A Surprising Literary Journey This book took me by surprise. I loaned it from our local library in Sandy because it was short and nestled among the classics. I'd never heard of it, nor the author, Irmgard Keun. I checked out reviews on Goodreads, and it struggles with diverse ratings. It seems to be a text for study in Germany, not much loved by many students, while at the same time scoring highly among numerous readers. Now, having read it, I think I understand why. Original

I was really looking forward to this film, but then at its release a lot of historical purists were quite vehement in their disappointment. As a result I decided not to go to the cinema, but wait until the film was available through Firestick, and more affordable to me. I also decided to approach it as a Hollywood-style retelling - full of artistic license, fictional niceties, and one eye closed to historical facts - rather than getting annoyed at historical minutiae. After a

Sutton is a beautiful little village in Bedfordshire. Very small. Indeed, it has a population of just 299, or thereabouts. It has a medieval church, once had a castle, and has a single pub called 'The John O'Gaunt', which is known locally for its fantastic food. It pretty much straddles a single road that crosses Potton Brook through a picturesque ford. This road was allegedly a major route for the medieval wool trade as it linked the City of Bedford and the west to the rich

The BBC are producing some pretty good investigative paranormal programmes at the moment. The most recent is UNCANNY, a transition of a podcast into a television programme. Hosted by Danny Robins, it's translated pretty well into the televisual arena with what I assume was a pilot series of three episodes to test the waters. It approaches encounters with an open mind, investigates the history and background, and leaves final decisions on validity up to the audience. It's a go

Podcast...? I'd never listened to a podcast until this year. Up to now my listening routine featured football commentary on the weekend, old albums on my iPod (yes - I still use mine - I love it), and my wife. I do listen to my wife. Always. Though it doesn't often go in. But this year, prompted by my interest in the ghosts of Potton Wood, I listened to my first ever podcast by the newly launched Weird in the Wade. And it's brilliant. Produced, scripted, researched and voice

I'm going much further afield today for a ghost story. You see, I used to live in Australia - for a good ten years when the kids were wee bairns - in a beautiful northern suburb of Perth, called Mindarie on the west coast and overlooking the Indian Ocean. There lie white sandy beaches, an awesome marina, great food, good beer, and a crowd of lovely folk from all over the world. But so too, if one looked north from the beaches at Quinns Rock, there rose the large, dark, broodi

Okay. Wow. History... This is why I love being back in the UK. It's like every little corner of the country, every field, hill, and coppice, has a story to tell; a story that keeps on expanding and connecting in the weirdest of ways. The reason this one caught me out, all unexpected and surprised-like, was because NIGHTJAR, published in 2018, included the village of Everton, in Bedfordshire, and Saint Mary's Church as major locations, yet it wasn't until today (August 4th, 20

It's only been a week and I'm already writing another blog post. That's some improvement for me, and I have to say it's a lot to do with Natalie from WEIRD IN THE WADE - so thank you Natalie. Now if you've not heard, Weird in the Wade is a podcast of strange goings on in and around Biggleswade. Written and hosted by Nat Doig, it covers local tales, history, and the folklore of hauntings, UFOs, poisoners, strange tunnels under t' ground, and a range of other unusual goings on

DreamSwarm celebrates the art and artists of a strange place. The brainchild and baby of Andy Mark Simpson, it is a place that enjoys the art and feeling of the supernatural, the otherworldly, yet encompasses those works that do not necessarily fit within the popular, more mainstream genre conventions of traditional Horror and Science-Fiction. This is the liminal world of Fae and folklore, myth, magical realism, and urban darkness - where time travel simply is the hum of an e

Trying to find inspiration for a new piece, a beginning that catches me with character or emotion, and my idle thoughts lead me to recalling someone once said, a genius of course, that the road goes ever on. It does of course. On and on. A walk becomes a recollection, recollection a story, story a tale. Tales grow up and grow old, age for good and for bad, become history, myth, legend and folklore. Forever retold, reborn, heard anew. Many are forever forgot. Some hide in shad