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Good morning, Elle,
Fine day here, but cold.
I have just "nominated" in Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year competition.
There are several categories.
Chose Dame Sarah in the Paralympian category.
And Trotty in the Olympian category.
I am reading "A Different Class of Murder" by Laura Thomson.
Mainly about Lord Lucan.
It is very good, and quite a modern book.
David Cameron gets a few mentions. (In the chapters about Eton School)
Have a granddaughter coming to see me, then the men's skiing, and my local team is playing football on TV, (they are bottom of the league!).
No plans apart from that.

Hi elle

I remember being very impressed with "A Town Like Alice", but a mind picture from it still haunts me. Didn't Neville Shute also write a book about 2 boys finding up an unexploded bomb on a beach and the aftermath of that?
When I was at Gunwalloe last year I found the gravestone of two boys who had been killed by something like that on the beach there -in Cornwall! One was a local lad and one an evacuee from London. He was an only child and his parents were later killed by a bomb as well. Lacrimae rerum.

I'm currently reading "The Shadow of the Wind" for the Book club. A trifle long, but also exciting. Based around a book and a mysterious library

Hi, Rusty!
Were these nominations in today's paper?
I thought you didn't buy one on a Sunday?
Or have you maybe done it online?
We haven't bought our paper yet, so I shall take a look later.
I don't have online access.
You didn't tell me how we came to be talking about Nevil Shute and "Alice"?
(Is it that you too cannot remember? I thought I was the one with the bad memory?!)
I am already halfway through the book and only started it this morning.
The story is all coming back to me........
Your book about Lord Lucan should be a great read.......there are many conflicting versions.
I haven't heard of the author - Laura Thomson?
You sound as though you have your day all organised!
It sounds good!




Hello, Ros!
What I can most remember about "Alice" is that the film stopped well short of the book!
The majority of the book continues well beyond the film ending.
However, I'll give them that in this particular instance , it probably made no difference to the film story.
It was shortened rather than altered.
I don't remember a Nevil Shute book about two boys and a bomb on the beach?
Unless it occurred in his novel "On the Beach ", about the coming nuclear fallout?

Hello, Elle,
I did it online.
No, I won't get a Sunday paper.
"A Town Like Alice"?
No, my memory is not exactly wonderful!
But, it was a very good story!
Laura Thompson is new to me, but her book is very good so far.
She has written a biography of Agatha Christie.
Also, one that appeals to me, "Take Six Girls".
It is about the Mitford sisters. Do you know of them?
I think I shall get it.
She also has one to be published in 2017 about the Thompson/Bywaters murder case in 1922.
I have read quite a bit about this case and am looking forward to the new book.
It is a great day in Portsmouth for the Great South Run!
On Channel 5.

Hi, Rusty!
I know only a little of the Mitford sisters; mainly what I know is about Nancy, whom I think was the eldest?
She wrote "Love in a Cold Climate", didn't she? I think one of her sisters - Jessica? - was also a novelist.
I think they are a somewhat notorious family - a book about them should prove of interest. Maybe provoking?
I don't know the Thompson/ Bywaters case?
In fact, only once before have I come across the surname "Bywater" - no "s" - and the family were our next-door neighbours when we first moved here!
They emigrated to Australia .
I didn't know that there was a Great South Run in Portsmouth - or I would have watched it!
I didn't notice it in the TV guide. What a shame!
Too late now.......
Well, we are going out to enjoy this lovely sunshine......the dog is all ready for the off!

Hi elle

No, the beach story was about WW2. It was something to do with these small things, disguised maybe, being dropped all over Britain killing people only when picked up. I think the idea was to spread panic and despair, as they would kill randomly and without any warning. Doesn't matter.
I hardly ever watch films so didn't see "A Town Like Alice"

Hello, Elle,
I think Laura Thompson wrote Love in a Cold Climate.
Yes, the sisters were "remarkable"!
All gone, now.
Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, was the last of them, and died in 2014.
The "Thompson/Bywaters" case was one of the high profile murder cases of the last century. A very controversial case.
Laura Thompson has also written a history of the town of Newmarket which interests me.
I am heading out for a dander, now.

Hello, Elle,
Apologies, Laura Thompson wrote "LIFE in a Cold Climate".

The sisters grew up round here and Unity is buried near Burford at Swinbrook church, as are three of the others and their parents. Nancy did write "Love in a Cold Climate". The sisters wrote screeds of letters and several books; there must be loads of material for any biographer. I imagine it has been done already.
The church has some remarkable effigies, 2 stacks of three larger-than-lifesize knights on either side of the chancel. There is also a lovely walk to the church at Widford, a deserted village, built for monks on top of something Roman. I really enjoyed walking there- no road!
The only boy of the family, Tom, refused to fight the Germans but agreed to fight Japan and was killed doing so. jessica's husband was also killed in WW2
Interestingly, elle, the family originated in Northumberland and the girl's father was the 2nd Baron Redesdale, which is in the Northumberland National Park near Otterburn.

Hi, Rusty!
Are you back from your walk?
How far afield did you venture?
No need to apologise! A very similar title - easily confused!
I think the nearest I have been to Newmarket is probably Aldeburgh, where we have stayed several times.
Are you interested in Newmarket largely because of its racing history?
I have read allusions to it in books by Dick Francis.
I like his books, also those by John Francombe.
Light entertaining reading; a pleasant change sometimes.
When I have finished reading "A Town Like Alice", I shall start "Chesapeake".
I am looking forward to that.



Thanks , Ros!
Some good background information on the Mitford family there!