RIP Nicholas Courtney

A very sad start to the week, because one of my favourite actors has died: Mr Nicholas Courtney.

In particular, Courtney played Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart throughout much of Doctor Who's early version (1963 - 1989) and then re-appeared in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

As this character, he played against most of the seven doctors on TV (Troughton, Pertwee - as one of the regulars, Baker T, Davison, McCoy, and Hurndall who played the 1st Doctor in The Five Doctors) He also played Lethbridge-Stewart in various Big Finish Audios, so that he was able to increase his tally to playing with McGann and Baker C.

I met him once when he was signing in Barking, and he was an extremely charming man. Rest in Peace, Brig. :(

Why not listen to his two best Big Finish Audios?



See the Telegraph Obituary: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8343786/Nicholas-Courtney.html

More books

As life has taken over again, I've not managed to read as much as I should have done. However, here's a selection of some of the books I've read over the last month:

The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How it Changed the City Forever - I love London history, but this is so fascinating. It's a well written, well researched, well sourced masterpiece. I can't recommend this enough - fascinating. 10/10

The Scions of Shannara (Heritage of Shannara) - I have read all of the first three in the trilogy over the last month (Sword, Elfstones, and Wishsong) and have now moved onto this book. AMAZING. I was so impressed with Brooks writing in the first three; but this is even better. I read it in three sittings - it was that good. 10/10

Reading II

Dear readers,

I promised to let you know what I had managed to read over the last few weeks. If you remember, I have purposely said that I will try to avoid TV for one day of the week, so that I can read something. Otherwise, I'll never get round to it!

Here are some of the books that I've read (and I've even included a number out of ten to help with some recommendation!). Each book has a link to Amazon, so you can get one yourselves (if anyone reads this!!):

The Sword of Shannara: Shannara 1 (Shannara Series) : this is a really excellent book by Terry Brooks, and is the beginning of an AMAZING set of books. I've read this before, but I had to read it again, and I am so glad I did. 10/10. If you want to start these fantasy books, please start with the Sword of Shannara. Simply the best.

A Christmas Carol (Puffin Classics) : As I was reading lots over the Christmas period, I decided that I had to finally read this classic. And it really is a classic and a lot more detailed that those Disney or Muppet movies!! Well worth reading - whatever the time of year. 8/10.

QI The Book of the Dead : If you love QI and a bit of history, you'll love this book. I did. It was full of great well-known people; and the not so well-known people of times gone by. Well recommended. 9/10.

Whatshisname: The Life and Death of Charles Hawtrey : I really enjoy the Carry On films, and I am always curious about the stars long since dead. Here's one of the stars who had a very sad life, and one who is often forgotten by biographers. Charles Hawtrey was an enigma and this book shows there was more to Mr Hawtrey than getting drunk and liking young men - read it if you like the Carry On films. 8/10.

I think I did pretty well this month, I am now reading another Shannara book (The Elfstones of Shannara: Book Two of the Shannara Trilogy (Shannara Series)) , but I'll leave my thoughts till next month. I've also got another couple of books I want to read too. Until next time, enjoy these books!!

JJW Griffiths

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers (though I don't doubt I have friends, I do doubt I have readers! C'est la vie!). 2011, hey? Who would have thought it possible during the Cold War or during the World Wars, but here we are.

As I write this, it is totally tipping it down in rain, but I am much happier about that than the recent snow we have had. Even in London. Rain isn't too cold; rain doesn't make you slip up (well, not if you're careful); rain doesn't stop services (well, not in England); and rain is what this country needs sometimes - freshen up the trees and plants.

I'll try and blog a bit more over the forthcoming year, but may I wish you a very happy new year.

JJWG

Reading

Sorry for the slight delay in writing another blog, but I have been busy, busy, busy – and more besides. As I grow older, I have begun to realise that perhaps I won’t read all the books I own, or all the books I want to – which is a shame.

My father used to always tell me to read Dickens, Dickens, and more Dickens – but I’ve only read one of his books. However, I have read many classics in literature – including books from the Brönte family, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, and many others – but not enough. However, we can’t forget that there are many years of modern literature out there too! I have loads of Agatha Christie and PD James, but I never have time to read them.

However in addition, I want to read about my favourite subject – history. I love the Tudor and Stuart period; and ancient civilisations throughout the world. And, these kind of books take longer to read too.

All this lack of reading (my favourite past-time) is starting to drive me mad, so I’ve come to a conclusion: I am now going to ban TV for one night a week, so I can just read. Let’s see how that goes – I’ll update you in my next blog, including details of what I’ve read. Bye for now.

June - Half Way

We're all half way into 2010, and I've no idea where my path is leading. I've been so terribly busy with so many silly and pointless things - so I've no idea where the time went. I'm nearing 70 this year, and I want it to slow down. Men don't last very long and women completely outlive us, so our time is more precious.

Talking of time - have you looked at your family tree any time soon? See here - amazing service. I can't tell you how much they showed me about my ancestors history. I was so impressed.

Finally, I was starting to like Gordon Brown (our former Prime Minister), but now we have this strange government that no one voted for. I heard someone yesterday call them the ConDem government. How potentially apt. Unfortunately, they are a populist movement at the moment, so it'll be a couple of years yet, till we see how rubbish they are. But, then maybe that's all politicians? I mean, we all know Blair was rubbish now, don't we? Terrible person.

See you soon!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone around the world. 2010! It seems strange that we're now at this milestone of a year - it seems only yesterday that we were celebrating 2000! Ah well. As usual there seems to be a debate about whether we have started a new decade (which I believe we haven't). In the end though - who cares?! Have a look at one such debate here. This guy makes a very valid point, but I still don't care!

Grumpy Old Man has returned.