Jonathan Coe

Stephen Frears’ ‘Wilder & Me' Struggles for Funding: “It's A Difficult Time" — World of Reel Stephen Frears wants to make “Wilder & Me,” a film about the final, faltering chapter of Billy Wilder’s legendary career, but like his subject, he’s facing his own late-career battle with momentum...

However the tagline "Soon to be a major film" turns out to be over-optimistic.

The film has stalled, sadly.

Mr Wilder and Me: A sun-soaked historical coming-of-age set behind the scenes of a Hollywood film production A sun-soaked historical coming-of-age set behind the scenes of a Hollywood film production

Fancy a bit of Greek sunshine in your life this December?

Cheaper than flying to Crete, the e-book of my novel Mr Wilder and Me is currently 99p on both Amazon and @bookshop.org.

Here's the Bookshop link (buying from them gives support to indie booksellers.).

YouTube video by Admiral D'Ascoyne Rupert Bear Documentary (1982) - PART 1

By the way this is a lovely TV documentary about Alfred Bestall from the early 80s, presented by Terry Jones.

I only ever had one Rupert annual - this one. (I was five.) Extraordinary to see this again - one of the key visual memories of my childhood.

The US has declared rhetorical war on the EU The calls from America this weekend to destroy the EU are revealing. They hate the union because it's the only thing that can keep European countries from being Russian or American vassals.

The calls from America this weekend to "abolish the EU" are for one simple reason: the EU is the only thing that can keep European nation-states from becoming Russian or American vassals.

It’s from their first (and only) album - which also includes an Annette Peacock cover.

Don’t know Back Door. Thanks for the tip!

Thank you!

I assumed that by now I knew all the good music from my formative years, but I was alerted to this song yesterday by this must-follow account, and it turns out to have one of the all-time great riffs.

The EU discourse is perfect because there's something in it for everyone. First of all, the European Union genuinely does have a lot of problems. But more importantly, a lot of people hate it for largely unrelated and often contradictory reasons. It's a great enemy

Une certaine idée de l'Angleterre
#MartinParr 🖤

@stationsimone.bsky.social @thierrychanu.bsky.social
@jonathancoe.bsky.social

RIP the great Martin Parr

Incredible. What seemed to be no more than a farcical gesture is in fact uglier than we could have imagined.

“I don’t think there’s another country in the world that would take the subject of violent homicide and rebrand it as “cosy”.

Happy to see a character in The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe agreeing with me on “cosy crime.”
@jonathancoe.bsky.social

Ha! Yes, someone is having a crack at Proof but I worry it will go the same way as What a Carve Up which has been almost continually under option for the last 30 years without ever making it to the screen.

My books are surprisingly adaptation-resistant.

Don't think I can remember a Bafta awards season where so many of the films are adaptations of recent British literary sources. There's a Deborah Levy, a Jim Crace, a Maggie O'Farrell, a Kazuo Ishiguro, an Adam Mars-Jones, a Helen MacDonald (@hjm.bsky.social) and two (!) Max Porters.

This is brilliant. An amazing - if confusing - album begets an amazing - if confusing - review.

Agreed - perfect for train journeys. How many times have you heard ‘See it. Say it. Sorted’ so far?

YouTube video by TV Gold Elementary My Dear Watson (1973)

Anyone enjoying the current re-runs of vintage Call My Bluff on BBC Four might like to check out the show's cameo appearance ten minutes into this barking mad NF Simpson parody. I remember watching this in 1973 and being flabbergasted.

I don't think so (I was there at the time and I think we would have noticed a BBC crew!) but Rudkin went to KES and it's clearly the inspiration for those scenes.

For me personally, one of the most 'uncanny' things about Penda's Fen is how closely it matches the landscape of my own childhood - King Edward's School, Longbridge, Worcestershire. The hero is a prototype Benjamin Trotter, even though I didn't see it until long after writing The Rotters' Club.

Indeed! Another nearby resident is Robert Fripp, who did his own bit for musical folk horror in the early 70s.

Penda’s Fen reinvents Mercia for the modern age How an experimental British 1970s television play pioneered a folk horror revival

The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.

Is the Telegraph finally acknowledging that Thatcher wrecked British society?

Congratulations to the fabulous composer Mike Gibbs who today, aged 89, received an honorary degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On display, delighted to see artefacts from his collaboration with Bill Forsyth on Housekeeping, plus the score of a tune that is very close to my heart.

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Not a half-baked gesture at all. Tidal has much better quality and pays artists four times as much as Spotify.

This is such a graceful post, from someone I worked with forty years ago (before she was a published poet or I was a published novelist) and whose work I admire very much.

I would give Algernon a very wide berth at parties on the basis of that joke.