Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 359

A Bigger, Darker ‘Celebrity’

Remember this work-in-progress? A short fringe play what I wrote (God, I shouldn’t even type that – does anyone still remember Morecambe and Wise?) was performed in London in December 2011, and is now about to start workshopping in a very different form as ‘Falling Stars’.

Most of the roles have changed in character, the one [...]

The Bullying Of Richard O’Dwyer

You may have heard or read about this guy recently. Richard O’Dwyer is a 24 year old British student at Sheffield Hallam University. He is currently facing extradition to the USA and up to ten years in prison. His crime? Creating a search engine website – TVShack.net – which linked to places to watch TV [...]

Unnerving Posters

Children and very sharp knives can happily co-exist in European street posters. Perhaps it’s better to teach kids the correct use like this.

This one’s deliberately provocative, obviously, but still unsettling.

The New Infantilism

I’m in a smart restaurant. Two huge middle-aged men come in with their girlfriends. The men wear shiny tight clothes that make them look like huge toddlers. They appear to have been dipped in gold. They’re speaking Russian. The girls are maybe nineteen, leggy, catwalk-arrogant, dressed somewhere between schoolgirl and call girl, as bare as [...]

Neglected Films No.3: ‘The Happiest Days Of Your Life’

If there was an award for the most charming film ever made, this would be high on the list; it was produced in 1950 but looks and feels as if it had been concocted in 1925. A perky new teacher arrives at Nutbourne College, to be shown around by a sarcastic, cynical Richard Wattis, who [...]

How Edgy Is Your Neighbourhood?

Estate agents are forever looking for the next run-down area that can be gentrified, but certain spots defy what used to be called ‘Yuppification’, particularly in London, where post-war housing estates created no-go areas of criminality.

For years I lived in Kentish Town, a slightly down-at-heel spot inhabited by council tenants, nurses, writers, artists and [...]

A City Of Darkness Part 2

A new online store of rare photographs shows London between the wars from the air, its Victorian buildings of white Portland stone blackened by sooty smoke.

Perhaps that wasn’t something Dickens had in mind when he wrote about London, but there’s truth in it; the city has a side that’s disreputable and rebellious, so of course [...]

A City Of Darkness Part 1

I’m away from London at the moment, and darting across scorching streets from shadow to shadow, avoiding the blazing continental sunlight. All around me, people are doing what Londoners only dream about – rollerblading, dancing, lounging about in bright light. The guarantee of outdoor light encourages group activities.

It’s the light you notice most of [...]

How Much Is A Hill Worth?

Those pesky Tories – they get back in and immediately get up to their old tricks.

The UK’s mountains, lakes, rivers and beaches are to be given an economic value under plans by George Osborne to audit the entire nation, including its landscape. He has ordered Britain’s natural features to be valued by economists and accountants [...]

How Marvel Got It Right

The next set of Marvel movies has been announced, and they’re clearly on a roll. The makers are staying with their B team – there are no signs of the Fantastic Four after two attempts to jump-start them, despite the fact that they once led the Marvel comics pack. Most of the other lycra-lookalikes in [...]