pretend you're using a different browser

Web Here's a rather useful discovery. In the past hour I've been enjoying the benefits of a speedier web thanks to Google Operating System's 10 Google Features for Slow Internet Connections most of which I'd never heard of let alone implemented.

 There's YouTube Feather which removes all the useless gubbins around a video and allows videos to load much more quickly and explanation for how to make plug-ins click to run, which is useful if you're on the 3 broadband dongle with a download cap I've opted for.

But this is feature with the most benefit so far:
Chrome's custom user agent feature is great if you want to pretend you're using a different browser. If your connection is really slow, pretending that you're using a smartphone has an important advantage: many sites will load the mobile interfaces, which are lightweight. To change the user agent in Chrome, open the developer tools (Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux, Command-Option-I for Mac), click the "settings" button at the bottom of the window, click "user agent", enable "override user agent", select "Android 4.0.2 - Google Nexus" or "iPhone - iOS 5.0" from the list and disable "override device metrics".
I haven't bumped into any obviously mobile interfaces yet, but websites are loading far more quickly since it seems to be using the mobile versions of content like graphics.  I suddenly feel like I'm on a much faster connection.

Now it's possible that its simply that my connection/dongle is behaving itself this morning and this is a placebo like perception but even Lovefilm seemed to open more quickly and that usually takes aaaageeess.

"Line 4 makes an irrational loop east"

Transport As Londoners grimace in horror at the impending nightmare which will be getting around London during the Olympics, they might be pleased to know that words like "infrastructure" were being thrown about a century ago while Paris prepared for the 1900 games, especially in regards to the Metro. France Today focuses on this gigantic undertaking becoming entertainingly cross about some of the results:
"Of all the senseless incidents that accompanied the Métro project, the most astonishing one erupted in 1908, from the most unexpected quarters. The bone of contention was the route chosen for Line 4, meant to link the Montparnasse railway station and the central food markets of Les Halles. The venerable members of the Académie Française—les Immortels— objected to the Métro running beneath their splendid domed headquarters, the Institut de France on the Quai Conti. That’s why Line 4 makes an irrational loop east from Saint Germain des Prés to Saint Michel, avoiding the Institut, before crossing under the river, the Ile de la Cité and the river again en route to Châtelet."
Which reminds me of when I visited Paris and got lost of the metro because after travelling about for half an hour I realised I'd been following the wrong shade of pink on the maps.

"the start of ‘Beatlemania’"

Liverpool Life Google Sightseeing casts its giant eye at us and takes the reader on across the various Beatles related landmarks in the city:
"After returning from one particular stint in Germany, a series of shows at Litherland Town Hall (now a health centre) in late 1960 / early 1961 is generally acknowledged to be the start of ‘Beatlemania’, with the now-solid band getting rave reviews and an increasingly hysterical following."
As ever consulting street views' view of around here is akin to time travel. The Jacaranda closed that year and Ringo's house isn't quite that intact.

"the writing, recording, touring cycle"

Music Chumawamba are one of the few bands that I'm able to say that I was there before most people, having been introduced to their Anarchy album at uni, just a few years before Tubthumper made them a household name and infamous almost overnight.  For my money it's still their best.  Banned from loads of record shops thanks to its sticky cover, Anarchy was an album which lived up to its name, full of rage against the establishment.  There are few better songs about intolerance than Homophobia. Anyway, after thirty years in the business, they've decided that after a few concerts at the end of the year, it's all over, they're retiring:
"We felt we’d got to a point where what we did as a band – and specifically the writing, recording, touring cycle – wasn’t doing justice to what Chumbawamba set out to do in the first place. We were always as much about ideas as music, and that meant doing more than writing, recording and touring songs. It meant trying to be relevant and active and up-to-date, while trying to avoid the dreaded rut of routine or repetition. being up-to-date meant giving plenty of time and energy to the band, constantly, for those thirty years; a constancy we plainly couldn’t keep up with in the end."
One of my many regrets in life is missing them perform at the Town & Country in Leeds in about 1994 on a night when (I seem to remember being told later) the police were called. Hard to imagine that happening at this gig in Warwick in 2008:



("the worst disease, you can't love who you want to love in times like these")

Witness is a near daily series of ten minute episodes

Radio To mark the BBC World Service vacating Bush House, I thought I'd recommend one of my favourites of their programmes. Witness is a near daily series of ten minute episodes in which, as the name implies, someone deeply connected with a subject, a building, an event, a person, gives us an insight into that subject rather The Reunion or In Our Time, with a single person over a short duration.

Usually it's a topic in the news, so yesterday, Lisa Hirsch who worked for the Yugoslav service, as a secretary and an announcer, remembered the atmosphere and the people of the World Service during war time. Today it was Ladysmith Black Mambazo who're joining Paul Simon in concert at the weekend to create a live version of Graceland.  On Monday they'll be commemorating the New York Blackout on the 35th anniversary.

It's the sheer random nature of the subjects which makes it such a joy.  There are about four year's worth available to listen to, nearly seven hundred episodes, starting with the Shah of Iran.  At the end of last month the newer Shakespeare's Globe's history was summarised (this Reunion offers a longer version).  Here's Anthony Daniels being surprisingly candid about Star Wars too.  If only they were better organised.  Hmm ...

Blog North comes to Tate Liverpool

Blog! Next month, Blog North comes to Tate Liverpool. It's a networking/conference day run by Creative Tourist, who've posted details on their blog:
Blog North #2 runs on Saturday 4 August 2012 at Tate Liverpool

After the success of the first of our blog events in May, we bring you our second, a mix of professional workshops and networking, specially designed to support you in your blogging adventures. This time, the focus is on digital tricks and tools, and how to use social media to make sure that your carefully-crafted posts reach the readership they deserve. The venue is rather special, too: the glorious Tate Liverpool, with your ticket price including access to its summer blockbuster exhibition, Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings (worth £12).

The day’s workshops are:
  • Cutting edge social tools for a better online life. The Next Web’s Martin Bryant discusses the latest tools and trends online and how they can improve both your professional and personal life;
  • Is Twitter working hard enough for you? By Emma Bearman, a leading social media consultant and the brains behind influential blog The Culture Vulture.
  • Love your blog Q&A. Learn how to step up a gear from the founders of Liverpool online art magazine, The Double Negative. Laura Robertson and Mike Pinnington outline how they turned blogging into a profession.
The day’s networking and social stuff includes:
  • Lunch provided by Tate Liverpool, with your fellow Blog Northers and culture blogs Creative Tourist, The Culture Vulture and The Double Negative, and Tate staff;
  • Free entry to the Tate’s summer exhibition (worth £12);
  • An optional networking session hosted by The Double Negative, Liverpool’s online art magazine, and friends;
  • You’ll also get a goody bag, an info pack to help you blog about the day, and free tea and coffee.
  • It is quite a packed day – and all this costs just £25 (plus booking fees; 10% discount for Blog North members).
Booking details plus full itinerary are at Creative Tourist. Tickets are £25 plus £2.25 booking fee.

I cry in supermarkets.

Books Sometimes, just sometimes, I cry in supermarkets. This shouldn’t surprise regular readers who’ll know my emotion gland can be overwhelmed by the simplest of things. There’s a three-fold complexity to my feelings about supermarkets. Firstly, it’s the rudeness of fellow shoppers with barging tendencies unable to understand those like me with weak decision making skills. Secondly it’s my lack of decision making skills and wanting to taste everything despite there only being three meals in a day and seven of those days between shopping trips.

But thirdly, and primarily it’s what supermarkets represent. Weeping in the cheese aisle amongst the crumbly varieties with county names, the Lancashires, Cheshires, Cheddars. I thought about the history of those cheeses, the heritage and how centuries of tradition now sit wrapped in plastic for our convenience with labels designed to attract us with an idealised version of the history, the heritage, the centuries of tradition. The answer is to purchase such at farmers markets, but supermarkets are convenient, which also make me inadequate.

Unfortunately The Shakespeare Cookbook by historian Andrew Dalby and cook Maureen Dalby goes some way to increasing that inadequacy, since although I’m not necessarily a terrible cook I’m an unpractised one which means there’s little chance of the recipes listed being anything like the mental pictures they conjure (another reason for the supermarket tragedy). Luckily then, it’s much more than that, the authors utilising a number of contemporary sources to offer a taste (sorry) of eating habits and favourite dishes in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

The Shakespeare connection involves ransacking the plays and their sources for food references and extrapolating those out into explanations for the surprisingly large variety of dishes which were available in the period, some of which are now available in supermarkets but many entirely alien to our tastebuds, though it’s almost disappointing Baxters don’t produce a tinned variety of Swan Chauder. As well as quoting from a variety of cookbooks (most of them now available online), the authors also provide contemporary equivalents for modern chefs to try.

For Hamlet, that’s the feast Hamlet refers to when question Horatio on his appearance in Elsinore, “Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” The Dalbys aren’t sure if the prince is speaking literally but we’re quickly introduced to the food he’s referring to, “cooked meats” being pies, the pastry cases before filling fittingly, given the themes of the play, called “coffins”. We’re then provided with recipes for hot water crust pastry and shortcrust pastry neither of which seem that complicated even though they undoubtedly are.

Given my culinary inadequacy I’m probably not the best judge of whether this works as a cookbook. Structurally it’s unusually set out, with chapters themed around various plays with a short introduction focusing on various textual victuals, either metaphoric or consumed on stage followed by short pieces explaining these various elements, some more tenuous than others. Would a serious foody want these recipes to be more conventionally clustered around the usual headings, starters, meat dishes, fish dishes, deserts and drinks?

But if the book has a particular strength its that it doesn’t just rely on Shakespeare for illustrative quotes featuring when necessary works by his contemporaries, with Middleton’s The Witches allowing us to see what may have been on the Macbeth’s table during Banquo’s visitation and a rousing speech from Maid Marion in Jonson’s unfinished Robin Hood play The Sad Shepherd providing a glimpse of the Bohemian sheep-shearing feast in A Winter’s Tale. And when that fails they quote from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which shows an eclectic attention to detail.

Whether any of this will improve or deteriorate further my ability to visit supermarkets without it becoming some great personal tragedy will be hard to tell. Perhaps the trick will be to select a recipe at random, wait a moment, yes, hodgepot, gather the ingredients and make an attempt. The authors replace marigold flowers with saffron so that seems perfectly doable. Perhaps I’ll report back. But until then at least when I see marchpane, or rather marzipan on the shelf, I’ll know it’s always been a convenience food, even in Shakespeare’s day.

The Shakespeare Cookbook by Andrew Dalby and Maureen Dalby is out now from the British Museum Press.  RRP £10.99.  ISBN: 978-0714123356.  Review copy supplied.

The Shakespeare Cookbook by Andrew Dalby and Maureen Dalby.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I cry in supermarkets. This shouldn’t surprise regular readers who’ll know my emotion gland can be overwhelmed by the simplest of things. There’s a three-fold complexity to my feelings about supermarkets. Firstly, it’s the rudeness of fellow shoppers with barging tendencies unable to understand those like me with weak decision making skills. Secondly it’s my lack of decision making skills and wanting to taste everything despite there only being three meals in a day and seven of those days between shopping trips.

But thirdly, and primarily it’s what supermarkets represent. Weeping in the cheese aisle amongst the crumbly varieties with county names, the Lancashires, Cheshires, Cheddars. I thought about the history of those cheeses, the heritage and how centuries of tradition now sit wrapped in plastic for our convenience with labels designed to attract us with an idealised version of the history, the heritage, the centuries of tradition. The answer is to purchase such at farmers markets, but supermarkets are convenient, which also make me inadequate.

Unfortunately The Shakespeare Cookbook by historian Andrew Dalby and cook Maureen Dalby goes some way to increasing that inadequacy, since although I’m not necessarily a terrible cook I’m an unpractised one which means there’s little chance of the recipes listed being anything like the mental pictures they conjure (another reason for the supermarket tragedy). Luckily then, it’s much more than that, the authors utilising a number of contemporary sources to offer a taste (sorry) of eating habits and favourite dishes in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

The Shakespeare connection involves ransacking the plays and their sources for food references and extrapolating those out into explanations for the surprisingly large variety of dishes which were available in the period, some of which are now available in supermarkets but many entirely alien to our tastebuds, though it’s almost disappointing Baxters don’t produce a tinned variety of Swan Chauder. As well as quoting from a variety of cookbooks (most of them now available online), the authors also provide contemporary equivalents for modern chefs to try.

For Hamlet, that’s the feast Hamlet refers to when question Horatio on his appearance in Elsinore, “Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.” The Dalbys aren’t sure if the prince is speaking literally but we’re quickly introduced to the food he’s referring to, “cooked meats” being pies, the pastry cases before filling fittingly, given the themes of the play, called “coffins”. We’re then provided with recipes for hot water crust pastry and shortcrust pastry neither of which seem that complicated even though they undoubtedly are.

Given my culinary inadequacy I’m probably not the best judge of whether this works as a cookbook. Structurally it’s unusually set out, with chapters themed around various plays with a short introduction focusing on various textual victuals, either metaphoric or consumed on stage followed by short pieces explaining these various elements, some more tenuous than others. Would a serious foody want these recipes to be more conventionally clustered around the usual headings, starters, meat dishes, fish dishes, deserts and drinks?

But if the book has a particular strength its that it doesn’t just rely on Shakespeare for illustrative quotes featuring when necessary works by his contemporaries, with Middleton’s The Witches allowing us to see what may have been on the Macbeth’s table during Banquo’s visitation and a rousing speech from Maid Marion in Jonson’s unfinished Robin Hood play The Sad Shepherd providing a glimpse of the Bohemian sheep-shearing feast in A Winter’s Tale. And when that fails they quote from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which shows an eclectic attention to detail.

Whether any of this will improve or deteriorate further my ability to visit supermarkets without it becoming some great personal tragedy will be hard to tell. Perhaps the trick will be to select a recipe at random, wait a moment, yes, hodgepot, gather the ingredients and make an attempt. The authors replace marigold flowers with saffron so that seems perfectly doable. Perhaps I’ll report back. But until then at least when I see marchpane, or rather marzipan on the shelf, I’ll know it’s always been a convenience food, even in Shakespeare’s day.

The Shakespeare Cookbook by Andrew Dalby and Maureen Dalby is out now from the British Museum Press.  RRP £10.99.  ISBN: 978-0714123356.  Review copy supplied.

"Health and Safety regulations kicked in and stopped her killing me"

Audio  Hats! What’s often forgotten about Hamlet is that amongst the psychological introspection and political intrigue, the prince’s headgear is a vital element in broadcasting his madness, feigned or otherwise, and one of the triggers which leads to Polonius’s investigation of his psychological well being. It was not just a tradition but law, from a parliamentary statute of 1571, that all men in society to wear caps and they became an important part of confirming social divisions.

If someone wasn’t wearing their headgear it was a pretty good indication that they weren’t well, so when Ophelia notes to her father “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, / Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, / No hat upon his head…” it suggested the privy councillor and us that something is terribly wrong with the young prince. Arguably it could also indicate there’s something terribly wrong with the production if that line’s in there and no one else is behatted in some way.

Broadcast a few months ago on Radio 4 and now out on cd, Shakespeare’s Restless World, one of the epicentres of the BBC’s year long coverage of the bard’s work, seeks to investigate his plays, his life and his world through the objects of the British Museum and further afield. Presented by Neil MacGregor, director of the museum, it’s an audio adjunct to the Shakespeare: staging the world exhibition (part of the cultural Olympiad) in the style of his previous History of the World in 100 Objects.

As with that series, the objects are really enry points into exploring a particular aspect of the Elizabethan and Jacobian world and so a rather anonymous apprentice’s cap inspires a discussion of the class system, social propriety and rioting, feeding into the series other aim of finding parallels with contemporary Britain.  In another episode MacGreggor indicates chillingly it was quite natural then as now for young men to carry knives around ready to defend themselves.

These twenty episodes do cover similar ground to the catalogue which accompanies the British Library’s exhibition but there’s a much greater, perhaps more convincing effort to link the objects to Shakespeare’s plays. When considering The Stratford Chalice in the second programme in relation to the country’s religious strife as a symbol of the new Protestant faith, he explains that the language in the Ghost of Hamlet Snr's speech is of the old religion, of the old ways.

Sometimes the themes and objects have been selected to indicate what isn’t in the plays. In an episode about Plague Proclamations, we’re reminded that even though pestilence was prevalent in the period and a massive influence structurally on Shakespeare’s career, as far as we know no plays were written on the topic and it was barely mention in the canon except for briefly in Romeo and Juliet. Quite a contrast from public executions which were bloodily dramatised.

The list of contributors is smaller than A History of the World, relying on some of the usual academics like Bate and Shapiro along with curators across the country who handle the objects like Jan Graffius, curator of the Stonyhurst collection who hold the Oldcorne Reliquary. In an episode about duelling, Alison de Burgh, Britain's first female theatre fight director entertainingly teaches MacGreggor how to hold his own.  Luckily, has he says "Health and Safety regulations kicked in and stopped her killing me”.

Threaded throughout the episodes are a collection of excepts from the plays brilliantly read by the likes of David Warner, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rory Kinnear. In episode two there’s a brief part of the duel scene in which Don Warrington gives us his Claudio, and we also later hear the aforementioned closet flashback. Frustratingly a cast list isn’t included in the accompanying booklet (or a full list of contributors for that matter) but then that doesn’t include images of all the objects either.

But, other than duration, it's too short, that’s about the only criticism I have of this fascinating release which constantly surprises with its nuggets of tangential information and enthralling stories. The Shakespeare’s Restless World website of course has all the episodes to listen to again, download as podcasts and complete transcripts so you might question what’s to gained from buying the cds. But for collectors of Shakespeareana they’re probably essential.

Shakespeare's Restless World is out now from AudioGo.  Review copy supplied.

Shakespeare's Restless World.

Hats! What’s often forgotten about Hamlet is that amongst the psychological introspection and political intrigue, the prince’s headgear is a vital element in broadcasting his madness, feigned or otherwise, and one of the triggers which leads to Polonius’s investigation of his psychological well being. It was not just a tradition but law, from a parliamentary statute of 1571, that all men in society to wear caps and they became an important part of confirming social divisions.

If someone wasn’t wearing their headgear it was a pretty good indication that they weren’t well, so when Ophelia notes to her father “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, / Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, / No hat upon his head…” it suggested the privy councillor and us that something is terribly wrong with the young prince. Arguably it could also indicate there’s something terribly wrong with the production if that line’s in there and no one else is behatted in some way.

Broadcast a few months ago on Radio 4 and now out on cd, Shakespeare’s Restless World, one of the epicentres of the BBC’s year long coverage of the bard’s work, seeks to investigate his plays, his life and his world through the objects of the British Museum and further afield. Presented by Neil MacGregor, director of the museum, it’s an audio adjunct to the Shakespeare: staging the world exhibition (part of the cultural Olympiad) in the style of his previous History of the World in 100 Objects.

As with that series, the objects are really enry points into exploring a particular aspect of the Elizabethan and Jacobian world and so a rather anonymous apprentice’s cap inspires a discussion of the class system, social propriety and rioting, feeding into the series other aim of finding parallels with contemporary Britain.  In another episode MacGreggor indicates chillingly it was quite natural then as now for young men to carry knives around ready to defend themselves.

These twenty episodes do cover similar ground to the catalogue which accompanies the British Library’s exhibition but there’s a much greater, perhaps more convincing effort to link the objects to Shakespeare’s plays. When considering The Stratford Chalice in the second programme in relation to the country’s religious strife as a symbol of the new Protestant faith, he explains that the language in the Ghost of Hamlet Snr's speech is of the old religion, of the old ways.

Sometimes the themes and objects have been selected to indicate what isn’t in the plays. In an episode about Plague Proclamations, we’re reminded that even though pestilence was prevalent in the period and a massive influence structurally on Shakespeare’s career, as far as we know no plays were written on the topic and it was barely mention in the canon except for briefly in Romeo and Juliet. Quite a contrast from public executions which were bloodily dramatised.

The list of contributors is smaller than A History of the World, relying on some of the usual academics like Bate and Shapiro along with curators across the country who handle the objects like Jan Graffius, curator of the Stonyhurst collection who hold the Oldcorne Reliquary. In an episode about duelling, Alison de Burgh, Britain's first female theatre fight director entertainingly teaches MacGreggor how to hold his own.  Luckily, has he says "Health and Safety regulations kicked in and stopped her killing me”.

Threaded throughout the episodes are a collection of excepts from the plays brilliantly read by the likes of David Warner, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rory Kinnear. In episode two there’s a brief part of the duel scene in which Don Warrington gives us his Claudio, and we also later hear the aforementioned closet flashback. Frustratingly a cast list isn’t included in the accompanying booklet (or a full list of contributors for that matter) but then that doesn’t include images of all the objects either.

But, other than duration, it's too short, that’s about the only criticism I have of this fascinating release which constantly surprises with its nuggets of tangential information and enthralling stories. The Shakespeare’s Restless World website of course has all the episodes to listen to again, download as podcasts and complete transcripts so you might question what’s to gained from buying the cds. But for collectors of Shakespeareana they’re probably essential.

Shakespeare's Restless World is out now from AudioGo.  Review copy supplied.

David Tennant on Hamlet scheduling update.

Yes, this is an important scheduling reminder/update for the final Shakespeare Uncovered documentary and most important to this parish, David Tennant on Hamlet.  For some ungodly reason, the BBC have decided that far from appearing after The Hollow Crown on Saturday presumably because it doesn't have a thematic connection or in the slot some of the shows had on BBC Four because it's David Tennant on Hamlet, they've seen fit to broadcast it on ...

Tuesday 17th July at 11:20pm after Newsnight

that's ...

Tuesday 17th July at 11:20pm after Newsnight

Exactly why this isn't on after The Hollow Crown is beyond me.  For one thing it's the episode for which you'd think there was a built in audience even after a couple of years and for another the expected timeslot has instead a QI repeat and half a rerun of a TOTP.

Alfred Hitchcock’s rare silent masterpiece, The Ring


Film As most of you will know, the BFI's recently undertaken a restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's silent era and some from the press office for The Space has been in touch about an exciting connected event. Here's the guts of the press release:
"The premier of Alfred Hitchcock’s rare silent masterpiece, The Ring, recently restored by the BFI National Archive, will be streamed live for the first time ever from London’s Hackney Empire exclusively on The Space www.TheSpace.org on Friday 13th July at 20.00 (GMT). The premiere will be accompanied by a specially commissioned soundtrack composed and performed by award-winning jazz musician Soweto Kinch.

"Marking it as a worthy precursor to Scorsese’s Raging Bull, Hitchcock’s melodrama tells the story of a love-triangle between boxer Bob Corby, his sparring partner Jack Sander and Jack’s beautiful wife Mabel. The bouts in the ring become more than gamely sparring, leading up to the championship fight (famously set in the Albert Hall) between the two men for the love of Mabel.

"Since its launch in May, digital arts service The Space has become the online destination for film fans everywhere offering a selection of free and on-demand films, whenever you want it and wherever you happen to be, featuring unmissable live events, rare archive material and interactive collections, with new material added every week.

"In the run up to the live stream, The Space will feature Hitchcock documentaries including Hitchcock and cinema in the 20s and Hitchcock and the Evolution of Style. There will also be an interview Hitchcock gave to the BBC programme Late Night Line-Up in 1966."
When I was watching all of Hitch's films in order, I only gave most of them some cursory comments, mostly because the prints on the dvd copies I watched were pretty ropey. Nevertheless, here again's what I thought of The Ring:
"Every director seems to make a boxing film at some point and Hitch’s is The Ring, in which two prizefighters literally come to blows over the love of a woman. Scorsese must have reviewed this before going into Raging Bull; some of the smoky shots of the boxers in close-up and punches landing are almost exactly replicated in one of the fight sequences there. The psychology here is a bit more simplistic -- most of these early films feature some kind of love triangle and in none of them is there a suggestion that the woman could tell both of them to give over and make her own way in the world. It’s a reminder of the time in which they were made – that and in the case of The Ring, the sudden use of the n-word in one of the captions."

RAF Valley

RAF Valley by The British Monarchy
RAF Valley, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

The Company of Friends: Fitz's Story

Audio And so, unexpectedly, to audio. Of course, before long, this journey through the Eighth Doctor’s era will be all audio, all the time, but this is the only story produced to be heard rather than read that fits within what I suppose we can call the Justin Richards era since he was (and still is) the series editor. The Company of Friends is one of Big Finish’s anthology releases featuring four single episode stories. For a while now Eighth has generally had his own structurally nuWho mimicking special releases and since those have their own complex collection of companions, it was decided to celebrate some of the other TARDIS travellers from across his tenure and its various media.

Since Fitz is one of the franchise’s longest serving companions across at least fifty novels and he’s probably the most understandable of the choices. Sam’s too close in silhouette to Izzy Sinclair who’s also here. Compassion would take too much explaining, as would Anji, arguably. I’ve not met Trix yet, but from what I hear she too has too many traits to be quickly legible in half an hour of drama. Strip away the Kode/Father Kreiner stuff this clone isn’t even properly aware of and he’s a cockerney wide-boy from the 60s, a bit Spike from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer in attitude and that’s probably all you need to know.

Unlike the cover of previous narrative interloper featuring the same characters, Fear Itself, there’s nothing on the inlay to explain exactly when this is set, though we know it has to be somewhere between Escape Velocity and The Adventuress of Henrietta Street for reasons which have already been spoiled for me. I’ve followed The TARDIS Index File’s suggestion of between The City of the Dead and Grimm Reality because this probably is about as settled as the character has been in ages, post-New Orleans as Anji herself notes at the close of the previous novel, despite his amnesia (though there are problems, see below).

With just half an hour to play with, Stephen Cole, who helped create the character back during his tenure as editor of the book series, keeps things relatively simple, story-wise, with a concoction that’s rather lighter than some of the novels surrounding it. The Doctor notices the Alien Defence Incorporated, a private Torchwood-lite extraterrestrial invasion eradicator on the planet Entusso is using his image without permission.  He decides to visit and tell them not to, which unwittingly puts him exactly where they want him and it's up to Fitz to rescue the Doctor using his wit, charm and reliance on strong alcoholic beverages.

Well, then. Since the original Eighth Doctor audios were the reason I became a fan again last decade, it’s not that surprising to hear Paul playing the character, even the Richards era’s iteration if him. He’s perhaps sneakier than the various other audio iterations, morally flexible to a degree, but it’s a reminder that he’s still generally the same character no matter the period.  As with the other plays in the set, which we’ll discuss when we, or rather I, get to them, Paul’s entirely with the spirit of the piece even when called upon to chat through unfamiliar backstory and playing off a companion who’s an old friend for his character even if this is the first adventure for these actors.

Understandably, since this is likely to be bought by listeners unfamiliar with the original novels, this Eighth’s amnesia isn’t played up too much but it’s still there. When he refers to an old adventure with Sam (squee) he follows it with “apparently” which suggests he’s been catching up with his past via the TARDIS records rather than his memory returning and on a couple of other occasions when he suddenly blurts with information, they’re rather like the Artron Energy outburst from The City of the Dead as though he doesn’t know quite where its coming from; or that’s how I’m choosing to hear them.

The apparatus of the story is a potential problem though. One of the reasons Richards decided to wipe everything clean in The Burning was to give new readers an access point and also to take away from the Doctor some of his invincibility, something which the latest television series is also dealing with right now. The example given being that the Daleks are a bigger threat if he doesn’t know who they are. That idea hasn’t really been exploited since the Earth arc, mostly due to the tendency to leave sequels to the past Doctor ranges and the audio series, both in full swing by the point.

Except Fitz’s Story takes place in a universe in which the Doctor’s still an ever present force, he’s lured to Entusso because ADI are using his voiceover in their advertising because the Time Lord has an vulnerably positive reputation. He might not be able actually remember his past or his deeds (a central plank of his characterisation in The City of the Dead) but everyone else in the universe does. Do they also know about what else he did to his people? He’s not a lonely God, of course, some of the Time Lords survived this skirmish in the Time War, it just feels inconsistent with what’s already been established.

The links with the newest television series continue with an appearance by Fenella Woolgar, seen on screen in The Unicorn and the Wasp as Agatha Christie. Here she plays Hellan Femor, the head of ADI and a character not too dissimilar to Yvonne Hartman, the evil ex-head of Torchwood One. It’s another triumphant bit of pantomime from Woolgar who always seems as though she should be more famous than she is, perhaps the lead actress in some long running television series, or would be if long television television series these days, at least in the uk, weren’t so closeted in such a narrow range of genres.

Then, finally, there’s Fitz. Having barely seen Eastenders since the 80s and having stopped watched watching Hustle once Jaime Murray left I’m not familiar with Matt Di Angelo’s career, but he’s perfectly cast here, dropping seamlessly into a role already defined, faced with the expectations of many. His slightly pronounced cockney accent sits well with the idea of a character who’s trying to hold on desperately to his roots and almost exactly the voice I’ve had in my head while reading. How much of Fitz’s back story was Matt aware of? Just the stuff he’s given to read in his prologue (all of the characters have scene setting prologues) or all the Kode/Father Kreiner business too?

All in all, really good fun. About the only real, but understandable disappointment is the lack of audio Anji, trapped in bed with a splitting hangover. Given the short running time, there’s barely enough room for some banter between Fitz and the Doctor and explaining that relationship without another inconsistent back story in the mix. Big Finish have already sequelised one of the other companions, Mary Shelley, mostly because she was already part of continuity going back as far as Storm Warning, but is it too late to have some more audio adventures set in this era? How busy is Amita Dhiri anyway?

Anyway, one book to go before another narrative nuclear bomb from Lawrence Miles. I’m actually getting nervous …

The Sunday Seven.
Dr. Brooke Magnanti.
Scientist.



Such is the way of the online world, this isn't the first time I've asked questions of Dr. Brooke Magnanti. Back when she was still anonymous, I emailed her, admittedly out of panic because I was such a fan of her blog, to check that she was real that she wasn't "Zadie Smith or Toby Young" as PopBitch had alleged, and the fact that Brooke's was gracious enough to reply with a denial was good enough proof for me. A year later when The Guardian ran a Q&A I asked for her favourite blog and her suggestion was unexpected but perfectly judged.

How did you become a scientist?

I wanted to study physics at university - it's what my dad studied - but ended up in anthropology and mathematics instead. Later, I kind of stumbled into the world of cheminformatics through people I'd met working in a laser lab. The people in that field really inspired me to go back and get a PhD, which was in applying algorithms commonly used in chemiformatics to studies of forensic human remains. Not the most accessible field of study exactly (its adherents more or less begin and end with me), but loads of fun to do.

What was your inspiration for The Sex Myth?

After coming out as Belle in 2009, I suddenly found myself a target for a lot of people who were against sex work, pornography, and so on, as if I was personally responsible for these phenomena. Erm, I'm not. But it did seem like writing a book was possibly the best way to answer the critics.

I was also aware anything I wrote after Belle de Jour would be criticised by people more interested in analysing me than analysing my writing, so writing a book that would purposely be a big, fat target for that was the thing to do. Whatever I write next, if people are still hung up on the call girl thing, that's really their problem and not mine. Play the ball not the man as they say.

What was the trickiest element to achieve?

I knew a lot of the topics are controversial, and perhaps because of that you can't win arguments on numbers alone. Getting the balance right between evidence-based arguments and things that, I hope, will appeal even to doubtful readers was really difficult. I was very aware that the majority of people who pick up the book probably won't share many opinions with me to start with, and really wanted them not to be threatened by it all, but to show a different approach to 'won't somebody think of the children?'

Of everything you've done what have you been most pleased with?

A review of Jordan's second book for the Times back when I was still anonymous. It remains, in my opinion, the strongest worded and most succinct thing I've yet written. Basically it asks why it's okay to dislike Jordan based on her image, and indeed women in general who make different grooming and career decisions to the lady columnists of Fleet Street. I've not yet had a good answer to that, by the way.

Back in the Belle days, was it ever frustrating that you couldn't blog under your own name and did you ever consider running a parallel blog as your real self?

Well, there was my old blog Methylsalicylate and for a while a cheminformatics blog called Cosmas. But because those were more link-logs and topic orientated, perhaps that's not really a parallel. If I had been writing about the more personal stuff in my life under my real name there's no doubt people would have made the connection with Belle immediately. Some did anyway. Blogging was such a small world back then.

Who's your favourite scientist?

Of all time? A tie between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Of people working today? My mate James (he used to blog as The View From Here, for old school bloggers who know). He's very hardworking and has a vast range of knowledge not just in chemistry, and is also a really sound bloke. These aren't qualities likely to make him rich or famous but he really is everything I think a professional scientist should be.

What stops you from feeling listless?

Sport. When I was living in London and writing as Belle it was rowing, for some years it was running, most recently I've taken up powerlifting. Clears the decks both mentally and physically.


Dr. Brooke Magnanti's The Sex Myth is out now.