In 1969, Robin Gibb left the Bee Gees.  Although they had just recorded their arguable masterpiece, the psychedelic epic Odessa, he and his brother Barry had clashed over the choice of A-side for their latest single, and Robin was rumoured to perhaps not be in the best of ways. Nevertheless, his solo career got off to a flying start with his single, ‘Saved By the Bell’ going to no. 2 in the British charts.  The accompanying album, Robin’s Reign, with the lone Gibb brother s... Read Full Story

Some green ink, yesterday. I’m trying to break a bad habit.  No, not the one you’re thinking of.  I have no intention of breaking that one, however shameful and disgusting you might think it is.  I mean, it’ s my life, isn’t it?  And it’s not like the anteater really feels anything… No, the habit I am talking about is reading the comments underneath opinion pieces on newspaper websites.  I just can’t resist it.  If I read an article that’s even... Read Full Story

Recently I’ve been getting more and more into just picking up second-hand books from charity shops that I’ve never heard of before, but look interesting.  Although they very rarely turn out to be lost masterpieces, they generally have some odd quality about them that you just don’t find in books that manage to stay in print and gain a reputation for being of merit.  While those are usually as worthwhile as people say they are, they’re often good in quite a boring and ... Read Full Story

Giacomo Leopardi in one of his lighter moments. Just a couple of things I’ve done over the past few months I’ve forgotten to mention.  I was a guest blogger at Scott Pack’s Me and My Big Mouth blog a while back, talking about 19th Century miserablist poet Giacomo Leopardi, and his somewhat odd collection of stories, Moral Tales.  Go and have a look at it here. Also, a while back I wrote the script for a graphic novel adaptation of the tedious, unloved children’s clas... Read Full Story

Just back from a week in Malta.  Not the sort of place I’d normally choose for a holiday, but we were staying in someone else’s timeshare apartment, so it was pretty much a free holiday.  Don’t want to bore you too much with holiday stuff, as other people’s holidays tend to be terribly boring to hear about, but there are a few things I found interesting there that I nevertheless want to sear onto your brains via the medium of language. The first was the hotel itself. ... Read Full Story

I haven’t been doing much with this blog recently, as I’ve been knocking out a novel (as opposed to cracking one out).  Anyway, that’s pretty much finished now, bar the editing, the reluctant acceptance by my agent, and the inevitable rejection by my publisher (joking, I’m sure they’ll love it).  Anyway, in my time away from here, I’ve been praised and damned in equal measure, and have read a few books.  As I know my opinion counts for a lot round here in... Read Full Story

Ali Dixon, an artist I know who now lives in Japan after being kicked out of the UK for being too dangerous, has done some iphone animation based on an idea I gave him.  I think it all turned out rather excellently.  See for yourself below. Ali Dixon on Youtube and Twitter. Read Full Story

Project: Well-Read B4 Dead, in which I attempt to achieve a working knowledge of literature before my death at age ninety, continues with my reading of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne. Although the book has the reputation of being an all-time classic, it also has the reputation for being practically unfinishable (the only attempt at anything approaching a film adaptation, A Cock And Bull Story, plays on its apparent unreadability), so naturally I made ... Read Full Story

I was listening to Spotify radio the other day, and one of the songs the musical aleph picked out for me was one called ‘The Rocker’ by Thin Lizzy. I hadn’t heard it before, but was immediately struck by the informative nature of the lyrics. In this song, Phil Lynott claims not only to be a ‘rocker’, but also, perhaps unintentionally, provides an invaluable guide to their identifying features. I couldn’t help feeling, however, that the song ultimately r... Read Full Story

You may not have heard of him, but Daniel Dunglas Home was a Victorian who crossed paths with or at least caught the attention of Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Elliot, Alexandre Dumas, Mark Twain, Elizabeth and Robert Browning, John Ruskin, Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday (amongst others).  Some, such as Dumas (who was his best man at his wedding) loved him. Others, like Robert Browning (who objected to his effeminacy) couldn’t stand him. So why would someon... Read Full Story