Awards season is fast approaching, the Golden Globes ceremony is only a few days away and excitement is building in Hollywood. I’ll admit it, excitement is building here too….
Almost 4 million British children don’t own a book
7 December 2011 by Leave a Comment
Of all the news stories I’ve read recently, this is undoubtedly the most depressing. According to a survey by the National Literacy Trust almost 4 million children in Britain do not own a book. This represents almost one third of the kids in the UK, a massive rise from one in ten in 2005. I find this really quite upsetting, I think back to my own childhood and how many books I had and the magical lands that they took me to…
Les Mis – Some Good News
6 December 2011 by Leave a Comment
As regular readers know I am half excited and half terrified by the forthcoming movie version of my favourite musical, Les Miserables. The recent announcement that rising star Eddie Redmayne had been cast as Marius was a real relief, I couldn’t have stood it if Nick Jonas had got the role. More good news came this week from director Tom Hooper who has confirmed that filming would be in 2D rather than 3D
“Biography” of cancer wins award
1 December 2011 by Leave a Comment
The Emperor of All Maladies, a biography of cancer by oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee, has won The Guardian First Book award and the £10,000 prize. Mukherjee’s book beat four novels on the shortlist including Booker nominated Pigeon English. Started as a small journal attempting to answer patients’ questions about their illness, the book grew…
Q returns for Skyfall
25 November 2011 by 1 Comment
It’s just been confirmed that the character of Q will return in the new James Bond film Skyfall. MI6’s technical genius and gadget boffin will be played by Ben Wishaw, a 31 year-old who has previously appeared Brideshead Revisited and the TV series The Hour. This is the first time that Q will be played by an actor younger than Bond and is certainly a bold move….
Was Jane Austen Murdered?
15 November 2011 by Leave a Comment
Jane Austen, author of classic books including Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility, died in 1817 at the age of just 41. Since then there has been much speculation about the cause of death with suggestions including Addison’s Disease, Hodgkin’s Lymphona and Bovine Tuberculosis. The latest theory comes from crime novelist Lindsay Ashford is that the author died of arsenic poisoning, very possibly deliberately administered…
The Iron Lady Trailer Arrives
15 November 2011 by 1 Comment
The full trailer for The Iron Lady, the Margaret Thatcher biopic has arrived online and it appears to show a fairly sympathetic portrayal of the former Prime Minister and her life. Early word came out on Twitter yesterday which seemed to imply that the Daily Mail critic enjoyed the film and the Guardian critic hated it. So no tribalism there then….
Galaxy National Book Awards Announced
5 November 2011 by Leave a Comment
A star-studded ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental in London last night saw the winners of the Galaxy National Book Awards crowned. Celebrating the best in British books and writing, the list of winners contains something for every reader and has some great ideas for Christmas presents. The winners are….
Bond 23 Starts Filming Today
3 November 2011 by Leave a Comment
At a press conference this morning a number of details of the forthcoming James Bond film were revealed. Known until now only as Bond 23 the title has been confirmed as Skyfall – not sure yet what I think of the title, but then I liked Quantum of Solace and no-one else in the world seemed to so perhaps I’m not the best judge of Bond titles. Daniel Craig is returning as Bond….
More Les Mis Casting News
2 November 2011 by 2 Comments
I breathed a massive sigh of relief this morning when I read that Eddie Redmayne has been cast as Marius in the film adaptation of Les Miserables. Not because I’m a big fan of his, in fact I know nothing about him although he has a strong theatrical background which is encouraging. No – my sigh of relief was entirely due to the fact that Nick Jonas hadn’t won the role…..