Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 476

On Edge

My friend the film critic and novelist Anne Billson reminds me that I once wrote a short story about a dentist called 'On Edge'. Frazer Lee made it into a short film with Doug Bradley and Charlie Boorman (and me in the opening shot). Anne was talking about gruesome dental scenes in the Guardian and [...]

Art From Nothing At All

Art funding is being slashed, and I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing. After years of the Film Council, the state of British film is worse than ever. You can train all the talent you like to make films, but without vertically integrated companies owning both cinemas and production, there's no outlet for [...]

Houseproud

On London site The Great Wen there's a host of fascinating articles ranging from London's crappest ghost (a plucked chicken) to why London terraces all look the same, no matter how much the houses are chopped about.

The answer to this is that the Imperial system of weights and measures meant that neighbourhoods were [...]

Bits Of London That Don't Change

Not strictly true, this, as some nasty new shops are shoving their way into a once-unbroken parade of bookshops on Charing X Road, so that there's now a Subway (who eats there? It's always deserted), a hairdressers, a shoe shop (oh good, we need more shoe shops), and dear God a TK Maxx (Chav togs). [...]

Real Bryant & May Locations 6

This is the shop where Arthur Bryant buys his boiled sweets – the peculiar forgotten brands like Rhubarb & Custard and Aniseed that you think nobody makes anymore. It's on Brewer Street in Soho, and is one of many retro places that have sprung up in the last year serving forgotten treats from Victoria sponges [...]

Celebrity 12: Shouting Louder

While the production is being rehearsed and the props, outfits and set are being prepared, we're also trying to sort out our lighting and sound systems. Meanwhile, the marketing has started (today's Evening Standard should carry the first small ad, with more to follow). Last week I distributed the remaining posters and flyers. I took [...]

The Return Of Mr Bryant

Some authors wax lyrical about the process of writing and speak of scenes coming alive and characters leaping off the page. I've always been allergic to that kind of talk, and in fact rarely discuss my personal methods at all. But something happened yesterday that I wanted to share, because to me this is the [...]

British Trick Or Treat

I can see that Halloween works in America – I imagine trick or treating youngsters dressed up, collecting candy – but of course that's not good enough for the anarchistic British, who are used to throwing fireworks about on Guy Fawkes night one week later, so on Halloween this year, my friend Maggie Armitage nearly [...]

Comedy: How Far Is Too Far?

38 year-old Scottish comic Frankie Boyle's new show 'I Would Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face' is getting criticism for making jokes about abused and missing children like Madeline McCann and Baby P. This is no real surprise – his last DVD was called 'If I Could Reach Out Through Your TV [...]

Paperboy Makes The Shortlist

The Green Carnation longlist surprised me for containing two of my books – pushing my luck, surely? But I'm thrilled that Paperboy has made it through to the shortlist now. The other contenders are succinctly summed up on Savidgereads.wordpress.com as follows;

'God Says No for putting you into the mind set of someone I never thought [...]