Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 354

Cinema Shooting: Hollywood’s Response

Hollywood’s reaction to the Aurora massacre has been relatively circumspect and sensitive. Trailers for ‘Gangster Squad’, which show glamorised thugs killing in a cinema, have been pulled, but there’s an understanding that screen violence has no direct link to such crimes.

Compare this to the bizarre UK linking of the Jamie Bulger killers, opportunistic MP [...]

Oi, Did You Call My Pint A Poof?

A friend pointed out the massive impropriety of there now being a Prada outlet in Stratford East, but I’m not surprised. The rebirth of the East End is unavoidable now that the Olympics are set there (Another etiquette note for Olympic visitors – go for a walk around Bethnal Green, preferably in February in the [...]

Boris Johnson’s Olympic Welcome – Crikey!

My first laugh-out-loud moment of the day. Well OF COURSE we all hate Sebastian Coe but this is still genius. As is the TV series ‘Twenty Twelve’, which should be a box set.

I Say, Is This Cricket?

Watch those slippery French! Their organisation, the Préparation Olympique et Paralympique, is trying to boost wins via surveillance, under the direction of a man they called the Frog James Bond.The US is also seeking an Olympic edge through stealth; someone from their BMX team surreptitiously rode the competition course in London with a three-dimensional mapping [...]

Neglected Films No.9 – ‘The Last Of Sheila’

There are only a handful of really successful whodunnits on film. I retain a soft spot for ‘Sleuth’ (the original, not the appalling remake) even though advancements in makeup effects have ruined the plot’s big reveal. Who can resist Olivier’s waspish snob asking working-class Michael Caine; ‘And where do you live? Above, behind or below [...]

Another London Walk

I hadn’t intended to walk anywhere other than a spot of roast and a beer at the Jugged Hare, but it was a sunny morning and there seemed to be something going on in Whitecross Street, East London, behind Old Street church, which has an oddly tall and vaguely Pagan-looking steeple. St Lukes is now [...]

Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond @ The Barbican

Designing 007 @ The Barbican, an exhibition of fifty years of James Bond clothes, sets and gadgets from all of the films is currently running in London. It’s a terrific show, featuring everything from Odd Job’s lethal hat to Ursula Andresss’s white bikini. There’s Ian Fleming’s gold typewriter, in a room filled with golden objects [...]

The Real Bryant & May?

Bryant & May artist Keith Page spotted this pair of senior gentlemen enjoying a beer outside The porcupine in Charing Cross Rd on Saturday, and now fears they may have come to life. We’re on the lookout for Janice Longbright next.

The new Bryant & May novel, ‘The Invisible Code’, has been pre-released exclusively through Waterstone’s [...]

It’s Murder In Harrogate

Back up to Harrogate, North Yorkshire, for the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival, a small town with an incredibly well-attended (around 12,000 tickets sold) annual celebration of murder and mayhem, helmed by the indefatigable Mark Billlingham, who did an amazing job once again.

If you wanted to find one of the most ‘English’ towns in the country, [...]

What Are Authors Meant To Look Like?

I once did a gig at Chiswick Library. It was raining hard, and the librarians had very sweetly pinned my picture onto a blackboard, surrounding it with Christmas tinsel. Just before I went on, two old dears stood up and made their way over to the photograph, which showed me sitting on a London pavement [...]