Sign on the widow.

1970

For those who miss those MBRS halcyon days, you can relive the spirit tonight at 10.04pm on BBC Radio Ulster with The Late show with Mickey Bradley with records by Middle Class Guilt, Everly Brothers, cruush, Peter Gabriel, Sister Ghost and more. Tune in on Bluesky at: @mickeyundertone.bsky.social

Yeah,they were really, really beautiful.

Mickey Bradley played it on his Friday night show. Radio Ulster.

Saw them in the Olympia in Dublin in the 80's.

His family are from Donegal. Saw him playing with his brothers in a village called Ramelton in the early 90's.

Stories for Mothers and Daughters – Maeve Brennan, A. S. Byatt, Jeanette Winterson & more! Over the past few years, the British Library has been doing sterling work with its excellent Women Writers series, reissuing lesser-known 20th-century novels by female authors for modern-day reader…

'Daphne’s existence went on. There were more dances, tea meetings, Lord’s, Goodwood, helping with plays for good causes; the unending putting on of dresses and having pictures taken...' #BookSky 💙📚 #ReadIndies

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Low profile genius.

In Farthest Seas by Lalla Romano (tr. Brian Robert Moore) A couple of years ago, I read and thoroughly enjoyed A Silence Shared, a beautiful, enigmatic novel by the Italian writer, translator and artist Lalla Romano. First published in Italy in 1957, Tett…

'...birds, swallows. Stuck in the snow. Seven of them. No doubt blinded, tricked by the white, they had missed the mark in their low flight. Or some impact, a sudden violence of the wind. The small tragic image was one of defeat, but also a transfiguration.'

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City! City!

The first colour episode of Ivor The Engine was broadcast on this day in 1976 (the original black and white series aired on ITV during the late 1950's).

A beautiful review of a beguiling film! #FilmSky

Film poster showing a colour illustration of Jean Seberg’s face and a blue, grey and white graphic of Belmondo running with gun - but no hat!

Lovely to see Godard’s A BOUT DE SOUFFLE on the big screen today. A first-time watch for my friend, the nth time for me. ‘Jean-Paul Belmondo in a hat’ should be a genre in its own right!

✨ #FilmSky

Thank you. Wonderful.

Filled my heart with joy.

Good man Darren.

I thought Sorry Baby was outstanding.
Fleabag-esque but still wonderful.

What! No traditional billhooks?!!!

The City and the House by Natalia Ginzburg (tr. Dick Davis) The award-winning Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg has been a major discovery for me over the past six years, largely due to Daunt Books’ and NYRB Classics’ sterling work on reissuing her books. (My…

For #TranslationThurs, my thoughts on THE CITY AND THE HOUSE by Natalia Ginzburg (tr. Dick Davis).

An absorbing, emotionally truthful novel told entirely in letters, charting the complex map of relationships between a group of family & friends. #BookSky 💙📚

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Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford First published in 1932, Christmas Pudding was one of Nancy Mitford’s early books, written before she hit the big time with her semi-autobiographical novels, In the Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love …

‘Oh dear,’ said Paul gloomily, ‘it really is rather disillusioning. When one’s friends marry for money they are wretched, when they marry for love it is worse. What is the proper thing to marry for, I should like to know?’ #BookSky 💙📚

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Still from the film featuring Deborah Kerr kissing David Niven, while Jean Seberg looks on from the background.

Film poster showing a Picasso-style illustration of a single teardrop falling from a woman’s right eye.

Delightful screening of Otto Preminger’s BONJOUR TRISTESSE (1958) at the BFI yesterday afternoon, with a fantastic introduction by Preminger’s biographer Foster Hirsch. Lots of insights into the director’s filmmaking techniques, which favoured wide compositions & long takes - and some anecdotes too!

So pleased to see Stellan Skarsgård scooping a Golden Globe for his performance in this. I was knocked out by it! #FilmSky

Cover image for the Criterion blu ray showing a man’s face overlayed with black fingerprints.

INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION (Elio Petri, 1970).
Absurdities and surreal developments abound in this frightening, darkly comic tale of a Police Chief who tests the limits of the justice system by investigating a murder that he himself committed. (1/2) >> #FilmSky

If you’ve never experienced the wonderful strangeness of Barbara Comyns’ fiction, this could be a great place to start. #BookSky 💙📚

Norn Irn and Scotty.

The Wycherly Woman by Ross Macdonald After a lengthy but inexplicable break, I’m returning to my long-term project of reading Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer books in publication order, which brings me to number nine in this excellent ser…

‘She flapped her blue eyelids at me as if it was herself she was trying to sell. Thirtyish blonde, available at a bargain, abandoned by previous owner, needs some work. More work than I felt up to.’ #BookSky 💙📚

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The Wycherly Woman by Ross Macdonald After a lengthy but inexplicable break, I’m returning to my long-term project of reading Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer books in publication order, which brings me to number nine in this excellent ser…

New on the blog today, I've written about THE WYCHERLY WOMAN by Ross Macdonald.

Ostensibly a missing girl story, this excellent mystery takes Lew Archer on a trail encompassing family secrets, lies, blackmail, murder, infidelity & exploitation. #BookSky 💙📚

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The Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan I am very much a latecomer to the Irish short-story writer and journalist, Maeve Brennan, having just read The Springs of Affection, a quietly devastating collection of her Dublin stories from the …

From the archive for Maeve Brennan, born on this day in 1917, my thoughts on THE SPRINGS OF AFFECTION, one the best collections of short stories I've read.

One house, three families - quietly devastating stories, beautifully observed. #BookSky 💙📚 #BOTD

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Loved this.