Louis Wain's Cats

Chris Beetles
Cannongate

'Louis Wain invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world'. - H.G. Wells (1925)

Whilst the artist Louis Wain maintains one of the most recognisable bodies of work his posthumous fame pales in comparison to that which he achieved in his lifetime.

From an early career in journalism providing illustrations for his own stories and drawing anthropomorphised cats, primarily to entertain his ill wife, his career exploded when he was hired to illustrate the book, 'Madame Tabby's Establishment', and produced a feature, 'A Kitten's Christmas Party', for the Illustrated London News, which brought him instant and lasting fame - but due to his poor business sense never the wealth to accompany it - and between 1901 and 1921 he produced 16 annuals, over 1100 postcards and numerous illustrated books

Perhaps equally as famous as his art is that Wain sent his last 15 years in a series of psychiatric hospitals where he produced many of his most famous and outre works.  It's unclear what exactly led to  being institutionalised but he had previously suffered a serious head injury which may have contributed and diagnosis at the time was schitzophrenia after he had become violently delusional and believing, amongst other things, that spirits were infesting him with electricity.  This diagnosis coming some time after his fame had waned and his fortunes had gone from bad to worse including the sinking, by U-Boat, of a boatload of his unfortunately named 'Lucky Futurist Mascots' whilst on their way to the US.  

Beetles' book is a sumptuous and comprehensive exploration of Wain with his beautiful art given plenty of space to shine.  Alongside the paintings we have articles by Wain himself on 'How I Draw My Cats', 'A Whole Pet World' and 'How Animals Study Their Appearance', an introduction by Benedict Cumberbatch - who played Wain in the biopic 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' - and numerous articles by Beetles, Rodney Dale, Ray Compton and Dave Wootton.  The final result of all their work is entirely stunning and this is the book that Wain deserves and that every other artist should envy.

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Goth at the BBC

Screened in 2018 as part of a night celebrating 'Gothic' in art, literature and, of course, music this is a compilation of archive BBC performances from many of the stalwarts of the goth scene - Siouxsie and The Banshees, Bauhaus, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Killing Joke, The Sisters of Mercy, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - as well as a couple of later entrants - PJ Harvey, Marilyn Manson.

For those of us who still have far too many black clothes in our cupboards its a fun trip back in time that'll have you reaching for the mascara and downing a pint of snakebite and black.

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Clangers

'Clangers' was a stop-motion puppet animation created in 1969 by (modelmaker and illustrator) Peter Firmin and (writer, animator and narrator) Oliver Postgate's who, through their company, Smallfilms, had previously produced animated shows such as Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog and Pogle's Wood and who would go on to produce Bagpuss. The Clangers are a small family of pink mouse-like creatures - named Granny, Major, Mother, Tiny and Small Clanger - who live on and in a small planet along with The Soup Dragon (and her baby), The Froglets, The Iron Chicken, The Cloud and The Music Trees.

The Clangers spoke in a musical whistle created by using a slide (or swanee) whistle. Their dialogue however was all scripted and then reproduced through the instruments. This allowed Postgate to be rather more adventurous with the dialogue than the BBC would have maybe liked (if they'd known) with Episode Three, 'Chicken', containing - at 00:55 - the most famous piece of salty Clanger speak, "Oh sod it, the bloody thing's stuck again."

Only 27 episodes (two series and one special) of The Clangers were made but to this day they hold - as does much of Postgate and Firmin's work - a special place in hearts of swathes of Brits who grew up in the 70s and 80s, but their simple charm has rendered them timeless with the revived series (2015-2020) producing a further 106 episodes narrated by Michael Palin (in the UK) and William Shatner (in the US).

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The Legend of Luther Arkwright

Bryan Talbot
Jonathan Cape

In my late teens and early 20s I worked in a comic shop and amassed a sizeable comics collection that got sold off over the years but in my personal pantheon of comic greats there are a few things that have stayed with me and have survived the various culls.  Amongst them are various Alan Moore books, Grant Morrison's run on 'Doom Patrol', 'The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers', and 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'. 

I pretty much walked away from comics in 1993 having got entirely bored of all the investment comics crap that lead to 942 variant covers of a terrible Spiderman comic but some time later I dipped my toes back in the water and re-purchased some old favourites like 'Love and Rockets', made some new ones like Warren Ellis' 'Transmetropolitan' and discovered to my delight and trepidation there was a sequel to Luther called 'Heart of Empire' that whilst missing some of the gonzo brilliance of the original was nevertheless a rivetting romp of a book and now 20 something years later we have a third.

Luther and the revitalised Harry Fairfax are travelling the multiverse together when they are summoned to meet 'Proteus' - the next, next stage (after. Arkwright and others) of human evolution - a psychopathic and very powerful telepath with distinctly fascistic views towards homo sapiens who Luther takes an immediate disliike to and vows to stop.  The story thereafter is one long gethering of forces as Luther and Harry and eventually Luther's daughter Victoria finalise their plan with the aid of many Amys and one Zaffron Waldorf.

In scope it's huge and in execution it's immaculate and is every bit the equal of it's predecessor but I cant help but judge it against the original.  I know I shoudn't, but I just can't help it, and the original is a phenomenon and a pivotal work in the history of British comics.  Yes, it has flaws, and there's an excellent laugh to be had in book three that refers to one of them, but it's a glorious slice of new wave / Moorcockian science fiction that deserves a place right at the heart of any discussion of British science fiction.  

This third book isn't the original, it's its own thing and once I got my inner fanboy to shut up I thoroughly enoyed the ride as Talbot takes us on a tour of the various worlds that us lowly sapiens are liable to create and finds kindness and heroism in the most unlikely of places whilst telling a story of hope and redemption.

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The Great When

Alan Moore
Bloomsbury Publishing

Having completed his conjuring to place his hometown of Northampton at the centre of the country's collective historical consciousness with his epic tour de force, 'Jerusalem', Alan Moore now turns his sights on London and the creative hold it's had on generations of artists, seers and mad(wo)men; those who can walk the streets of it's mythic, sidereal counterpart, 'The Great When'.

In this, the first of what's intended to be a five book series, we meet the hapless hero, 'Dennis Knuckleyard', who is thrust, entirely unprepared, into a world of imagination and danger, of archetypes, avatars and artists.  Arriving at 'The Great When' through the imaginings of Arthur Machen and traversing it with the aid of Austin Osman Spare, Dennis is tasked with the return of a book, a fictional book removed somehow from 'The Great When', that has found its way into his possession and which, if he can't get rid of it, could be the cause of him being turned inside out.

Obviously this is the first step in what will be a long journey and so there's a lot of worldbuilding, but Moore is a master of such things, and you rarely feel bogged down in exposition as the story weaves its way across post-war London, setting up events that'll take decades to resolve.  The story at this early stage is relatively straightforward, playful and populated by a delightful cast of rascals, reprobates, ruffians and wrong uns who variously embrace or are embraced by that other London.

For those, like me, who are long time Moore devotees it's an absolute joy to know that we are setting out on another journey with him, and you'll see an obvious kinship here with some of his previous work.  The London of 'From Hell' is just behind the curtain - although a very different Ripper is held responsible - as is 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', particularly the 'Century' trilogy, and it's cultural crate-digging that allowed Moore to play with the very character of the times, rooting around in its basements, unveiling secrets and dusting off intrigues, but 'The Great When' is it's own thing and has it's own story to tell, and I for one cannot wait to revisit.

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Secret Worship (audio drama)

On the advice of his friend, Dr. John Silence (Malcolm Hayes), Stephen Hubbard (Fraser Kerr) heads off to Germany on a convalescent holiday to the monastery where he studied as a child only to discover things are very different from how he remembers.

One of the more pulpy of the Silence stories this breathless adaptation of Algernon Blackwood's 'Secret Worship', one of his John Silence stories, was one of several made for BBC Radio in 1975 by Sheila Hodgson.

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The Leaf-Sweeper

Muriel Spark
Galley Beggar Press

‘Perhaps you don’t know how repulsive and loathsome is the ghost of a living man. The ghosts of the dead may be all right, but the ghost of mad Johnnie gave me the creeps…’
So speaks the narrator of Muriel Spark’s haunting tale, ‘The Leaf-sweeper’, before going on to recount the disturbing and mercilessly witty story of a certain ‘madman’, Johnnie Geddes – a man hell-bent on outlawing Christmas – who meets the most terrifying of all apparitions: himself.

Whilst the name Muriel Spark will be familiar to many a book worm I'd never read anything by her until relatively recently when I stumbled across 'The Comforters', a fabulously odd and witty piece of whimsy with one fleeting moment of unanticipated weirdness. This new chapbook from the good folks at Galley Beggar Press - part of their 'Pocket Ghosts' series along with Charles Dickens' 'The Signalman' and Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Old Nurse's Story' - provides two haunted tales that hold much the same character as that novel.

The first story, and the one that gives the book it's title, is a Christmas ghost story without a death as a Xmas curmudgeon meets his own ghost. The second story, 'Another Pair of Hands', is a delightfully eccentric little tale with an enjoyably enigmatic core that could come with a variety of explanations, all equally engaging.

The two combine nicely and this lovely little pocket book proved the perfect companion for a coffee break on an autumnal walk.

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Bureau Of Lost Culture: Alan Moore (17/07/2022)

Here's the grand magus of Northampton being interviewed by The Bureau Of Lost Culture back in 2022 in an enjoyably wide ranging conversation 'about counterculture - in his own life and work and in the past, the present and in the future [...] the 60s, the 70s, Thatcherism, Britpop, the power of The Arts Lab, why he doesn’t watch the adaptions of his work, the power of limitations to foster creativity and much much more.'

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Night of the Triffids (Audio Drama)

Written by Simon Clark and originally released as a novel in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of John Wyndham's original, 'Night of the Triffids' is the story of David Massen - the son of Bill and Josella - and his misadventures on the island of Manhattan having crash landed his plane during a mysterious blackout on a floating island inhabited by many triffids and one young girl and being rescued by a ship full of Americans who whisk him off across the Atlantic.

The novel was adapted by Big Finish in 2014 with Sam Troughton (grandson of Patrick), Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown, assistant to both the 5th and 6th Doctors) and Paul Clayton taking the leads.  It's a quick and faithful version of a quick and faithful novel which means it suffers from the same problems as the novel - being overly slavish to the source material and with a very poor casting decision at it's heart but it's an entertaining romp and an enjoyable enough way to revisit the world of the Triffids.

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Miracleman: The Silver Age

Neil Gaiman (writer)
Mark Buckingham (artist)
Marvel Comics

I've waited over three decades to read this story and it's finally in my hands, Gaiman and Buckingham's venture into the world of Alan Moore's Miracleman.

I'm not much of a superhero fan but what I loved about AM's MM was that he took this utterly absurd character entirely seriously and allowed his existence to change the world.  When the torch was passed Gaiman was riding high on his early fame and in 'The Golden Age' he gave us a sympathetic and completely correct continuation of the story.  It's stories are sensitively human and explode the wider world in the most profound way and I return to it as often as I return to the Moore era.

Now, I've never been particularly enamoured of Gaiman's superhero work as I think he's much stronger wandering in more fantastical realms but as I said I loved his MM stories, I think because they inabited an interesting middle ground between the two, and for a long time they were the glaring exception to my antipathy to his spandex work so heading into 'The Silver Age' I was interested to see if he could once again catch my interest and I'm not entirely sure he did.

The story tells of the return of Young Miracleman / Dickie Dauntless, the final member of the 'family' to appear in this new world which he does with some consternation.  Beautifully rendered throughout by the artist, Gaiman handles YM's introduction to the vastly new world with sensitivity and an awareness of how it would seem to a man stepping straight out of the 1950s but his journey around the world is almost perfunctory and his self-discovery telegraphed well in advance.  It's OK but pales in comparison with the darker hued Invention of 'The Golden Age'.  What really doesn't ring true though is the Kid Miracleman / Bates sub-plot which feels like it's been lifted straight out of a clichéd sci-fi romp and it minimised YM's story by subjecting him to yet more abuse.  I don't know whether they'll ever get around to doing 'The Dark Age' but if they do I hope the Bates aspect is relegated to the poor idea file and they give YM his own destiny to decide and give this most innovative of series the finale it deserves.

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Black Carrion

Right, before we start, let me just say upfront this show is bad, really bad, and not in a so bad it's good kind of way but in a so bad it's bloody awful kind of way.  It is, in so many ways, terrible; irredeemably, eyewateringly terrible. But I like it even though it is, and I can't stress this enough, crap!

'Black Carrion' was the eighth episode of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, the venerable company's second TV series made in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Television whose input allowed for longer run times, some 'name' actors and access to the US TV market.

Telling the story of the search for the 'Verne Brothers' (Alan Love and Julian Littman) a long disappeared early 60s pop duo whose contribution to music seems to have been doing covers of Chuck Berry and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates songs with horrible 80s saxophone parping over the top whilst wearing, for no particular reason, white leather jackets with a bird motif on the back.

Written by Don Houghton (Sapphire and Steel, Ace of Wands) there's much spooky promise here with a fun premise and some nice sets but he just doesn't seem to know what to do with it and squanders every opportunity.  The script suffers from more flashbacks than Jerry Garcia, meanders aimessly for much of the time, features teenage hoodlums who aren't, investigating reporters who don't and a grand finale that isn't.  

The first time I watched this, I almost shouted at the TV in disbelief at how idiotic the ending is, but over the years, I've come to kind of love it for all it's very, very, many faults.

Alan Moore discusses The Great When

The year is 1949, the city London. Dennis Knuckleyard is a hapless eighteen-year-old who works and lives in a second-hand bookstore. One day, on an errand to retrieve rare books, Dennis discovers that one of them does not exist. It is a fictitious book, yet it is physically there in his hands nonetheless. How? It comes from the Great When, a dark and magical version of the city that is beyond time. There, epochs blend and realities and unrealities blur. If Dennis does not take this book back to the other London, he will be killed.

With the first book of his new 'Long London' series, 'The Great When', now out Northampton's finest Alan Moore has been appearing on various zoom interviews of late.  This one was hosted by a Canadian bookseller and in it we get an interesting overview of what the wizardly wordsmith is up to with the series.

It's a little tentative in parts and I look forward to other videos further down the line that have him in conversations with folks who are less in awe but this is still an interesting watch. 

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The Wood at Midwinter

Susanna Clarke
Victoria Sawdon (Illustrator)
Bloomsbury

From the revered author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Piranesi comes a bewitching seasonal novella about a young woman who can talk to animals and the mysterious events that befall her in the woods.

Set in the world of Clarke's much loved novel 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell' this Xmas fable is the story of 'Merowdis Scott', of her love of the animals and the woods and of an encounter amongst the trees that grants her her deepest desire.

Augmented with the delicate illustrations of Victoria Sawdon - who shamefuly isn't named on the cover - this tiny tale offers a welcome return to that magical England that is as fleeting as it is frustrating.  It's a fable, a folktale, a mythic origin story and beyond it's loveliness there's the very slightest of stories which for a reader like me who finds myths and folktales narratively unsatisfying it's appeal is limited but for what it is its rather charming.

Rounding the book out is a fascinating essay that pulls back the curtain on the origin of the story that lies in the authors love of the music of Kate Bush.  

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Village of the Damned

Adapted, as I'm sure you already know, from the John Wyndham classic, 'The Midwich Cuckoos', 'Village of the Damned' is the story of an invasion of sorts that begins when the entire village of Midwich is sealed off from the outside world by a cone of sleep. For four hours everything - human and animal, villager and visitor - inside the village boundaries immediately falls asleep.  Waking with no memories of what has transpired it's not until 2 months later, when every woman of child bearing age is discovered to be pregnant, that the scale of the enigma begins to be revealed.  The pregnancies develop at an accelerated pace and the babies are born simultaneously with each displaying strikingly similar characteristics.  This acceleratted development continues as the children mature at four times the speed of an entirely human child and display notable telepathic abilties.

Narrowing the focus from the novel, the film concentrates on one family, Professor Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders - 'Psychomania'), Anthea Zellaby (Barbara Shelley - 'Quatermass and the Pit') and their 'son' David (Martin Stephens - 'The Innocents') who ostensibly acts as the leader of the children, who are, despite not appearing for the the first 30 odd minutes, the undisputed stars - as well as the focus - of the film.  The children, who operate a hive mind, are neatly conformist, joyless, quick to anger and utterly ruthless in it's expression and an obvious metaphor for the Nazi and Communist regimes that had so preoccupied minds over the previous decades and a reflection of the fear of the newly maturing baby-boomers and the societal changes they were inspiring - "Couldn’t you learn to live with us, and help us live with you?".

Anglo-German director Wolf Rilla in his only foray into science fiction plays a subtle hand avoiding those cliches that potentially would have littered the film if the originally planned US productions hadn't floundered.  His version (and vision as one of the scriptwriters) emphasises the mundane reality of the village made weird by the actions of the cuckoos in the nest, the cosiness that Wyndham was famously accused of shown to be only a thin veneer covering the turmoil raging below - the accusations, the abuse, the fear, the violence - and the focus is kept deliberately narrow only hinting at the wider picture. There are no answers provided, Gordon Zellaby's solution is one of coldly pragmatic necessity that is a reflection of the children's nature - "if you didn’t suffer from emotions, from feelings, you could be as powerful as we are" - and the who and the how of the children is never revealed and both they and the movie are all the more chilling for it. 

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Fad Gadget by Frank Tovey

Over the course of 10 albums - 4 as Fad Gadget and 6 using his own name - Frank Tovey made music that helped define electronic and industrial music helping springboard bands such as Depeche Mode (who feature in the film below) and Einstürzende Neubauten and influence the likes of Skinny Puppy and Ministry.

Ever a cult performer Tovey never achieved mainstream success in his tragically short lifetime - he died of a heart attack aged just 45 - but left an entirely idiosyncratic legacy that still resonates today and is deservedly celebrated in this affectionate documentary.

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