Tommy Atkinson

There’s still room for the classics. From the latest issue….

No problems there, if anything things just keep getting weirder.

Pleased to see Pluckley on the cover of @forteantimes.bsky.social - a lifetime ago, we used to visit the Black Horse on a Saturday night and then go ghost hunting in the churchyard or the Screaming Woods. Happy memories!

Yes, it’s marvellous!

Today we attended a farewell lunch for the EF Benson Society, wrapping up after 40 years! We had a wonderful lunch at the Mermaid Inn in Rye, followed by speeches & a Benson reading. A previously unpublished spook story was presented to each attendee to mark the occasion. Lots of fun & a bit sad!

YouTube video by Nunkie Films Wits in Felixstowe A Documentary

Nine years after its creation, Nunkie and ThomThom Films' documentary "Wits in Felixstowe" about M R James's masterpiece "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad" is available free to view on Youtube
Checkidoot!
youtu.be/iYq-MS1790Y

We visited Smallhythe Place, Ellen Terry’s home, yesterday! Her famous Lady Macbeth gowns are on display (the ‘beetlewing dress’, as painted by Sargent, and the ‘banqueting dress’). Also good to see a caricature of Bram Stoker by Pamela Colman Smith, who designed the original Rider-Waite Tarot!

Three new titles now up for pre-order in special editions!
ShoreZone – David Rudkin's first collection of strange tales.
Atomic Albion – Tom Bolton tours the UK's nuclear power stations.
The Decadent Bestiary - over 40 animal tales of decadence, mystery & the uncanny.
strangeattractor.co.uk

A 600-year-old Chaucer mystery may finally be solved A medieval sermon packed with 'memes' and simple spelling mistakes could explain a baffling line in 'The Canterbury Tales.'

Medieval manuscript news
www.popsci.com/science/chau...

Bagging a fifth day ticket for the Lord’s test has paid off!

The Jewelled Hand BOOK DETAILS Trade paper ISBN-13:  978-1954321649 List Price: $24.99 U.S. Pages: 334 Published: 2025

New preorder! Totally forgotten today, Australian pulp writer Lionel Sparrow (1867-1936) was a prolific contributor of Gothic horror to late-Victorian Australian magazines. This new volume collects 24 rare tales, originally published between 1887 and 1910. www.valancourtbooks.com/the-jewelled...

Great stuff!

Yep! Indeed we did!

Yes, indeed! Interesting how some have gone on to be massive cult favourites and others have disappeared without a trace (Grim Prairie Tales springs to mind!)

Yes, nice touch!

Moviedrome night on BBC4 tonight. So many great memories of watching this show with my brother as teenagers!

Up town at the BFI for a screening of The Fly (1958), part of the Moviedrome season.

More snaps from Portsmouth & Southsea yesterday. We were there planning the Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s autumn trip, lots of great stuff planned!

Some snaps from the Richard Lancelyn Green collection cabinets at Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery. Only a selection from the collection is on display but the museum have done a great job representing the vast breadth of the items and documents available!

Solid gold entertainment!

The Snakecatcher pub in Brockenhurst

Superb.

The splendid inn sign at Minstead’s Trusty Servant

We paid our respects at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s grave yesterday in Minstead. The church here is fundraising to restore their lovely old lychgate, I believe that any donations would be welcome!
www.newforestparishes.com/minstead-lyc...

Great to receive the Summer edition of The Sherlock Holmes Journal through the post today. It’s the first edition with @drmjones.bsky.social as editor and he has done a fantastic job!

The Day of the Jackal and the joys of logistics porn Like all of you, I imagine, the end of the year finds me crazy busy and low on gas.

I’ve often referred to Frederick Forsythe as the king of logistics porn. To mark his passing and to explain what I mean by that, check out my Substack newsletter from a while ago on Fred Zinnerman’s 1973 film adaptation of Forsythe’s THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.

andrewnette.substack.com/p/the-day-of...

Moriarty and me, channeling Dr Nikola and Apollyon

Benson month begins in earnest on Sunday with a livestreamed telling of "The Horror Horn" by E F Benson.
Stare into the abyss with us, live at 8pm, and available anytime after. Free to view. Just click here:
youtube.com/live/KRQ6RQi...

Absolutely!