Petitioning

Chambers are one of the great names in publishing, and they've been based in Scotland for the best part of two centuries. More recently, they took an even more cherished imprint, Brewer's, under their wing in Edinburgh.

Now their parent company, Hachette UK, wants to close down the Edinburgh office, which will see a large number of staff laid off, and the identities of Chambers and Brewer's diluted.

I have a personal interest, since I have a contract to write a book for Brewer's, but even beyond that it seems to me the move by Hachette is another symbol of the growing homogenization of the publishing industry, and it's at least worth registering one's opposition.

So do feel free to sign this petition calling on Hachette to reconsider their decision.

IMDb

I'm much amused to be told that I now have my very own page on the excellent IMBd site.

I use IMBd on an almost daily basis, since it's one of the best online reference sources, but as I don't subscribe, I've never understood the percentage figures they quote at the top of each page. However, no doubt it's very good news that I'm up 147% in popularity this week. Whatever it means.

The Summer of 2009

It’s been an awful long time since I posted anything here (though strangely the world appears to have continued turning in my absence).

The reason for the prolonged absence is that I’ve been extraordinarily busy writing a couple of books, and I find it increasingly hard to write in more than one medium at a time. I get so involved in the project I’m on – not to mention the day-job of writing games – that everything else takes back-seat. Consequently I’ve been neglecting everything else, from emails to blogs.

The first book that will emerge from this period of work is a sequel to Halfway to Paradise: The Birth of British Rock, which came out last year telling the story of rock and roll in Britain from 1954-64. The new book, due out from V&A Publishing next Spring, is My Generation: The Glory Years of British Rock, covering 1964-74. It’s centred on the photography of Harry Goodwin, the resident stills photographer on Top of the Pops for its first decade, including this shot of David Bowie and Mick Ronson miming to Starman in 1972:

Put together by the usual team – design by Isobel Gillan, editing by Clare Collinson, all under the direction of Mark Eastment – this is going to be a fine-looking book, I think. And it’ll be accompanied by an exhibition at the V&A, which will then tour around the country.

Talking of exhibitions, the photos of the great Harry Hammond are currently on show as part of the British Music Experience at the O2 Centre in London. I haven’t been to see it yet, but no doubt it’s very wonderful indeed. That exhibition will also be touring the country shortly – dates to be confirmed, but Cardiff next, I believe.

Around the same time as My Generation comes out, there will appear (I hope) my sequel to Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s. Predictably, then, it’ll be about Britain during the Thatcher years. I’ve only just submitted the first draft of the text to my editor, Graham Coster at Aurum, so there will be more work to be done before it’s all wrapped up, but it’s been a major undertaking by my standards, the longest book I’ve ever written.

And finally, to wrap up my current book production, I’m signed up to do a book with Brewer’s. But there are upheavals at the parent company that owns this venerable imprint, so I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.

Social Living

My attention has been drawn to a website I didn't previously know, called livingsocial.com, which seems to be a site for readers to talk about books. Anyway, there are some very kind reviews of my book Crisis? What Crisis?, so I thought I ought to mention these splendid people and give them every encouragement.

The Prisoner (slight return)

Stories about a remake of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner have been circulating for almost as long as I can remember, so one learned some time ago to take them with a pinch of salt. But now that they've released a trailer, I guess we can now genuinely refer to the forthcoming movie.

So I turned, as one does, to i-Flicks.net, home of Ivan Radford, a critic who's always worth reading, to see what he has to say, and he sounds a note of sensible caution: 'It's actually looking quite awesome. Although it could still turn out absolutely terrible - these things usually do.' He's probably right.

Of course, those of us with a fondness for Portmeirion, where the original series was filmed, are going to regret the change of location, because the real star of the piece was the Village itself. But no doubt the film will generate yet more interest in the place.

Beyond Biba

Five years back - seems like longer - ACC published a book by me about the Biba shops in west London in the 1960s and '70s. It went very well (still available in paperback), and somehow Biba never quite goes away, even though it's nearly 35 years since the last of the original stores closed.

So, just to round up a couple of bits: Le Figaro in France has a piece on the subject; some friends have written a musical about Biba (tracks available for download); and tomorrow I'm going to the V&A where there's a screening of a documentary titled Beyond Biba, which apparently tells the story of what the founder, Barbara Hulanicki, did after the shop closed.

The Light Programme

The first episode of Stand Down, Margaret was a fine piece of radio - a beautifully edited collage of interviews, music and archive tape. The second and final episode is on Radio Two this evening, at the later time of 11 pm.