Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 524

A Journey Out Of London

One month before war broke out, this colour film was shot of a journey taken from London to Biggleswade. It comes from the Huntley Film Archive, which has many such pieces of film – but as always what startles most about this is the sheer sense of order and serenity, that all is somehow right [...:]

British Character Actors No. 6: Richard Wattis

Always in his trademark glasses, Richard Wattis often played officials – as indeed a small army of actors did in the postwar years. The difference was that, instead of playing them as frustrated and bumbling, he was drily cynical and sharp. He's especially funny in 'The Happiest Days Of Your Life'. During the 1950s Wattis [...:]

Hidden London: Leighton House

It's not hidden, exactly, but you hear about very few people who visit it. The 19th-century President of the Royal Academy, Frederic, Lord Leighton spent 30 years creating the "Private Palace of Art" on the edge of Holland Park. Starting with a single house in 1866, the painter and sculptor Leighton slowly added a domed [...:]

Collider Is Perfect For The Tube

The Hadron Collider II has found a new use; it could become part of London's Circle Line. London Underground is in talks with Cern about the possibility of using the 23km tunnel of the Circle Line to house a new type of particle accelerator similar to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.

Particle physicists believe the [...:]

The Campaign For Real Fear Gathers Pace

The World Horror Convention was a great place to spread the word about the campaign that Maura McHugh and I have set up to increase the diversity and range of modern horror stories. Now the Guardian newspaper is helping to encourage writers to put digit to keyboard in this article.

We've had some truly tough-to-beat entries [...:]

A Pair Of Clean Shorts

Although I'm currently awaiting a publisher for my new collection of short stories, some of them appear in magazines and anthologies first, commissioned by editors who have asked me to write on a particular subject. I've never actually gone out looking to sell them because I prefer to write for someone who knows my work [...:]

A Brief Scene In A London Pub

Sometimes you have to see your over-familiar surroundings through the eyes of a visitor to realise how strange the world is.

The Canadian* has been visiting, and requires gentlemen's refreshment, so we head to a local pub, the King Charles 1 in King's Cross. The pub is always either packed or closed, according to some [...:]

Hidden London: A Shop Of Horrors

You know how it is – you're out shopping, you need to find a two-headed teddy bear, a shrunken head or a stuffed raven. Obviously the place to head for is Viktor Wynd's Little Shop Of Horrors at 11, Mare Street E8, a recommendation from my dear friend Graham Humphries. Get there before it becomes [...:]