Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 1, 2019 6:39:48 GMT
Anthony Horrowitz was the creator to the cult television series Crime Traveller. And it was bsed in London, as I recall.
Talking about books and London, I need to get some stories I've cre3atesd looked at by someone who can comment on the London aspects of them, as I used London as a setting for them.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 1, 2019 8:05:58 GMT
Anthony Horowitz is a prolific writer; I haven’t read or seen much of his work. One of his Alex Rider books was filmed and it was dreadful!
I get the impression that he walks around London to look at specific areas as the details are accurate.
However, with Google research, images and videos even people on the other side of the world can get it more or less right.
I am happy to take a look at London references...
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 1, 2019 13:02:19 GMT
The Thames Tunnel again
“I'm always on the lookout for a good read.” magpiejack I first heard about this tunnel from one of the books in Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers series. They are all very funny, and there are many references to various areas and attractions of London. There is a lot about the Wapping area and the Thames Tunnel in Public Enemy Number Two. You can go and see some of it any time, but the tunnel is only occasionally open to visitors: “It is still possible to take a walking tour through the tunnel to Wapping from Rotherhithe and back, but these are infrequent and on an ad-hoc basis as they can only take place when that section of the line is closed for maintenance.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tunnel Thanks UnseenI, I am always appreciative of reading recommendations. I have a backlog now though, as I'm having a grand time back in Britain now that I can trawl the car boot sales and charity shops and I have a huge pile of bargain buy reads! I'll keep an eye out for this series.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 2, 2019 9:28:42 GMT
Anthony Horowitz is a prolific writer; I haven’t read or seen much of his work. One of his Alex Rider books was filmed and it was dreadful! I get the impression that he walks around London to look at specific areas as the details are accurate. However, with Google research, images and videos even people on the other side of the world can get it more or less right. I am happy to take a look at London references... I enjoyed Crime Traveller, and have the series on DVD. I may well take you up on your offer. I just want to get the feel and atmosphere of London right, even if I'm not a fan (remotely!) of the place. And you are right - Google is a most useful tool indeed for writing locations!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 3, 2019 7:34:05 GMT
Researching London from home
It was only when I moved from a small prepaid mobile broadband allowance to unlimited WiFi that I realised how much information and how many facilities are available to online researchers.
When it comes to books, many can be found online and read at no cost. Extracts can be read in Google Books and on Amazon. Search and Surprise Me can be used to get more pages.
Images and videos can be used to look at just about everything. Then we have Google Maps with Street and Satellite View, and there are live webcams...
Old photos and films of London from various decades are of particular interest. They are living history.
London in 1900, with only the occasional motor car to be seen:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 3, 2019 16:32:24 GMT
magpiejack are you a member of a public library? I used to look for second-hand books and bargains but now I always try the library first.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 4, 2019 12:22:53 GMT
magpiejack are you a member of a public library? I used to look for second-hand books and bargains but now I always try the library first. Seeing as I live on a county border I'm a member of two libraries! However, they're not what they used to be since the cutbacks, so I end up paying £1 per time for a reservation seeing as my reading preferences are not for mainstream authors. I can get books at the car boot for 20p or 50p. I love old archive footage too, I found this one which is an early film with sound recording of various snippets of London life between 1928 and 1930.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 4, 2019 15:55:14 GMT
Old photos and films of London from various decades are of particular interest. They are living history. London in 1900, with only the occasional motor car to be seen: I've just watched that, it's wonderful. Horse-drawn buses! Nobody seems to be in a rush either. My great-grandmother lived just south of the river at that time, I wonder if she was caught on film. She certainly would be these days, in the CCTV capital of the world!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 4, 2019 18:10:22 GMT
London libraries
I am a great fan. I can access an online catalogue that contains details of stock from several London boroughs. Many of the books I want are in storage, as here too the shelves are mostly filled with best-sellers. A reservation costs me 40p, and I can get the book delivered to my local library.
Still, discount bookshops and charity shops are good for gifts and unexpected treasures.
I have a huge reading backlog of my own.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 4, 2019 18:10:58 GMT
I could watch those old films for ever. They make me feel like a time traveller.
Cloth caps and bowler hats!
Pathe Newsreels are good for historic information too.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 4, 2019 18:30:12 GMT
I could watch those old films for ever. They make me feel like a time traveller. Cloth caps and bowler hats! Pathe Newsreels are good for historic information too. I love watching them too, it gives me such a feel for the era. The British Film Institute has a good archive of free to view films on its website.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 6, 2019 8:03:07 GMT
Researching London from home
It was only when I moved from a small prepaid mobile broadband allowance to unlimited WiFi that I realised how much information and how many facilities are available to online researchers. When it comes to books, many can be found online and read at no cost. Extracts can be read in Google Books and on Amazon. Search and Surprise Me can be used to get more pages. Images and videos can be used to look at just about everything. Then we have Google Maps with Street and Satellite View, and there are live webcams... Old photos and films of London from various decades are of particular interest. They are living history. London in 1900, with only the occasional motor car to be seen: I know what you mean. I used to mobile broadband as well. And yes, it's quite useful to have, indeed. It's been useful for writing stories, where I don't know the setting. I can use Street View, and travel about the place, and see the actual location clearly. It certainly helps in creating authenticity and atmosphere!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 6, 2019 18:20:04 GMT
We are very lucky to have all this at our disposal.
Free Wifi is everywhere in London, but I just use it for checking emails. I can only concentrate and do serious work when I am in my bunker!
Viewing online may be second best, but it saves time, money and energy and sometimes is the only option.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 7, 2019 20:14:47 GMT
I agree. It certainly helps out. Especially when I had to do something weird, like roam around a part of London, to see what CCTV there was in the area. Which was an interesting, and weird experience.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 10, 2019 9:47:08 GMT
Not London, but this is a lovely 5 minute video of footage of Paris. There's a good bit where a young lad who stands in front of the camera is brusquely prodded out the way!
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 12, 2019 6:58:00 GMT
Going to leave this video in here, because I hear less than wonderful things about London, and with the crime rate as it is...
To serve as a counter argument.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 12, 2019 8:29:35 GMT
The old videos show us what we have lost, but London still has plenty to offer its residents.
|
|
|
Post by truthseeker on Jul 12, 2019 8:45:37 GMT
Going to leave this video in here, because I hear less than wonderful things about London, and with the crime rate as it is... To serve as a counter argument.
There is one thing I don't understand about John Paul Watson though: He is always mentioning in what a bad state our sociaty is and around 5:14 in this video he starts to talk about the demaged social cohesion in London and that it lead to soaring depression among other things, yet in 2017 he claimed that people suffering from depression do so by their own fault:
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 12, 2019 9:30:33 GMT
Going to leave this video in here, because I hear less than wonderful things about London, and with the crime rate as it is... To serve as a counter argument.
There is one thing I don't understand about John Paul Watson though: He is always mentioning in what a bad state our sociaty is and around 5:14 in this video he starts to talk about the demaged social cohesion in London and that it lead to soaring depression among other things, yet in 2017 he claimed that people suffering from depression do so by their own fault:
Oh, he is a gatekeeper, for sure. Thingt is, he has put together a video that is backed up by evidence. And not all stabbings get reported in Lonhdon now. There was one nine year old earlier this week.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 12, 2019 12:13:45 GMT
I'm adding this here, because other cities have been mentioned, and it likely is something similar for London's health service.
|
|
|
Post by truthseeker on Jul 12, 2019 13:33:26 GMT
I'm adding this here, because other cities have been mentioned, and it likely is something similar for London's health service. I have read about this. The Czech doctor who spread the news about what she experienced seems to be the only one who reveals this sort of information. I am afraid her report would be much more valid if she wasn't the only one. I assume that this doctor tells the truth but we can't forget that there are people who lie and there are also people who exaggerate.
I live in Germany and I haven't had any bad experiences with the new migrants. I do notice their huge number, though. The number of muslims in our cities has become very high.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Jul 12, 2019 14:50:19 GMT
Going to leave this video in here, because I hear less than wonderful things about London, and with the crime rate as it is... To serve as a counter argument. Thanks for posting this, it was interesting to watch. I think that the same thing is happening in most cities with the infrastructure creaking at the seams. I only visit the tourist parts of London, I'm sure that in the outer residential areas it is a different matter, but on my recent visit a few months ago I did enjoy it and had a very pleasant day. I'm not sure how safe I would feel outside the central part of the city though. In the 1980s and 1990s my feeling was always that London was a dump and Paris was much better. After a visit to Paris in 2014, however, I now feel that the reverse is true. I was in the tourist areas there and it seemed dirty and threatening, not how I remembered it. Most cities do seem to make an effort to keep their tourist areas safe, as it brings in so much income, but it seems as if Paris has given up.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 12, 2019 19:20:38 GMT
So many new leads! I will do what I can when I can.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jul 15, 2019 6:57:48 GMT
I'm adding this here, because other cities have been mentioned, and it likely is something similar for London's health service. I have read about this. The Czech doctor who spread the news about what she experienced seems to be the only one who reveals this sort of information. I am afraid her report would be much more valid if she wasn't the only one. I assume that this doctor tells the truth but we can't forget that there are people who lie and there are also people who exaggerate.
I live in Germany and I haven't had any bad experiences with the new migrants. I do notice their huge number, though. The number of muslims in our cities has become very high.
Having been in the NHS for over a decade now, I find it very believeable. There is an ever increasing decline in staff numbers, aa good part from retirement. And there is a massive strain generated from the mass influx. Not only that, but sexual diseases have increased in incidence, too.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jul 26, 2019 7:35:49 GMT
A tribute to London from Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson is an American who lived and worked in the UK for over 20 years. His travel book Notes from a Small Island (1995) is very funny. It begins in 1973, and describes features that are now history. This is what he says about the London he knew: “I can never understand why Londoners fail to see that they live in the most wonderful city in the world. It is far more beautiful and interesting than Paris, if you ask me, and more lively than anywhere but New York - and even New York can't touch it in lots of important ways. It has more history, finer parks, a livelier and more varied press, better theatres, more numerous orchestras and museums, leafier squares, safer streets, and more courteous inhabitants than any other large city in the world. And it has more congenial small things - incidental civilities you might call them - than any other city I know: cheery red pillar boxes, drivers who actually stop for you on pedestrian crossings, lovely forgotten churches with wonderful names like St Andrew by the Wardrobe and St Giles Cripplegate, sudden pockets of quiet like Lincoln's Inn and Red Lion Square, interesting statues of obscure Victorians in togas, pubs, black cabs, double-decker buses, helpful policemen, polite notices, people who will stop to help you when you fall down or drop your shopping, benches everywhere. What other great city would trouble to put blue plaques on houses to let you know what famous person once lived there or warn you to look left or right before stepping off the kerb? I'll tell you. None.” Bill Bryson has travelled a lot and seen many great cities, so his opinion is based on personal experience.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Sept 5, 2019 15:24:55 GMT
The Thames Torso
...well, one of many torsos found in the Thames. This case is from 1966 and is from the Curious World Youtube channel, one of my favourites as he is a good narrator and has an interesting repertoire of stories.
I think it's sad how many end up in the Thames, either by their own hand or dumped there.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Sept 5, 2019 18:41:57 GMT
Really awful crimes have been committed in London over the millennia, and I suspect that some were never discovered.
The Thames was often used to dispose of victims.
The most recent Thames Torso case was in 2001 - a young Kenyan boy.
Around one body per week is still being washed ashore.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Sept 28, 2019 17:23:48 GMT
A good new book about London’s underground spaces
“Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground by David Bownes, Chris Nix, Siddy Holloway and Sam Mullins is out now from Yale University Press at £25. An exploration of the abandoned tributaries of London's vast and vital transportation network through breathtaking images and unexpected stories Hidden London is a lavishly illustrated history of disused and repurposed London Underground spaces. It provides the first narrative of a previously secret and barely understood aspect of London's history. Behind locked doors and lost entrances lies a secret world of abandoned stations, redundant passageways, empty elevator shafts, and cavernous ventilation ducts.” This would be a good Christmas present from you to yourself magpiejack . It is already on sale for £17.51 on eBay and Amazon
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Sept 28, 2019 17:36:56 GMT
A good new book about London’s underground spaces
“Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground by David Bownes, Chris Nix, Siddy Holloway and Sam Mullins is out now from Yale University Press at £25. An exploration of the abandoned tributaries of London's vast and vital transportation network through breathtaking images and unexpected stories Hidden London is a lavishly illustrated history of disused and repurposed London Underground spaces. It provides the first narrative of a previously secret and barely understood aspect of London's history. Behind locked doors and lost entrances lies a secret world of abandoned stations, redundant passageways, empty elevator shafts, and cavernous ventilation ducts.” This would be a good Christmas present from you to yourself magpiejack . It is already on sale for £17.51 on eBay and Amazon Thanks for that UnseenI , though £17.51? (Chokes on tea) I rarely pay more than £2 for a book! I've just finished the Telegraph's monthly killer Sudoku, if I win that (£100 book token prize) it does sound a fascinating book so I will certainly buy it!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Sept 29, 2019 8:10:30 GMT
The price will drop further when some second-hand copies come up for sale. The library is another option.
|
|