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- The best books on Egypt: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka June 19, 2013 Pushpinder Khaneka
- A note on Neil Gaiman's politics June 18, 2013 Paul Owen
- Neil Gaiman in conversation June 17, 2013 Paul Owen
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- I Love You Just the Way You Are June 16, 2013
- I’m Trying To Beat Life Cause I Can’t Cheat Death June 3, 2013
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- Bloody Flies by Andrew J Keir - Review by Helena Frith Powell June 7, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
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- Does The Self-Publishing Review Fall For Robert Duperre? March 29, 2012
- The Self-Publishing Review Goes In Search Of The Menopause Ranch March 22, 2012
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- Sunshine and Showers June 15, 2013
- Not a lot of writing but a whole load of reading... June 5, 2013
- Jon and the Pacemakers May 31, 2013
- Bren Gosling’s Blog (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- Short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize ! January 30, 2012 Bren Gosling
- About - Sweeping up the Village- by Bren Gosling January 16, 2012 Bren Gosling
- A taster... December 22, 2011 Bren Gosling
- Charlotte Haigh MacNeil’s Blog (ex-City Novel Coursemate and Journalist)
- The real reason insomniacs can’t sleep June 7, 2013
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- Partisan writing April 11, 2013
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Tag Archives: pubs
A Flying View of London
This weekend I visited the latest fascinating addition to London’s skyline, a construction that would probably have attracted a lot more attention had it not opened immediately before the Olympics — an event it was partly conceived to serve. Its … Continue reading
Posted in Influences, Research
Tagged cable car, Canary Wharf, East London, Emirates Air Line, Greenwich, London, O2 Arena, Olympic Legacy, Olympics, pubs, setting, Shoreditch, Tap East, Thames, The City, The Shard
7 Comments
Thatch
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Red Lion in Avebury — it’s the most typically English thing imaginable — a half-timbered, thatched pub situated right in the middle of one of the most significant ancient sites in the … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Avebury, Bottle and Glass Gibraltar, fire, pubs, Rising Sun Ickford, stone circles, thatch, Woolpack Stoke Mandeville
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A Dickens of a Pub Crawl
As anyone who’d watched TV or picked up a newspaper since Christmas will know, 2012 is the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of arguably Britain’s greatest novelist. If you’re a person with more modern tastes in literature you may believe … Continue reading
Posted in General Life, Research
Tagged Armando Iannucci, character, Charles Dickens, Clerkenwell, Farringdon, Holborn, London, Nabokov, pubs, setting
1 Comment
Wenlock Saved
I have a short update to the story of the Wenlock Arms in Hoxton, mentioned below, which is relevant to the fate of many pubs across the country. The Wenlock is a spit-and-sawdust, East-end style local (which looks from the … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged CAMRA, economics, Hackney Council, Hoxton, planning regulations, pubs, Shoreditch, Tommy Ducks, Wenlock Arms
4 Comments
When I Grow Rich…
…ring the bells of Shoreditch in Oranges and Lemons, Shoreditch being where mos of the start of my novel is set, although I very much doubt the bells of St. Leonard’s are going to help me get rich by writing … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged artists, Curtain Theatre, history, Hoxton, London, Moniker Art, Norton Folgate, Oranges and Lemons, pubs, setting, Shakespeare, Shoreditch, The City, Village Underground
3 Comments
On Your Bike Boris
A couple of weekends ago I decided, purely in the name of research for the novel, to research the area where Kim lives — what has been to me for many years the infamous borough of Hackney. I organised a … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged art, artists, Fish Island, Hackney, Kim, London, pubs, setting, Shoreditch
3 Comments
The Zeitgeist of the Segnits
I wandered into Waterstone’s in Staines (of past Ali G fame) a couple of weeks ago and was magnetically drawn to a book called Pub Walks in Underhill Country by Nat Segnit, which had the good fortune for a debut novel, … Continue reading
Posted in Influences, Uncategorized
Tagged cookbooks, cooking, Nat Segnit, Niki Segnit, Pub Walks in Underhill Country, pubs, rambling, setting, the Chilterns, The Flavour Thesaurus, theme, walking
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The Oak and the Book Club
I went to three pubs in Aston Clinton tonight (a village about 4 miles south-east of Aylesbury). Â The last one we went to, The Oak, is probably about as similar to The Angel as any pub could be. It was … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged Aston Clinton, book clubs, pubs, Reading groups, Research, setting, The Oak
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The Gravediggers
A close friend of mine, Charlie Mackle, has come up with a series of short pieces (almost flash fiction in some cases) about a fictional pub that sounds like the dark twin of ‘The Angel’ — it’s ‘The Gravediggers Arms’. … Continue reading
Elegy for the Pub?
The Economist’s Christmas-New Year double issue had a fantastic article on the current challenges facing British pubs — both economic (recession and the rise in energy costs), legislative (smoking ban, ratcheting up alcohol duty and being paranoid about upsetting the … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Angel, beer, George Orwell, history, J.D.Wetherspoon, Kate Fox, Moon Under Water, pub closures, pub etiquette, pubs, Research, setting, The Economist, Watching The English
2 Comments
Tattoo Culture
I mentioned in a previous post that the Belle Vue pub in High Wycombe has recently opened an art gallery. The second exhibition starts on Tuesday next week, 23rd November and runs until 28th December — open 12-11pm, free entry. … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged art galleries, belle vue high wycombe, mark page, photography, pubs, tattoo culture, tattoos
5 Comments
Belle Viewing
In another example of truth following what I’ve written as fiction, I’ve discovered via our excellent local Campaign for Real Ale magazine, Swan Supping, that an art gallery has opened in a pub in the local area. It’s not a … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged art galleries, artists, CAMRA, economics, fireworks, Guy Fawkes Night, pub closures, pubs, Swan Supping
4 Comments
The England of ‘Long Shadows on Cricket Grounds, Warm Beer and…’
…I’m sure John Major in his rather risible but memorable speech would have included Morris dancing in his wistful list of unchanging Englishness. That speech is a particular bug bear as beer should NEVER be warm — the belief that … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Aldbury, Aldbury Morris Men, Kim, Morris dancing, pubs, rural traditions, Towersey Morris
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The Naked Office
I was doing some ‘research’ today which involved sneaking in the back door of my local pub when it was officially closed up for the afternoon — the landlord had previously told me he’d be staying open all afternoon and … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Emma, HR, human resources, management, Naked Office, pubs, Virgin
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Some Pleasant Research
I went up to the Eight Bells in Long Crendon today — the local Campaign for Real Ale’s pub of the year. (I wrote its entry for the forthcoming 2011 Good Beer Guide.) It’s interior is very much like the … Continue reading
Penthouse and Pavement
We ran on past our finishing time last night in our workshop — so late that the university building was locked up before Guy and I had our tutorials with Alison. These then took place on an amenable table outside … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged 80s music, Heaven 17, influences, Kim, Penthouse and Pavement, Plot, pubs, subconscious, Thatcherism, tutorials
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‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser, Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie and the Bulgarian Carrot
For various reasons I’ve been incredibly pushed for time over the last week — principally related to a suspected outbreak of an unpleasant type of virus in the household. While it didn’t affect me directly, it had quite a knock … Continue reading
Transvestite Roofer From Banbury
Truth can be much stranger than fiction and I heard a superb example tonight. I’d driven up to a pub in a village called Stewkley, which is almost in Milton Keynes (though people there would not like to be associated … Continue reading
Masterchef
It’s Masterchef final day and I watched it after Manchester United’s referee-induced ten man capitulation to Bayern Munich — which might bring a smile to Kim’s face but not mine (btw she supports Chelsea). I watch the programme occasionally with … Continue reading
Posted in General Life
Tagged ambition, Chelsea, dedication, football, insecurity, James, Kim, Manchester United, Masterchef, pubs
2 Comments
Diet Pastiche
I’m working to some quite tough deadlines at the moment. I’ve just had to submit a 4,000 or so word assignment for my Software Development MSc. which outlines my plans for the dissertation. I’ve also got a huge amount of … Continue reading
