Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 389

A Houseboat On The Thames

Although it's not, of course. It's a hotel room, the most exclusive one in London. Built specifically for Olympic year by architect David Kohn and the artist Fiona Banner, this boat-shaped dwelling space is balanced on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth hall at the Southbank Centre. It's a pop-up structure but I imagine it [...]

In Which I Go To Parliament

I'd been inside the Houses of Parliament without a tour guide one before, to the House of Lords for a wedding – the children of Right Honorables can get married there – but I hadn't been in the other side, the House of Commons. So when my friend Suzi was invited to an event with [...]

Re:View – 'Snowtown'

The true story of Australia's worst serial killer (the 'Bodies in barrels' murders) is a tough watch even though very little actual violence appears on screen in this 'Mike Leigh In Hell' tale of an Adelaide community that looks like a slightly down-at-heel suburban neighbourhood but turns out to have more brutalised deprivation than any [...]

Putting Pen To Paper

Does anyone still do this? For a writer, writing letters is a bit of a busman's holiday, but I still write to friends. The advantages over email are not immediately obvious, but there's a certain timelessness about letter writing that allows the gathering of thoughts.

It's a reciprocal pleasure – you write something truthful, you get [...]

I'd Like To See Kindles Do This

What happens after the bookshop shuts? A couple who own Type bookstore in Toronto put this together. Watch it get ripped off in an advert any day now.

Bryant & May Characters Who Actually Exist

Readers of the detective series may recall Leslie Faraday, the foot-in-mouth pubic servant who manages to upset everyone he deals with. He clearly has a counterpart in Colin Barrow, the Westminster City Council leader and former hedge fund manager who managed to unite restaurateurs, theatre impresarios, shopkeepers and the Church in opposition to parking plans [...]

New Year, New Books

I'll be appearing at Foyle's bookshop in Charing Cross Road on Thursday 19th January at 6:30pm – 7:30pm, where I'll be in conversation with Jonathan Oliver about 'Hell Train', then signing copies. Reserve your free tickets now as the Foyle's events are always well-attended (this is more about the efficiency of the bookstore than my [...]

Great Achievements Of My Relatives

One of them wrote Fowler's English Usage, another played a spiv in old English films (Harry Fowler) one was a footballer, and there's apparently an American Fowler on Death Row. I thought of going to the records at Kew and checking on my family history, on the offchance that one of them had discovered Antarctica [...]

British Units Of Measurement

Following a recipe last night, I found myself forced to work between three accepted British units of measurement; grams, ounces and cupfuls. We seem to have adopted some measurement units but none of them completely.

This, of course, is the British way of doing things. After the campaign for women's suffrage peaked between 1910 and 1914, [...]

Unsold Stories: The Casebook of Bryant & May

It looks as if 'The Casebook of Bryant & May 1; The Soho Devil' is not going to be appearing anytime in the immediate future. The finished fifty-page full-colour graphic novel I've been working on with cult artist Keith Page has been unable to find a publisher either in the UK or the US.

The [...]