Mots D’Heures: Gousses Rames: The D’Antin Manuscript by Luis D’Antin Van Rooten

Originally published in 1967 and now reissued in an attractive hardback, this is an ideal stocking filler.

The book purports to be a previously undiscovered French medieval manuscript.  And it looks the part, with authentic looking illustrations and scholarly footnotes.

To understand how the book works, you’ll need to read it aloud, in your best or worst French accent.  Then the penny should drop.  For example, one of the rhymes is:

“Reine, reine, gueux eveille.  Gomme a gaine, en horreur, taie”.

When you read the text phonetically, it’s “Rain, rain go away. Come again another day”.

So Un petit d’un petit = Humpty Dumpty, and once you’ve connected to the author’s wavelength, the rest of the book makes total sense.  Then you can begin admire the skills of Van Rooten’s wordplay.  The footnotes on each entry are also well worth reading, since they are peppered with sly humour.

Entertaining and addictive, this is a wonderful little book for word lovers and it’s good to see it back in print.

Rogue’s Rock – The Complete First Series (Simply HE)

Rogue’s Rock is a small island somewhere off the British coast.  It’s run by Commander Rogue (Clive Morton), whose family have been there since Viking times.  As the story opens, the island has fallen on hard times, but a discovery in the quarry brings hope of wealth and prosperity.

Unfortunately, the neighbouring British also know what treasures lie beneath the soil and claim it as their own.  Rogue is having none of this, and declares Rogue’s Rock to be an independent nation.  Can he and his small band of friends defeat the might of the British navy and restore the fortunes of the island?

This six part children’s serial, first broadcast in 1974, is an undemanding and entertaining runaround.  If you recall the original transmission or have a fondness for 70’s childrens drama, then it’s worth picking up.  For Doctor Who fans, it’s notable for starring Clive Morton who played Trenchard in the 1972 Jon Pertwee serial “The Sea Devils”.  And he’s the same bluff character here, but Rogue’s a more likable and less blinkered character than Trenchard.

If you’ve purchased any of the other recent releases from Simply, also culled from the Southern TV archive, like Freewheelers or Flockton Flyer, then this falls into a similar category.  It also highlights how active this small company was in the field of children’s drama back in the 1970’s, an area of television that is sadly greatly diminished in the current tv landscape.

Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth (BBC Audio)

After the success of the first Dalek serial in 1963/1964, it was inevitable that they would be brought back to menace the Doctor again.

So in late 1964 the six part serial “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” was broadcast to an expectant public.  It’s notable in the history of the series due to it being the first story to depict an invaded Earth.  And it’s different from most invasion Earth stories, since when the Doctor and his companions appear, the invasion is long over.

The Daleks are the masters of Earth and the remaining humans are either subservient or are hiding in small groups desperately plotting futile acts of retaliation.

The reason for the Dalek invasion?  They want to remove the Earth’s core so they can insert a motor and pilot the planet around the Galaxy like a huge spaceship.  Yes, well Terry Nation’s great strength was action set pieces, so you’ll have to forgive him if he couldn’t come up with a better reason for the Dalek’s actions than that!

This BBC Audio release across 4 CDs, features an unabridged reading of Terrance Dicks’ 1977 novelisation of Terry Nation’s scripts .  The reader is William Russell, who played Ian Chesterton in the original serial.  Dalek voices are provided by Nicholas Briggs, who performs the same duties for the current series.

Another entertaining release in a growing series of Audio adaptions of the Target Doctor Who novels.  Another essential release for those already collecting these releases, and if you haven’t, a good place to start.

Sutherland’s Law – Series 1 (Acorn Media)

John Sutherland is the Procurator Fiscal of the small Scottish town of Glendoran.  Under Scottish law he is responsible for undertaking preliminary investigations into criminal cases and then presenting the case for the prosecution in court.

Over the ten surviving episodes from the first series, first broadcast in 1973, there’s no shortage of interesting cases.  Ranging from murder,  a runaway girl and illegal immigrants, Sutherland finds himself in the thick of things time and again.

Sutherland is played expertly by Iain Cutherbertson, with support from Gareth Thomas as his deputy and Maev Alexander as their secretary.  The three characters interlock effectively, creating a powerful dynamic which is one of the series’ key strengths.

One of the others is the high quality of the scripts.  Out of the ten episodes, several are exceptional and none are worse than very good.  The Return and The Climb are two particularly fine episodes.

In The Return, a woman convicted of the murder of her husband returns to the town.  Why has she come back?  The answer is provided at the end of the 50 minutes, a downbeat but logical ending.

And in The Climb, Sutherland returns to the mountain that claimed the life of his wife to examine whether another climber’s death was an accident or something more sinister.

Quality drama and Acorn are to be applauded for releasing such an obscure series.  Hopefully sales will be good enough to justify further releases.

Lost Railways of South Wales by Mike Hall

The invention of the train in the 19th century had a considerable impact on South Wales.  From the middle of the century onwards, there was a continual expansion of lines and stations until even the smallest community was served.   At one time the total number of stations was in excess of 400.

Although freight was key to the financial success of the railway, passengers were important too.  The Mumbles railway in Swansea holds the distinction of being the first public passenger railway in the world.  And Newport’s High Street station was officially opened in 1850, the first train being driven by Brunel.

But as motorised transport became more accessible, the golden age of the railways was over.  More and more lines were closed during the 1940’s and more went after the Beeching report of 1963.

Mike Hall’s well written book tells the tale of the lost lines, why they were built and why they closed. Well illustrated with maps and photographs, this is a fascinating read for railway enthusiasts or anybody who is interested in learning more about an important part of South Wales’ history.

The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Rome, AD 44. Gauis Julius Caesar has led Rome through a period of expansion and conquest unknown in her history.  At home though, all is far from peaceful.  Implacable political factions vie with each other for supremacy, and at the same time Caesar’s health causes his closest advisers great concern.

When Caesar is told of a prophecy concerning the Ides of March, a chain of events is started that will chance the face of Rome forever ….

Valerio Massimo Manfredi, author of the Alexander trilogy, has penned a very readable book which is  a pleasing mixture of history and political intrigue.  Anybody who has a smattering of Roman history will know from the title alone how the story ends, but that doesn’t detract from the way Manfredi skillfully draws the threads of the plot to its inevitable conclusion.

Recommended for anybody who enjoys historical fiction or has an interest in the politics and machinations of Ancient Rome.

Deadly Peril and how to avoid it by Tracey Turner

It may just be me, but when reading the back cover which promised to teach the reader how to outwit piranhas, escape frozen toilet waste, survive a bear attack, escape an avalanche and endure a shipwreck, my first thoughts were “how unlucky would you be if all those things happened at once?”

Anyway, discounting the idea that five different deadly perils could attack you at once, this is a handy pocket sized book that no adventurer to foreign climes should do without.  Though it’s advisable to read the sections that concern you beforehand, if you’ve been swept over a waterfall it’s probably too late to start rummaging in your pocket for the answer to your dilemma.

With each peril rated out of 10 and nicely illustrated throughout, this is an eye opening book which is well worth packing for your next holiday abroad and will also provide some interest and information for the armchair adventurer.

Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story by J Randy Taraborrelli

Following Michael Jackson’s death earlier this year, the inevitable cash in books started to appear, copying and pasting the known facts from newspapers and other publications.

Michael Jackson – The Magic and the Madness, does not fall into this category.  First published in 1991 and revised several times since, this edition includes a new chapter detailing his final days.  J. Randy Taraborrelli is able to draw on the many interviews he conducted over several decades with Jackson and his intimate circle, and these bring a real insight into his career and life.

It’s understandable that Jackson’s tortured and troubled private life is the main focus of the book but Taraborrelli deals with the many controversial areas in a balanced and non-judgmental way, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.  However, this does mean that the music tends to get squeezed out, for example the recording of the album Thriller is dealt with in a handful of pages.

This is a minor niggle though, and whilst it’s certain there will be at least one more revised edition once all the facts of Jackson’s death are established, at the moment this remains the definitive account of Michael Jackson’s life.

The Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club – Series 1

Following the success of The Comedians in the early 1970’s, Granada produced The Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club, a series set in a fictitious Northern working man’s club.

Compered by Bernard Manning with Colin Crompton as the chairman, Wheeltappers is a wonderful showcase for the sort of acts that used to travel from town to town, playing  similar venues.  Some were young hopefuls and others household names.

There’s a varied selection of comedians who would have served their apprenticeship in clubs like this, including Little & Large, The Krankies, Norman Collier and Cannon & Ball.

And sprinkled during the episodes are some big names, giving you the opportunity to have a good old sing-a-long with Mrs Mills, watch Tessa O’Shea play a paper bag, see Bill Haley up close and most incongruous of all, Stephane Grapelli’s expert violin playing!

And who can fail to be entertained by the varied specialty acts such as knife throwers, accordionists, vents, acrobats and xylophone players?

A very entertaining release from Network, hopefully series two will follow shortly.

Journey of a Lifetime by Alan Whicker

Published to tie in with the television series of the same name, Journey of a Lifetime sees the urbane globetrotter revisit some of the places and people he has visited over the last fifty years.

During that time he has traveled the world many times, meeting the eccentric, colourful, rich, famous and infamous.  From Papa Doc, the autocratic president of Haiti responsible for at least 30,000 deaths to John Paul Getty, then the richest man in the world, Whicker’s charm enabled him to gain access to subjects previously undocumented.

He also pioneered the fly-on-the-wall style of documentary making, covering a wide variety of subjects such as plastic surgery, American gun control and polygamy long before Louis Theroux was a gleam in anybody’s eye.

Written with his trademark humour and wit, Journey of a Lifetime is an entertaining snapshot of a broadcasting legend.