LETTERS CAN TELL WONDERFUL STORIES

1. 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD by HELEN HANFF (1970) - FROM THE CULT OF BOOKS TO A CULT BOOK.

 For one who loves books,collecting  and reading them, as well as classic English literature this is a must read. It has come on my way only now (published 1970) thanks to a friend who knows me very well.  84, Charing Cross Road was also made into a film starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in 1987.

Since I love books about books, I greatly appreciated  this little epistolary novel based on the real exchange between the authoress Helene Hanff , living in New York, and the staff at Marks &Co. in London , from which she gets precious antique volumes at very little price. 

She became intimately involved in the lives of the shop's staff, sending them food parcels during England's post-war shortages and sharing with them details of her life in Manhattan. They go on exchanging letters from 1949 to 1969.

Due to financial difficulties and an aversion to travel, she put off visiting her English friends until too late; Doel died in December 1968  and the bookshop eventually closed. Hanff did finally visit Charing Cross Road and the empty but still standing shop in the summer of 1971, a trip recorded in her 1973 book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.

I love the following short excerpt which demonstrates Helene's love for the object "book" in itself, especially if it has a story. She's not interested in its value in money, but in its value in life.

"I wish you hadn't been so over-corteous about putting the inscription on a card instead of a flyleaf.It's the bookseller coming out in you all, you were afraid you'd decrease its value. You would have increased it for the present owner. (And possibly for the future owner. I love inscriptions of flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to." (p.27)

2. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by MARY ANN SHAFFER & ANNE BARROWS (2008)

"Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."

A sentence from this novel which drew my attention. I was stunned when I read it,  because this book has found home on my shelves in a very fortuitous way,  it has found me, "its perfect reader".  My friends and I found it in a basket of second - hand books outside the little church in Turville, the tiny country village we visited in Buckinghamshire in November. It was not me the one who took it, though. My friend V.  did it and started reading it on the flight back home. She  finished it in a few days but she said she didn't like it very much . So she wanted to pass it to me. She thought I might like it.  Thanks, V.!  Much appreciated. It's been a great pleasure to read it and now it'll be an even greater one  to host it on my shelves.

Now to my review.

Can letters tell a story so effectively that you are amused,  even laugh, sympathize with the feelings described, are moved to tears, get little by little deeply involved  into the characters' lives? Yes, if you read this book. It had never happened to me with an epistolary novel. But this one is unique in several ways.
It has so many features I'm fond of :  WWII  as the historical background, the UK (Guernsey island, in the Channel,  and London as the main settings ) , stories of love and friendship, dramatic events, funny anecdotes, love for books, its dealing with the importance of reading as well as writing. It was impossible for me not to love it.
It is a novel with very positive messages in which the grimness of war-time existence is enlightened by the courage, matter-of-factnesss and humor of the protagonists. They are all extraordinarily bizarre and humane. The heroine is author Juliet Ashton. She is  immediately charmed by the stories that the numerous members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society start writing to her, so charmed that she cannot resist. She must meet them, she must go there. She leaves everything she has in London to join them in Guernsey. She is successful as a journalist and as a writer but is experiencing extreme discontent. Maybe she's only now surrendering to the great shocks the war had  brought to her. She had her house  destroyed during the Nazis' heavy bombing of London and is still alive only by chance.  She needs inspiration for a new book but finds much more in Guernsey. She finds home and the love she,  an orphan, has always longed for. She finds the answers to her most inner questions and learns much from all her new friends: Dawsey, Isola, Amelia, Eben. The soul of the reading  society during the German Occupation of the island was Elizabeth McKenna, the only absent member, the only one Juliet won't succeed in meeting. She was the soul of the reading group and is the heart of this book. Juliet owes much to Elizabeth in the end: a new great book to publish and a new life full of love and friendship.
One of the most rewarding  readings in the latest years. I felt lucky and happy to share the appreciation of these pages with so many enthusiastic fans.

SEEN IN LONDON - BBC 1 UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

I know Upstairs, Downstairs  was one of the biggest TV hits of the 1970s, both with British audiences and around the world (not in Italy, it wasn't on Italian TV). Unfortunately, I have never seen it, not one episode, so what I cannot do here is a comparison between the original and this new re-make,  broadcast on BBC1 on 26-27-28  December, which I was lucky enough to watch on TV while I was  in London.

I liked it much. It's good period drama with a brilliant cast and great taste for costumes, locations, period details.
What I cannot do either is to answer the question "Is it as good as/better/worse than the incredibly successful Downtown Abbey?" , since I haven't seen the latter yet. But I'm going to do it soon, promise.
So I can only focus my review on BBC1 UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS 2010.

I read that the ITV series showed life above and below stairs at a wealthy home in Edwardian London, complete with gossip, intrigue and affairs of the heart and this is what happens in the new series too.

I've also heard that Jean Marsh played housemaid Rose and also co-created the series. She was among the ones downstairst also this time. First, she said in an interview, she had reservations about both her character's and the programme's return. Then her doubts vanished. 

The new show picks up the action precisely  in 1936 with another family moving into the Bellamy family's old house at 165 Eaton Place.
The wreath above the mantelpiece is full of dust. The chandelier is covered with cobwebs. Then a key turns in the lock - and a handsome millionaire walks in, with the woman he loves in his arms...

Sir Hallam Holland enters the iconic townhouse with his wife, Lady Agnes. With the help of former maid Rose, they launch a whole new era for the sumptuous London residence. Lady Agnes remarks: “This house is going to see such life!”
But storm clouds are gathering in Europe, and servants are no longer biddable and cheap. The Hollands’ first year at Eaton Place does not unfold as either Lady Agnes or Rose anticipates.
The drama  sets intriguing domestic plots against a sweeping historical background. There may be two families living in 165 - one upstairs and one down - but their fates are intimately linked.

 

The cast is  full of familiar faces (see photo above) 

Back row (on stairs) L-R: Ivy Morris (Ellie Kendrick), Harry Spargo (Neil Jackson), Mr Pritchard (Adrian Scarborough) and Rose Buck (Jean Marsh)

Front row L-R: Maud, Lady Holland (Eileen Atkins), Lady Persie (Claire Foy), Johnny Proude (Nico Mirallegro), Mr Amanjit (Art Malik), Lady Agnes Holland (Keeley Hawes), Sir Hallam Holland (Ed Stoppard) and Mrs Thackeray (Anne Reid)

SIR HALLAM HOLLAND.  He appears to have everything. He has risen rapidly through the ranks of the Foreign Office, and has recently inherited not just 165 Eaton Place but a considerable fortune and a baronetcy. The events of 1936 will challenge and change him in ways he could not have foreseen. I like the journey of this character in the series very much.

LADY AGNES. The eldest daughter of the 12th Earl Towyn, she was reared in a very damp castle in Wales. Beautiful and aristocratic, she has never been well off. Despite financial hardship, and their failure to have children, her marriage to Sir Hallam has been happy and devoted. The sudden rush of new money thrills her, and she is determined to put her husband, and her home, at the heart of London high society.

LADY HALLAM. Maud, she is Sir Hallam’s mother, one of the women who helped to build the Raj. Newly widowed, she returns to England to write her memoirs, and  hopes to build a new relationship with her grown-up son. But thirty years of distance are not easily overcome, and there will be  heartache along the way. And secrets unveiled in the end.

LADY PERSEPHONE TOWYN. She  is the 20 year-old sister of Lady Agnes. She has been marooned in Wales due to lack of family funds - a situation Lady Agnes is delighted to reverse. But Lady Persie’s lack of education, and the stimulation of the London scene, make for a highly combustible mix. Especially when she starts a scandalous affair with one of the men downstairs and sympathising with the Fascists.

 ROSE BUCK. She was the upper house parlourmaid at Eaton Place for almost forty years. Since 1932 she has eked out a living running a domestic employment agency - but a twist of fate brings Lady Agnes to her door. Initially engaged purely to recruit the servants for the Hollands, Rose soon proves herself indispensible to the running of the house.

MR PRITCHARD. Warwick Pritchard is sleek, discreet and quite beautifully spoken. Teetotal and highly strung, his exacting façade conceals deep kindness and real integrity. As the downstairs family settles in, he gradually becomes the moral centre of the household - though he still has a few surprises up his sleeve.

MRS THACKERAY. Clarice Thackeray is a widow. Passionate about her work, she expects the highest standards of herself and others. She follows the workings of high society through the pages of the Tatler. Romantic and affectionate by nature, she is also nosey, judgemental and a monumental snob.

MR AMNJIT. Educated, gentle, and imposing, Amanjit Singh comes to Eaton Place as secretary to Maud, Lady Holland. Having been in her service in India for many years, he is devoted to her welfare. His relationship with German/Jewish Rachel is touching.

RACHEL PERLMUTTER. She  is a German-Jewish refugee who comes to 165, as the new parlourmaid, in May 1936. Reserved and sophisticated, Rachel knows little about basic household chores, but is determined to make the best of her circumstances.

HARRY SPARGO. Good-looking and rather arrogant,  Harry Spargo enjoys his position with Hollands, but resents the social system that keeps him there. He enjoys a cautious camaraderie with Sir Hallam, but this is put to the test by the events of 1936.

IVY MORRIS. Just 15 years-old and  orphaned, she  is spirited, wilful,  likes red nail varnish and singing in the bath. Ivy would never willingly risk her newfound security at 165 but her hunger for love leads her, and others, into danger.

JOHNNY PROUDE. Aged 16,  he  launches a career in domestic service in an effort to escape a life spent down the pit. Charming and hard-working, he is popular with the other servants - especially Ivy - but comes to 165 with a troubling secret that, once revealed, will shatter the whole household.

The sets are exquisite, especially the  ones for interior scenes. Exterior scenes – such as the spectacular recreation of the Cable Street riots were relatively few but always  essential to the storyline. I agree with Heidi Thomas, writer and executive producer when she says that

"There is also a very strong message of equality in Upstairs Downstairs,which is often overlooked. Because the drama treats both rich and poor with an even hand, it says to the viewer 'Whether you drip with jewels and are swathed in furs, or are wrapped in a pinny and scrub until you hands bleed, your story really, really matters'. It respects and celebrates every aspect of human experience, and that is a powerful thing".

You can still see the 3 episodes on BBC iPlayer,  if you live in the areas where the service is available.

RA FRIDAY - 2010 : A WONDERFUL YEAR OF ... RA FRIDAYS!

It has been great! 2010 has been a wonderful year for us RA dedicated supporters all over the world. So many great achievements for him and so many emotions for us. I'd like to close 2010 remembering the best moments through some my RA FRIDAYS.

1st January      RA FRIDAY - MALICE AFORETHOUGHT

It was the first issue of my weekly event. I started with a review of Malice Aforethought. A costume  murder mystery series in which Richard plays Bill Chatford. Not a John, for once.  

 8th January I WISH I'D READ ... STRIKE BACK   My review of Chris Ryan's Strike Back. A very unusual read for me. I've widened my horizons this year.

15th January WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR ? RA !?!  

 I suddenly discovered how many people dropped by Fly High searching the Net  for Richard Armitage . I was simply astonished.

29th January FROM THE ORIGINAL GUY TO RICHARD'S   GISBORNE 

Well... "the title says it all". 

12th February WHO'S GOT A CRUSH ON HIS VOICE?

A post on Richard's velvety voice,  his audiobooks & voiceovers. You can download excerpts from many audioworks from this post.

 19th February  SPARKHOUSE

 In this loosely –based- on modern version Heathcliff is a young working -class woman called Carol Bolton, who is in love with her middle class neighbour, Andrew. So the class relationship between Bronte's uncultured Heathcliff and the upper class Cathy has been reversed. And it is middle-class Andrew's parents who want him to leave Cathy and go to university.Who is Richard in all this? Lovely John Standring.

12th March A FASCINATING RASCAL

How many bad guys did we come to love thanks to RA? Several. This is what I stated in this blogpost, my love for ... RA bad guys! Something I also wrote about the following week in OF RICHARD, LIBERTINES AND ESCAPISM. 

 

10th April 2010 RICHARD & HARRY

One of my best favourites: Harry Jasper Kennedy. And I've been also in Dibley in search for him. He wasn't there but it was a wonderful trip anyway. I wrote about my November trip to Turville (Dibley)  HERE.

16th April  READY FOR JOHN PORTER?

Waiting for STRIKE BACK on SKY 1, I was not sure I would like the series and Richard's new character. But ... It was great, wasn't it. This is the only series with RA someone of my family has seen so far: my elder son saw it and he liked it very much!  I wrote other posts about JP : The Dirty Truth of War, I've also Stricken Back and  Stricking Up Sympathy for John Porter.

 

 4th June WATERBOARDED, HE SPOKE!

It was a miscellaneous post for which I created a video comparing the use of waterboarding in Spooks and Strike Back. 

18th June RICHARD & THE SAS A comparison between Ultimate Force and Strike Back where Richard is an SAS soldier. No doubt which one I liked better.

2nd July MISS MARIE LLOYD 

 I've completed watching everything with RA in it this year. E -VE-RY-THING!!!

30th July

GOOD OLD TIMES, GREAT EXPECTATIONS & RED-SELF CORNER

July was the month of the Roma Fiction Fest where I saw Strike Back on a huge screen at the cinema  Adriano (HERE) and the month of Red-Self. Do you remember her. Hot weather may play strange tricks on people...

  13th August RICHARD, HEYER OR AUSTEN?

 My review of THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE audiobook and a ...modest proposal. Richard as Wentworth. Will this dream ever come true? 

 3rd September

DOES HE EVER HAVE ANY HOLIDAYS?

 Not that I minded Richard's overload of work in this 2010. But I just wondered how he could bear it... with red-self comments, too. She went on rambling all through the summer! I didn't remember, I didn't realise. Again...hot weather... Spooks was going to start and I was enthusiastic and ... worried, so worried for Lucas.

September/October

Then Spooks started and I wrote a series of heartfelt comments in  my RA Fridays: 

Leafing through this week's news and interviews, 

We have to deceive the deceivers  

James Bond? A policeman? A detective? 

 Have you closed your eyes? and many others till Good-bye, Mr North.

 

 And finally my special guests on the RA FRIDAY: Heather aka HeatRA or Heathdances,  Phillipa Ashley, Rosy Thornton, Leah Larson and Prue Batten with their precious contributions. My RA FRIDAYS wouldn't have been the great  fun they have been without all YOUR contributions and comments. For this I am deeply grateful to all of you who have been waiting  for this event each week ,  have filled it up with your enthusiasm and made it special. THANK YOU! A splendid 2011 full of RA emotions, love, health and  joy to all of you.

VISITING THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM

London 28 December, 2010

Misty murky London from the 8th floor

We woke up in a foggy, rainy, cold  London this morning. It was less cold then yesterday though. Our first goal was the Victoria and Albert Museum. We spent the whole morning there till 1.30 p.m.

I didn't expect such an amazing, astonishing variety and quantity of exhibitions and collections, though I had read and studied about the British Empire and Prince Albert's Great Exhibition (1851) . First thoughts that came to my mind in front of  the luxurious show off were pages from Dickens and Gaskell about poor people starving or having to witness, helplessly,  their children's starvation, however, I could but be amazed and feel admiration for such supreme achievements of the Royals of the time. To compensate the awkward feeling I had to be honest and think that  it was during Queen Victoria's reign that England began a stunning  process of reformation and progress.

 You can find so many interesting things inside this huge museum that you can't see them all and carefully in a few hours: from lots of statues to numerous paintings, from ordinary life utensiles to very precious ancient jewels, from common objects and fabrics  from distant colonies to very British collections.

I particularly liked the fashion and furniture items from different ages. Look at these beautiful dresses, for instance...

Chintz costumes, a fabric coming from India. At the beginning it was used by humble people then it became  fashionable both among  rich men  for gowns and among fashionable noble  women for their dresses in the 17th century, especially after Willam and Mary ascended the throne  in 1690. It was in fact a successful  Dutch fashion trend they brought into the English court.

This was James II's attire on the day of his marriage

Male fashion in th 17th century

A rococo dress (1740-45)

Loving period drama I was enchanted  at the sight of these beautiful clothes above . Gorgeous dress that last one, isn't it? But how could they possibly pass through a door? Well, it was necessary for the wearer to go sideways. No other way. Anyhow, this embroidered silk dress was impressive.
My husband and son had fun  trying to make the Byron cravat and the Gordian knot while I was wandering about.
I also saw  a dress and pottery from the Regency Era and a wonderful book case full of precious volumes from the 18th century. There was not much from my beloved Jane Austen's time  but the little I found was very beautiful.
Dating back to the 18th century there was also a portrait of the Garricks and pieces of the luxurious furniture in their house. David  Garrick was a very famous  actor, playwright and theatre manager  at the time of Jane Austen. Dr Johnson wrote he lived as a prince more than as an actor.

18th century library

The Garricks

The bed from the Garricks' London house

A dress in the Regency neoclassic style

 As you can imagine, I've got so many pictures from the Victoria and Albert Museum  that I could go on for long still. But  I'll add just  one more, ok? A painting of the Queen and Prince Albert inaugurating the  1851 Great Exhibition,  from which most of the items I've seen today come from. The location was the Glass Palace in Hyde Park that  was  destroyed by a fire later on.

My pictures are not perfect, I know. However they are my memories of these days full of good emotions and positive sensations. I love concretely seeing history with my own eyes after reading about it so much. That is what I did today in this immense museum.
The afternoon was dedicated to shopping and entirely spent in the crowded central streets. Finally, exhausted for the endless wanderings, I had time to finish watching BBC1 Upstairs, Downstairs. The third and final episode was on tonight and I was lucky enough to watch the whole series here in London. Brilliant costume drama. I loved it. It deserves a proper space and a proper review on Fly High, doesn't it? Till very soon from London or home. Hugs. MG

LONDON - THE OLD VIC, SOUTH BANK, SPOOKS LONDON

London 27th december 2010

I arrived yesterday afternoon, Boxing Day, in the middle of a tube strike and with many shops closed though the beginning of the winter sales. Long journey by train and then bus to our hotel and ... what a beautiful surprise! I arrived just in time to see the first episode of the new BBC re-make of Upstairs, Downstairs! It was beautiful wasn't it? I love watching British Tv in the original language and who follows this blog know about my passion for period drama so you can imagine how glad I was.

It's freezing here. We left Italy with 13° C and found -2 here! But, fortunately, no snow in London.We saw plenty of it from the plane all around the city but none at all here... so far. Fingers crossed. It's been very cold all day and everything was terribly grey, London unique grey.However, task one for day one in London was... the Old Vic. Yep. Can you guess why? Do you remember my wish for Christmas? The perfect Christmas gift I longed for? I wanted to see the "The third wish" from the 24 Hour Plays.

But it seems it must remain just a wish... I  went  there and asked the very kind young ladies at the box office if they had a brochure, a leaflet, a book of the event. "No, I'm afraid we have nothing about it". Then I directly asked if they recorded anything from the performances or if they were preparing a DVD with the plays and "No, I'm afraid we only have a video on our facebook page about it". Well, I know, I've seen it, but that's not what I intended. Ok. Thanks a lot and since I'm here are there any tickets left for "A Flea in Her Ear"? Final result of my enquiry: Wednesday evening I'm going to see Tom Hollander in Feydeau's comedy. Mr Collins instead of ... well you know who I mean. But I think it'll be fun, don't you?

Task 2 for the day was to walk in one of my favourite London areas, South Bank. We started from the Old Vic and walked, walked, andwalked up (or down?) to the Tower Bridge, passed the London Eye, the City skyline with the Gherkin and St Paul's, passed theTate Modern, the Globe, Millenium Bridge as far as The Tower Bridge. Many of  these landmarks reminded me of Spooks,  of course.

Long afternoon shopping and having coffee (needed to sit and drink something hot!) at Piccadilly. Nice dinner at Baker Street and, finally, episode two of Upstairs, Downstairs. Wonderful series! I hope I can finish watching it once back in Italy. But maybe I'll have to wait.

By the way, I've met a good friend of mine ... just have a look.

Hey...you won't be thinking I quite  look like Alice, if only I had  a pair of glasses on.  I've already listened to this one and ... do not like it! Nothing against lovely Alice ... only ... I'm not that funny. Now, that's all for tonight. No precise plans for tomorrow. Improvisation may be great fun while on holiday! Love. MG