Victorian visions take a sinister turn in the progressive 1970s “She swished the curtain as she spoke in order to see better, and for the peering Lucy the light was suddenly changed so that instead of the dark garden she saw only a reflection of the room behind her and her own face. It had … Continue reading Come Back, Lucy: Pamela Sykes’ forgotten classic
I’ve posted a few H E Bates covers before, but just to say again, I’ve no idea why he isn’t more appreciated these days. My own feeling is that he was too prolific and easily able to turn his hand to many genres, and much of his work was eclipsed by the Darling Buds of … Continue reading Writers in covers: H E Bates
Roddy McDowall’s 1970 retelling of the Ballad of Tam Lin, like its counterpart The Wicker Man, had a troubled release and was destined to rot away in a vault. It was Martin Scorsese who rescued and restored a print for VHS in the 1990s. A delayed release in the early 70s (as The Devil’s Widow) … Continue reading Rediscovered film gem: Tam Lin (1970)
Network DVD have just released the 1971 film of H E Bates’ novella Dulcima (a story from a collection of three called The Nature of Love). It’s a well-deserved and long-awaited release for a film which has had something of a cult status. It’s an undiscovered gem for several reasons. The cast is excellent: John … Continue reading Rediscovered film gem: Dulcima (1971)
When I first discovered Josephine Poole, it was through Billy Buck (published as The Visitor in the US) and Moon Eyes which I wrote about here and here. Not long after reading those two ‘books for young adults’ I found Yokeham, which I’d read was her ‘first novel for adults’ (it’s not, that was The … Continue reading Entertaining Josephine Poole
There’s a peculiarly British film and TV genre of the late 60s and early 70s which you could call ‘Pagan Village Conspiracy’. Nowadays, everyone recalls 1973’s film The Wicker Man. It’s legendary, as much a part of folklore’s history as Frazer’s The Golden Bough. Viewed from the 21st century, the setting for these stories is … Continue reading Robin Redbreast – villages that bite
Winter light, early afternoon at St Peter’s Church, Tiverton, 2013. A gallery of hassocks, appreciated by someone enough to raise them from the ancient floor so they can greet visitors with all the flourish of a medieval pageant. The subjects are wild and varied, many birds and even Saint George tackling a dragon. In particular … Continue reading Christmas 1973 – and so to church…
Fine Horseman is a song from Anne Briggs’ 1971 album The Time Has Come. It was originally a composition by Lal Waterson, which she didn’t record herself until later, adding extra verses in the process. I think Anne Briggs’s interpretation is definitive – it’s such a sparse, ambiguous and otherworldly recording, full of half-light and … Continue reading Fine Horseman
Public information films were a sudden shore of calm in the advertising on 1970s TV, in a way that’s unthinkable today. I’ve got a particular memory of one that has haunted me for a long time. In my mind I can feel warm summer sun, the kind you can breathe into your lungs. I was … Continue reading Into the greenwood…
Two album covers from the early 1970s, unconnected, although there’s a good contrast of the anchored home and the perceived freedom of an open road. Both bands are from the era of electric folk. I don’t know the Mr Fox album. The band came from a background of Yorkshire folk music: the artwork suggests the … Continue reading A romany sky and a house with roots
WHISTLES IN THE WIND 