Literary quiz
Monday, May 31, 2004
I'm enjoying moving a collection of old books back into its glass-fronted bookcase (purchased from Times Furnishing in North Finchley, where Rosebys is now) downstairs, now the floor has been done. I inherited the books from my aunts. Theye were in the Cashmore family and lived in Sandringham Gardens (where the North Korean Embassy was until recently). Some of the books are school prizes from ninety years ago; there are family photos of their brothers lost in the war used as bookmarks; old school textbooks with shocking comments about the Spanish; books like Lob-Lie-by-the-Fire presented by their church; many large illustrated books on Royal events; household encyclopedias; a large set of classics published by Odhams in the thirties. Some of the books grab my attention: I just hope I live long enough to read them. So:Simply match the novel to its first paragraph. Give your answer in the comments in the form 1A, 2B... easy!
Book 1: East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood whose impressive tomb was erected in Highgate Cemetery in 1887.
Book 2: The Woodlanders (1887) by Thomas Hardy.
Book 3: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
Book 4: Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte.
Book 5: Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
Quote A:
In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe Park, and around Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous dragon of Wantley; here were fought many of the most desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses; and here also flourished in ancient times those bands of gallant outlaws, whose deeds have been rendered so popular in English song.
Quote B:
In an easy-chair of the spacious and handsome library of his town house sat William, Earl of Mount Severn. His hair was grey, the smoothness of his expansive brow was defaced by premature wrinkles, and his once attractive face bore the pale, unmistakable look of dissipation. One of his feet was cased in folds of linen, as it rested on a velvet ottoman, speaking of gout as plainly as any foot ever spoke yet. It would seem -- to look at the man as he sat there -- that he had grown old before his time. And so he had. His years were barely nine-and-forty; yet in all save years he was an aged man.
Quote C:
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
Quote D:
Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I shall assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small -- to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born, on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events, the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.
Quote E:
The rambler who, for old association's sake, should trace the forsaken coach-road running almost in a meridional line from Bristol to the south shore of England, would find himself during the latter half of his journey in the vicinity of some extensive woodlands, interspersed with apple-orchards. Here the trees, timber or fruit-bearing as the case may be, make the wayside hedges ragged by their drip and shade, their lower limbs stretching in level repose over the road, as though reclining on the insubstantial air. At one place, on the skirts of Blackmoor Vale, where the bold brow of High-Stoy Hill is seen a mile or two ahead, the leaves lie so thick in autumn as to completely bury the track. The spot is lonely, and when the days are darkening the many gay charioteers now perished who have rolled along the way, the blistered soles that have trodden it, and the tears that have wetted it, return upon the mind of the loiterer.ω 5:59:00 PM.
Anthony Ainley, 1932-2004.
Friday, May 21, 2004
I found a copy of the Harrow Times on the train this morning with very sad news: Doctor's Nemesis Dies. ω 7:29:00 PM.It is often safer to be in chains than to be free. Kafka, 1926.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
I will be banging on about ID cards presently but meanwhile here is a quote from someone visiting the UK in their London Calling miniblog, part of Just as I Thought, which nicely sums up the freedoms we are in danger of losing:Eventually, we made it to Heathrow, 4 hours late, only to spend another hour making our way through the airport to immigration. The line was incredible, but when we presented our passports we were only asked why we were here and how long we'd be staying. I asked the immigration officer what the rules were regarding passports -- did I need to keep it (or a copy) with me wherever I went? She responded, "No, this isn't a police state." I chuckled and realized that's why I'm here. To see what a non-police state is like!ω 7:21:00 PM.
Highwood Ash, Highwood Hill
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Today, Espe and I visited the garden of Highwood Ash, a big house on Highwood Hill (betwixt Totteridge and Mill Hill) which has an open day twice a year. This event is part of The National Gardens Scheme in which hundreds of amazing gardens around the country open to collect money for charity, including Maureen Lipman's favourite garden off Alexandra Park Road, East Finchley, N10.
Compare my photos of the open day with some at ICanGarden! I think I got at least three good snaps. ω 10:59:00 PM.
We Live in Fortean Times
Thursday, May 13, 2004
The Devil Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. (Pictures of Kaunas)Devil's Rope: The Barbed Wire Museum, 75 miles east of Amarillo, on I-40 & Old Route 66.
Dali's Black Devil at the Long Foundation Virtual Museum with a confusing menu.
The Devil Fish game at the Coin-Op Museum.
The giant squid at The Museum of Unnatural Mystery.
Regulators Stymie Human Trees.
A SCHEME by two London artists to take DNA from a dead person and insert it into [the genome of] apple trees to create a living memorial of that individual's "biological essence" has run headlong into problems.ω 10:44:00 AM.
Pease Pottage
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Michael Moorcock reviews Iain Sinclair's new novel Dining on Stones in No stone unturned. [via G3RM a good new blog]Iain Sinclair profile On the Road:
"I appeared in one of his books sitting on top of a car in a vast Viking beard streaming in the wind as we drove around the M25," Moorcock recalls. "In fact, that incident's taken from my old Hawkwind days when I wasn't quite in my right mind if you know what I mean. It wasn't the M25, it was a B-road in Windsor. Iain produces myths: it's never to be taken straight.
"I reply by putting him in my books. I have this Home Office pathologist called Taffy Sinclair in my metatemporal detective novels."
I know the route the characters take, the A13 from London to the Essex coast, via Thurrock Services. Although I usually take the M23 to Brighton off the M25 and stop off at Pease Pottage services and try to find something vaguely healthy to eat. Remember when Iain did London Orbital and walked around the M25 to research it. I wonder if him venturing up the A13 through Dagenham has sent him into Ballard territory.
Also at Spike, there is a new interview with J. G. Ballard who finds he's getting more left-wing as he gets older. You and me both, Jimmy-boy. Entertaining Violence:
"There are shifts in the unseen tectonic plates that make up our national consciousness. I've tried to nail down a certain kind of nihilism that people may embrace, and which politicians may embrace, which is much more terrifying; all tapping into this vast, untouched resource as big as the Arabian oilfields called psychopathology."
A plethora of horrible links at The Horror Screenwriter's Page
Rollo Kim over on barbelith has a good blog. He dreams, he associates freely and sometimes he analyzes:
In the 1970s, writers such as Michael Moorcock suggested that technology had replaced religion in the heart of western culture. In our present day, it seems that it is the media, and their command of technology, that holds ultimate power over the masses. If console game-play and web browsing are ritualistic in nature, and if watching and listening to film, music and TV are near-devotional practices, then those working within the media are our priests, and it is in their hands that the real power lies.
Speaking of Pease Pottage, near creepy Crawley, Tetrapyriarbus is a Doctor Who site that celebrates Bonnie Langford's character who was born there... He even has a Church of Bonnie. He seems to have missed Bonnie's Japanese whisky advert, that was very cool.
This entry was posted while in ESSEX on the M25 Anticlockwise J28-27 (A12 - M11): There is an accident partially blocking the road. Long delays expected, please approach with care. This is a separate accident to the one on the opposite carriageway.
No idea, no ID.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Glitches in ID card kit frustrate Blunkett's pod people a quite wide-ranging article in the Register:"Blunkett's imprecision here is strangely precise, because the people they are watching are 'those engaged in activities around terrorism.' Depending on how you read that, these people needn't either be doing anything illegal or knowing about any terror connection. For example, this writer used to share the odd drink with a retired IRA gun runner - MI5 surely knew all about him, and he didn't get arrested, so does he count as 'activities around'? Does my drinking with him count?"
Update: How to fool ID card system - give a false ID, say UK gov a follow-up article in the Register:
The law abiding citizenry, who support the use of biometrics to catch criminal, fraudsters and immigrants, can themselves be pulled over by the police, and probably wouldn't be impressed if they were then fingerprinted. So even if it's logical (which it is), the government can't let the police do it because they're afraid of losing public support. Of course, when the House of Lords and outraged law-abiding citizens discover that the police have this technical capability but are being forbidden to use it, thus allowing criminals to escape, things will change. But that'll likely be a few more years.ω 3:01:00 PM.
Comments by: YACCS.
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