In Episode 14, Tim and Janet take a well earned break leaving Tony, the regular guest from Australia, in charge. Tony reviews Jacqueline Crooks’ Fire Rush, a wonderful new novel set partly in London. Then Tony visits the generally untouristed London neighbourhood of Somers Town to discover its rich literary history. For the ‘used’ section of the show, he talks about three books about London that go well beyond the standard travel guide model. Notice the trend? Yes, this is an episode all about London. However, despite the recent big event in that city, this is NOT the coronation special that Tony first suggested! It just happens to coincide with that event…
Books mentioned, or books by authors mentioned:
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks (2023)
Saturday by Ian McEwan (2005)
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters by Mary Wollstonecraft (1787)
A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)
The Adventures of Caleb Williams by William Godwin (1794)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
Walking in the Shade by Doris Lessing (1997)
The London Compendium by Ed Glinert (2003, 2012)
Nairn’s London by Ian Nairn (1966)
The Lost Rivers of London by Nicholas Barton (1962)
Thomas Hardy’s poem about St Pancras Old Churchyard:
The Levelled Churchyard
'O Passenger, pray list and catch
Our sighs and piteous groans,
Half stifled in this jumbled patch
Of wrenched memorial stones!
'We late-lamented, resting here,
Are mixed to human jam,
And each to each exclaims in fear,
"I know not which I am!"
'The wicked people have annexed
The verses on the good;
A roaring drunkard sports the text
Teetotal Tommy should!
'Where we are huddled none can trace,
And if our names remain,
They pave some path or porch or place
Where we have never lain!
'Here's not a modest maiden elf
But dreads the final Trumpet,
Lest half of her should rise herself,
And half some sturdy strumpet!
'From restorations of Thy fane,
From smoothings of thy sward,
From zealous Churchmen's pick and plane
Deliver us O Lord! Amen!'