly inspired by the sight of some ceramic farm animals; however, it's also a call back to the numerous hidden Monopoly references in book 1, with Bovine sounding like 'bow-vine', and Bow Street and Vine Street completing the orange property set with Marlborough Street.
Clarence's first customer on arriving in Egypt (Bucks) was supposed to be a Mr Khufu. This character was named after the Egyptian pharaoh responsible for the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza, hence also why Marv later refers to him as "this Khufu geezer". Slightly less subtle was the revelation that Mr Khufu's downfall had been pyramid schemes, and Marv's reaction to this news: "Well, he dug his own grave there."
One of Clarence's later customers, the 'double-dipper', is called Maurice Matlow. Double Dip (the sweet) is made by Swizzels, which traces its origin back to Matlow Bros. Ltd, founded by Maurice Matlow and his brother.
Down in Hell, we have a number of other characters:
In room 418, 'The Roots of All Evil', we find Deepil and Reuben Wachs, with Deepil calling Reuben 'Ruby'. Ruby Wachs is the real name of Ruby Wax, and, of course, Deepil happens to be waxing the hair off Reuben. Deepil's own name is a play on 'depilation', i.e. hair removal.
In room 323, 'Board to Death', we find Tom. When Otto is trying to recall Tom's name, his first thought is 'Jerry'. And so we have Tom and Jerry. We also find that Tom spiked Roxy's drink before he died, and 'Spike' happens to be the name of the bulldog in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
And there's Garcia, who works for ICU, Hell's 'Infernal Corruption Unit'. Garcia was named for the actor Andy Garcia, who played an IA cop in the film Internal Affairs.
Back up on Earth, we have Roxy's targets:
Wilhelm Zweite (Willie), aka The Kaiser, is named for Kaiser Wilhelm II. ('Zweite' is German for 'second'.)
Gregor MacGregor (Mac) was named for a Scottish conman of the same name from the 1700-1800s.
Mac's pretend customer, Mrs Trellis, is a nod to "Mrs Trellis of North Wales" as made famous by the brilliant Radio 4 comedy show, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
After Mac's death, when he meets Marv and Marlborough, he mentions the Yabby Twins – their name is a play on the Kray Twins, as I understand crayfish are known as 'yabbies' in Australia.
Mac's probation officer, Nomski, was named for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the old name for the HM Prison and Probation Service. The pseudonym Nomski uses when he attends the AA sessions, Norman Anderson, is the real name of Normski, the DJ.
Father Fergus McGrath, who runs the AA sessions, was simply named after two characters in the film Pixie: Fergus and Father McGrath.
Finally, when Ben finds Kate standing in for Marv on the check-in desk in Paradise, Kate's current customer, Mrs Waddams, tries to recapture Kate's attention with a timid 'excuse me', at which Kate moves a stapler aside and pushes Paradise Lost, by Milton, across the desk towards her. This is all a nod to the character Milton Waddams in the film Office Space, and his timid line, "Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler."
Place Names
I only have one place name to mention here: Styxford, which was where Daniel was heading when he picked up Roxy. This was named for the River Styx, one of the rivers that are supposed to separate the realm of the living from the realm of the dead, with 'ford' typically appearing in UK place names to indicate a river crossing.
Hell's Room Numbers
Yes, even the room numbers in Hell have an underlying meaning.
Room 108 ('The Nutcracker Suite', where the inmates practice Vinyasa Flow yoga a bit too fast): 108 was picked after reading that the number holds a special significance in yoga.
Room 185 ('Bored to Tears'): the activities in this room were left to the reader's imagination, but the room number builds on the room's nickname to hint at a possibility. T18.5 is apparently the ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) code for a foreign body in the anus.
Room 323 ('Board to Death'): 323 was picked as the molar mass (rounded) of LSD, as this is the room where Marv finds Tom, the drink spiker.
Room 3802 ('Jacob's Conkers'): another room where the reader's imagination is left to wander, nudged along by the room's nickname and number. 'Jacobs' is rhyming slang for 'testicles' (Jacobs Crackers = Knackers), and S38.02 is apparently the ICD code for a crushing injury of the scrotum. You just had to ask, didn't you?
Miscellaneous
As a teaser, book 3 contains a number of Star Wars quotes, but only one makes it into this book, where Avery passes through Marv and announces, "I sense something. A presence I've not felt since…"
Saving the worst for last, we have Marlborough's tease towards the end of the book: "It's not good news … it's great news!" I seem to recall this being a common refrain from Simon Cowell on either The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent, or perhaps both, and I hint at that with Ben's reaction to Marlborough's comment: a 'scowl'.
If you can face it, a third post will delve into the Easter eggs in book 3, The Dead Do Lie.
Happy reading,
D.C. Barclay
Hi,
Now that summer has given up its Mediterranean pretensions and finally revealed its true British identity (it's raining, so I've had to pause painting the fence), I can finally move on to the 'Easter eggs' in book 2, Can’t Keep a Dead Man Down.
Song Titles
As with Status Quo in book 1, This Is My Dad. He's Dead., there's a hint to the existence of the first batch of hidden song titles with the following interaction, when Roxy secures her first ride:
"I like your style," she said. "Roxanne. You can call me Roxy."
"Music?" asked the driver as the car pulled away.
Admittedly, 'Roxy Music' is split across two paragraphs, but it's a hint nonetheless to the three songs that follow in close proximity: Oh Yeah (On The Radio), More Than This, and Jealous Guy.
The next batch have an even less obvious hint, when Marv is talking to Maurice, the double-dipper:
"Would have been my birthday tomorrow, would you believe?" said Maurice.
"How old would you be?"
"Forty."
And so we find four UB40 songs hidden within the next few paragraphs: Breakfast In Bed, Kingston Town, Higher Ground, and Red Red Wine.
Roxy's own name, Roxanne, is of course a song by The Police, so we have two further songs of theirs where Roxy attends the AA meeting: So Lonely, and Spirit[s] In The Material World. In addition, given 'Sue Lawley' is a well-known mondegreen (misheard lyric) for 'So Lonely', there was really no option but to use that for Roxy's AA pseudonym. And then there's Roxy's brother, who shares his name with Sting, the lead singer of The Police: Gordon Sumner.
Finally, we have a smattering of other single-name song-titles when Roxy secures a lift that results in a near-miss with a lorry: Daniel (the driver), Kayleigh (Daniel's daughter), and Rosanna (his wife).
Character Names
As I mentioned in my previous post, although I like to find names that sound right for the character in question, I also aim for some kind of meaning behind them, if only for my own amusement.
When Marv's working the check-in desk in Paradise, he meets a number of characters:
Winnie and Chris Ferkel are named for Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, with Ferkel happening to be German for 'piglet'. There's a slight hint to this when I note that Marv is unable to resist 'poking the bear' (i.e. Winnie) by mischievously directing his introduction solely to Chris.
Herb Spinello is Marv's next 'customer'. This one is a play on words, with 'herbe' being French slang for marijuana, and 'spinello' being Italian slang for a joint.
Then we have Warren and his disciples, with 'Andrew' and 'Peter' being the names given by Marv to the two disciples who interact directly with him. 'Disciples' should presumably be enough of a hint for the inspiration behind their imagined names, and it's supported by Marv finding the pair 'a bit fishy' (Andrew and Peter are described as fishermen in the Bible). (I have no recollection as to whether there was any particular meaning behind Warren's name, Warren Temple. If anyone thinks of one...)
When Warren is dragged off to Hell, one of the angels from Hell is called Otto, named for Otto Friedli, one of the founding members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Along related lines, a biker, Mr Roth, appears in the portal when Marv is trying to get back down to Earth – this character was named for Ed Roth, a famous builder of custom motorbikes.
Marv is accompanied down to Earth by the rookie angel, Clarence Oddbod, who was named for Clarence Odbody, the guardian angel to James Stewart's character, George Bailey, in the film It's a Wonderful Life.
When Clarence later asks Marv about a gentleman he has seen Marv with (i.e. Marlborough), Marv makes up the name 'Mr Bovine', seemingly inspired by the sight of some ceramic farm animals; however, it's also a call back to the numerous hidden Monopoly references in book 1, with Bovine sounding like 'bow-vine', and Bow Street and Vine Street completing the orange property set with Marlborough Street.
Clarence's first customer on arriving in Egypt (Bucks) was supposed to be a Mr Khufu. This character was named after the Egyptian pharaoh responsible for the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza, hence also why Marv later refers to him as "this Khufu geezer". Slightly less subtle was the revelation that Mr Khufu's downfall had been pyramid schemes, and Marv's reaction to this news: "Well, he dug his own grave there."
One of Clarence's later customers, the 'double-dipper', is called Maurice Matlow. Double Dip (the sweet) is made by Swizzels, which traces its origin back to Matlow Bros. Ltd, founded by Maurice Matlow and his brother.
Down in Hell, we have a number of other characters:
In room 418, 'The Roots of All Evil', we find Deepil and Reuben Wachs, with Deepil calling Reuben 'Ruby'. Ruby Wachs is the real name of Ruby Wax, and, of course, Deepil happens to be waxing the hair off Reuben. Deepil's own name is a play on 'depilation', i.e. hair removal.
In room 323, 'Board to Death', we find Tom. When Otto is trying to recall Tom's name, his first thought is 'Jerry'. And so we have Tom and Jerry. We also find that Tom spiked Roxy's drink before he died, and 'Spike' happens to be the name of the bulldog in the Tom and Jerry cartoons.
And there's Garcia, who works for ICU, Hell's 'Infernal Corruption Unit'. Garcia was named for the actor Andy Garcia, who played an IA cop in the film Internal Affairs.
Back up on Earth, we have Roxy's targets:
Wilhelm Zweite (Willie), aka The Kaiser, is named for Kaiser Wilhelm II. ('Zweite' is German for 'second'.)
Gregor MacGregor (Mac) was named for a Scottish conman of the same name from the 1700-1800s.
Mac's pretend customer, Mrs Trellis, is a nod to "Mrs Trellis of North Wales" as made famous by the brilliant Radio 4 comedy show, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
After Mac's death, when he meets Marv and Marlborough, he mentions the Yabby Twins – their name is a play on the Kray Twins, as I understand crayfish are known as 'yabbies' in Australia.
Mac's probation officer, Nomski, was named for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the old name for the HM Prison and Probation Service. The pseudonym Nomski uses when he attends the AA sessions, Norman Anderson, is the real name of Normski, the DJ.
Father Fergus McGrath, who runs the AA sessions, was simply named after two characters in the film Pixie: Fergus and Father McGrath.
Finally, when Ben finds Kate standing in for Marv on the check-in desk in Paradise, Kate's current customer, Mrs Waddams, tries to recapture Kate's attention with a timid 'excuse me', at which Kate moves a stapler aside and pushes Paradise Lost, by Milton, across the desk towards her. This is all a nod to the character Milton Waddams in the film Office Space, and his timid line, "Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler."
Place Names
I only have one place name to mention here: Styxford, which was where Daniel was heading when he picked up Roxy. This was named for the River Styx, one of the rivers that are supposed to separate the realm of the living from the realm of the dead, with 'ford' typically appearing in UK place names to indicate a river crossing.
Hell's Room Numbers
Yes, even the room numbers in Hell have an underlying meaning.
Room 108 ('The Nutcracker Suite', where the inmates practice Vinyasa Flow yoga a bit too fast): 108 was picked after reading that the number holds a special significance in yoga.
Room 185 ('Bored to Tears'): the activities in this room were left to the reader's imagination, but the room number builds on the room's nickname to hint at a possibility. T18.5 is apparently the ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) code for a foreign body in the anus.
Room 323 ('Board to Death'): 323 was picked as the molar mass (rounded) of LSD, as this is the room where Marv finds Tom, the drink spiker.
Room 3802 ('Jacob's Conkers'): another room where the reader's imagination is left to wander, nudged along by the room's nickname and number. 'Jacobs' is rhyming slang for 'testicles' (Jacobs Crackers = Knackers), and S38.02 is apparently the ICD code for a crushing injury of the scrotum. You just had to ask, didn't you?
Miscellaneous
As a teaser, book 3 contains a number of Star Wars quotes, but only one makes it into this book, where Avery passes through Marv and announces, "I sense something. A presence I've not felt since…"
Saving the worst for last, we have Marlborough's tease towards the end of the book: "It's not good news … it's great news!" I seem to recall this being a common refrain from Simon Cowell on either The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent, or perhaps both, and I hint at that with Ben's reaction to Marlborough's comment: a 'scowl'.
If you can face it, a third post will delve into the Easter eggs in book 3, The Dead Do Lie.
Happy reading,
D.C. Barclay
August 1, 2025
Easter Eggs (Book 1)
Spoiler Alert!
Hi,
If you've read the 'Author Notes' at the end of any of my books, then you will know there are numerous 'Easter eggs' hidden within the books, placed there in part for my own amusement but also in the hope they might be noticed and appreciated by the odd sharp-eyed reader. (Unfortunately, if you have either the paperback or an early Kindle version of book one or two, then you may have missed the 'Author Notes' in those books.)
Now that book three, The Dead Do Lie, has been released, it seems the right time to yield to popular demand (well, I'm sure at least one person asked for this) and to go back through the books and explain those Easter eggs. This veritable literary feast begins below with book one, This Is My Dad. He's Dead. If you noticed any of these, consider yourself congratulated.
Character Names
I probably spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking up character names, certainly in books two and three but perhaps less so in book one. For me, it's not just been about finding a name that suits the character but, where possible, finding one that has a meaning behind it. That said, I can't recall any particular reasoning behind the names of Ben and his family, but Marvin was named after Marvin Dorfler in one of my favourite movies, Midnight Run – a great character played brilliantly by John Ashton. As for Marlborough and Islington, their names relate to the board game Monopoly, but more on that later. Two other comedy movies, Beverly Hills Cop and Hot Fuzz, contributed the names of the PCs who deliver the news of Ben's death to Frankie: PCs Rosewood and Butterman.
Since I love a good horror movie, and given the reason for Father Avery Lancaster's visit to Ben's house, it was only right that he was somehow linked to The Exorcist, specifically the older priest, Father Lankester Merrin – therefore, my priest became Father Lancaster from the parish of Merrin. ('Avery' was chosen simply because of the similarity between 'Avery Lancaster' and 'Avro Lancaster', the World War II bomber.)
Then we have Marv's eventual girlfriend, Kate: given she died dressed as Anne Boleyn, 'Bullen' seemed an appropriate surname, since 'Boleyn' is apparently sometimes found spelt 'Bullen' (among other variants).
Old Mrs Gimpton’s cat, President Garfield, leads on to a number of other Easter eggs. Late in the book, Mrs Gimpton has a heart attack when she thinks she sees her neighbour, Charlie Duckwater, shoot President Garfield. The real President Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, who shot him with a revolver. If what I've read on the web is correct, then 'guit' is the Gascon word for 'duck'; with 'eau' as the French word for water, we then have Charles Guiteau becoming Charlie Duckwater. Even I'm wincing at that one, and it gets worse. Guiteau was a 'Stalwart Republican', and old Mrs Gimpton is stated as having always described Charlie as her 'stalwart friend'. Don't give up now, it's nearly over. The real President Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph, which gives us Mrs Gimpton's first name – Lucretia – and the reason why she is described as having a red nose when Ben and Marv see her in the pub (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). I can only apologise – I must have been having a really bad day. Finally, we have references to two other US presidents when Charlie is cleaning the inside of his Ford with his hoover while President Garfield pounces around.
Film and Television References
Aside from character names, the book hides various other references to the worlds of film and television. Not long after Ben and Marv's deaths, when Marv is messing around in the road, his reaction to a car passing through him ("It just moved through me. My God, I felt it! I can smell it, it’s the car. It’s the car! Smell my clothes.") is a parody of the scene in Poltergeist where the soul of Carole Anne (played by the talented but sadly very short-lived Heather O'Rourke) moves through her mother. Ben alludes to this with his response, "What? No, get lost, you over-acting ham."
Moving from scary movies to scary television programmes, when Marlborough's true identity is confirmed near the end of the book, he grumbles, "If it wasn’t for that pesky priest …" in the vein of the classic grouse from your typical Scooby Doo villain, "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids."
What must be the most obvious movie reference comes very early in the book, particularly as Marv even explicitly describes it as a 'movie reference'. This is where Ben and Marv are about to set off in Ben's car, and Marv comments, "It’s 106 miles to Chic Cargo, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and … ah shit, I’ve forgotten my sunglasses." This is, of course, a play on a quote from the Blues Brothers movie. Ben's initial response suggests the reference went over his head, but he disproves this by finishing off Marv's homage with a pointed finger and "Hit it."
Finally, we have a couple of references to The Matrix, when Ben and Marv first meet Marlborough. At the sight of Marlborough, with his Neo-like dress style – sunglasses and open black trench coat – Marv whispers, "I bet he knows kung fu." This is a reference to Neo's (Keanu Reeves's) first statement after having martial arts training directly implanted into his brain: "I know kung fu." Marv then comments, "If he offers you a red or blue pill, take the blue one." In The Matrix, Neo is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill. Accepting the red pill would mean learning the unsettling truth about reality, so it should be no surprise that Marv advises taking the blue one, i.e. opting for blissful ignorance.
Song Titles
Although I've hidden numerous song titles in the later books, there are only three hidden in book one (if I recall correctly), located in a discussion between Marv and Kate when they're walking from Windsor Castle to Middle Nipple. We start with a clue to their existence, when Kate states, "No, I suppose it doesn’t, not if the status quo remains." The next few paragraphs conceal the titles of three Status Quo songs: What You're Proposing, Whatever You Want, and Down Down.
Miscellaneous
I couldn't complete book one without a reference to Gary Larson's wonderful comic strip The Far Side. There's a hint to its existence when the pale man (Marlborough) is described as looking across to cows on 'the far side' of a field. Marlborough pretends to ignore the cows but then, after passing them, spins round rapidly, trying to take them by surprise but finding them doing nothing remotely un-cow-like. This is a homage to one of my favourite strips, where a cow is on the lookout for humans so that it can warn its cow friends when to stop standing around chatting on their hind legs and go back to acting like cows. If you've never seen it, a quick Google of 'the far side cows car' should take you to it!
I imagine no-one would ever pick up on this next Easter egg, namely the reference number for the form that the Windsor Castle ghosts are supposed to have submitted in order to request haunting permits: THI419. This is derived from IHT419, which is a UK inheritance tax form, 'Debts owed by the deceased'.
Monopoly
And so we come to the Monopoly references, nineteen of which are scattered throughout the book, some more obvious than others. The easy ones are: Monopoly(!), The Angel Islington, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, and Electric Company. Somewhat less easy are: Go To Jail, Take a Chance, Park Lane (referenced as 'South Park Lane'), Mayfair (referenced as 'the village May Fair'), Strand [of hair], Just Visiting, King's Cross, Pall Mall (referenced as 'your pal Mal'), Marlborough Street (referenced as 'Marlborough's treat'), Old Kent Road (referenced as 'good old Kent rode in'), and a reference to 'four houses and a hotel'.
Monopoly was first published by Parker Brothers, hence the reference to 'Parker's brothers' in the Windsor-based epilogue. The mascot of the board game, Mr Monopoly, is sometimes known as Milburn Pennybags, hence the name of Islington's supervisor, Milburn. The nineteenth reference is a bit of a stretch, but the word 'Go' does appear somewhere in the book!
Well, I hope this has been of vague interest to at least someone. Posts about the Easter eggs of books two and three to follow!
Cheers
D.C.Barclay
Hi,
If you've read the 'Author Notes' at the end of any of my books, then you will know there are numerous 'Easter eggs' hidden within the books, placed there in part for my own amusement but also in the hope they might be noticed and appreciated by the odd sharp-eyed reader. (Unfortunately, if you have either the paperback or an early Kindle version of book one or two, then you may have missed the 'Author Notes' in those books.)
Now that book three, The Dead Do Lie, has been released, it seems the right time to yield to popular demand (well, I'm sure at least one person asked for this) and to go back through the books and explain those Easter eggs. This veritable literary feast begins below with book one, This Is My Dad. He's Dead. If you noticed any of these, consider yourself congratulated.
Character Names
I probably spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking up character names, certainly in books two and three but perhaps less so in book one. For me, it's not just been about finding a name that suits the character but, where possible, finding one that has a meaning behind it. That said, I can't recall any particular reasoning behind the names of Ben and his family, but Marvin was named after Marvin Dorfler in one of my favourite movies, Midnight Run – a great character played brilliantly by John Ashton. As for Marlborough and Islington, their names relate to the board game Monopoly, but more on that later. Two other comedy movies, Beverly Hills Cop and Hot Fuzz, contributed the names of the PCs who deliver the news of Ben's death to Frankie: PCs Rosewood and Butterman.
Since I love a good horror movie, and given the reason for Father Avery Lancaster's visit to Ben's house, it was only right that he was somehow linked to The Exorcist, specifically the older priest, Father Lankester Merrin – therefore, my priest became Father Lancaster from the parish of Merrin. ('Avery' was chosen simply because of the similarity between 'Avery Lancaster' and 'Avro Lancaster', the World War II bomber.)
Then we have Marv's eventual girlfriend, Kate: given she died dressed as Anne Boleyn, 'Bullen' seemed an appropriate surname, since 'Boleyn' is apparently sometimes found spelt 'Bullen' (among other variants).
Old Mrs Gimpton’s cat, President Garfield, leads on to a number of other Easter eggs. Late in the book, Mrs Gimpton has a heart attack when she thinks she sees her neighbour, Charlie Duckwater, shoot President Garfield. The real President Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, who shot him with a revolver. If what I've read on the web is correct, then 'guit' is the Gascon word for 'duck'; with 'eau' as the French word for water, we then have Charles Guiteau becoming Charlie Duckwater. Even I'm wincing at that one, and it gets worse. Guiteau was a 'Stalwart Republican', and old Mrs Gimpton is stated as having always described Charlie as her 'stalwart friend'. Don't give up now, it's nearly over. The real President Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph, which gives us Mrs Gimpton's first name – Lucretia – and the reason why she is described as having a red nose when Ben and Marv see her in the pub (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). I can only apologise – I must have been having a really bad day. Finally, we have references to two other US presidents when Charlie is cleaning the inside of his Ford with his hoover while President Garfield pounces around.
Film and Television References
Aside from character names, the book hides various other references to the worlds of film and television. Not long after Ben and Marv's deaths, when Marv is messing around in the road, his reaction to a car passing through him ("It just moved through me. My God, I felt it! I can smell it, it’s the car. It’s the car! Smell my clothes.") is a parody of the scene in Poltergeist where the soul of Carole Anne (played by the talented but sadly very short-lived Heather O'Rourke) moves through her mother. Ben alludes to this with his response, "What? No, get lost, you over-acting ham."
Moving from scary movies to scary television programmes, when Marlborough's true identity is confirmed near the end of the book, he grumbles, "If it wasn’t for that pesky priest …" in the vein of the classic grouse from your typical Scooby Doo villain, "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids."
What must be the most obvious movie reference comes very early in the book, particularly as Marv even explicitly describes it as a 'movie reference'. This is where Ben and Marv are about to set off in Ben's car, and Marv comments, "It’s 106 miles to Chic Cargo, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and … ah shit, I’ve forgotten my sunglasses." This is, of course, a play on a quote from the Blues Brothers movie. Ben's initial response suggests the reference went over his head, but he disproves this by finishing off Marv's homage with a pointed finger and "Hit it."
Finally, we have a couple of references to The Matrix, when Ben and Marv first meet Marlborough. At the sight of Marlborough, with his Neo-like dress style – sunglasses and open black trench coat – Marv whispers, "I bet he knows kung fu." This is a reference to Neo's (Keanu Reeves's) first statement after having martial arts training directly implanted into his brain: "I know kung fu." Marv then comments, "If he offers you a red or blue pill, take the blue one." In The Matrix, Neo is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill. Accepting the red pill would mean learning the unsettling truth about reality, so it should be no surprise that Marv advises taking the blue one, i.e. opting for blissful ignorance.
Song Titles
Although I've hidden numerous song titles in the later books, there are only three hidden in book one (if I recall correctly), located in a discussion between Marv and Kate when they're walking from Windsor Castle to Middle Nipple. We start with a clue to their existence, when Kate states, "No, I suppose it doesn’t, not if the status quo remains." The next few paragraphs conceal the titles of three Status Quo songs: What You're Proposing, Whatever You Want, and Down Down.
Miscellaneous
I couldn't complete book one without a reference to Gary Larson's wonderful comic strip The Far Side. There's a hint to its existence when the pale man (Marlborough) is described as looking across to cows on 'the far side' of a field. Marlborough pretends to ignore the cows but then, after passing them, spins round rapidly, trying to take them by surprise but finding them doing nothing remotely un-cow-like. This is a homage to one of my favourite strips, where a cow is on the lookout for humans so that it can warn its cow friends when to stop standing around chatting on their hind legs and go back to acting like cows. If you've never seen it, a quick Google of 'the far side cows car' should take you to it!
I imagine no-one would ever pick up on this next Easter egg, namely the reference number for the form that the Windsor Castle ghosts are supposed to have submitted in order to request haunting permits: THI419. This is derived from IHT419, which is a UK inheritance tax form, 'Debts owed by the deceased'.
Monopoly
And so we come to the Monopoly references, nineteen of which are scattered throughout the book, some more obvious than others. The easy ones are: Monopoly(!), The Angel Islington, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, and Electric Company. Somewhat less easy are: Go To Jail, Take a Chance, Park Lane (referenced as 'South Park Lane'), Mayfair (referenced as 'the village May Fair'), Strand [of hair], Just Visiting, King's Cross, Pall Mall (referenced as 'your pal Mal'), Marlborough Street (referenced as 'Marlborough's treat'), Old Kent Road (referenced as 'good old Kent rode in'), and a reference to 'four houses and a hotel'.
Monopoly was first published by Parker Brothers, hence the reference to 'Parker's brothers' in the Windsor-based epilogue. The mascot of the board game, Mr Monopoly, is sometimes known as Milburn Pennybags, hence the name of Islington's supervisor, Milburn. The nineteenth reference is a bit of a stretch, but the word 'Go' does appear somewhere in the book!
Well, I hope this has been of vague interest to at least someone. Posts about the Easter eggs of books two and three to follow!
Cheers
D.C.Barclay
