Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 262

Goodbye, Harold Shand

‘I’m not a politician – I’m a businessman. And I’m also a Londoner.’ Harold Shand’s gravel-voiced speech on the prow of his yacht as it passes Tower Bridge is the stuff of British film legend, along with the closing speech from ‘Withnail & I’ or the opening monologue from ‘Trainspotting’ – there aren’t too many […]

What The Scandiwegians Did For Us

Countries like Iceland have the highest literary rate in the world (it’s pegged at 100%, while 8% of British adults are functionally illiterate and according to US Dept Education National Institute of Literacy statistics 32 million US adults can’t read). So it’s hardly surprising that Nordic literature, television and films should have finally come to […]

Overlooked Movies No.2

‘The Oxford Murders’ was always going to be a tough sell. A bestselling Spanish murder mystery about mathematics and philosophy set in Oxford, made by a Spanish team headed by Alex de la Iglesias and filmed in a weird kind of English that sounds dubbed and highly awkward – and yet, as a number of […]

One Man’s Grand Design For London

Meet Colin Wilson, director of the Planning Decisions Unit of the Greater London Authority. They would have a man named Colin. I wanted to find out more about him, and discovered that he recently ran a seminar, billing it like this: Urbego mini training course trainer:Colin Wilson, Startegic Planning Manager at Greater London Authority. That […]

Talent Trickledown

Talent Trickledown is what happens when you have a giant at the top of the family dynasty whose abilities are genetically passed on in dwindling amounts, so you start with Ernest Hemingway and end up with Mariel and her modelling, or with Pablo Picasso, down to Paloma and her fragrance. To be fair, it can’t […]

My Unhealthy Obsession With Film Music

It’s out of control now. I can’t help myself. I’ve always played film music while I write, but recent developments have forced me to take stronger measures than ever before, like an addict moving up to crack. I’d always had it under control. Okay, my soundtrack collection, which began when I was, oh, 10 years […]

Sing Another Funny Song

After posting about the peculiar world of comedy songs recently, a few other examples came to mind, including ‘Come Outside’ by Mike Sarne (who went on to direct the Hollywood disaster ‘Myra Breckinridge’) and Wendy Richards. Similarly, Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard produced their own gruesome take on ‘You’re The One That I Want’ from […]

The Real-Life Inspirations For Bryant & May Characters

I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, after someone suggested I couldn’t possibly know anyone as strange as some of my characters, so here are a few of the real-life figures who got re-invented as characters in the Bryant & May novels. At the moment I’m limited to people I have photos of, but […]

Sing A Funny Song

Where do we first gain our love of words? For my mother, who lived in Brighton as a girl, the seaside Pierrots (see a modern-day version, the Pier-Echoes, above) taught her funny songs. These traditionally-dressed troupes toured all the seaside towns and are immortalised in the novel ‘The Good Companions’ as the Dinky-Doos. Many kids […]

Killing For Charity

Okay, not just killing but robbing, blackmailing, committing all kinds of heinous dishonests – and it’s all in a good cause. Ian Rankin introduces acollection of crime writing that’s an Oxfam charity fundraiser, featuring a compelling (it says here) cast of 27 suspects that includes George Pellecanos, Mark Billingham, Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh, Denise Mina, […]