Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bailey Hill Book Shop in The Guardian

Ibooknet member Bailey Hill Book Shop has been mentioned in a nice piece in The Guardian My Perfect Days out in the UK. Scroll to just over half way and the section subtitled: Amy Jenkins, screenwriter – Arthurian legends and a hard boiled egg, Somerset.

Amy Jenkins says:

"Next stop is nearby Castle Cary, one of the prettiest hamstone towns in the area. Make sure you take in the charming Round House, built in 1779 to lock up local miscreants, and then head for Bailey Hill Bookshop (01963 350917, baileyhillbookshop.co.uk), which is the nicest I know. There's a lovely upstairs gallery where the secondhand books are kept and you are welcome to sit for hours and browse."

Monday, August 16, 2010

Roald Dahl Funny Prize

Held at The National Theatre on Saturday 11 September 2010, the Roald Dahl Funny Prize is part of the annual celebration of legendary children’s author, Roald Dahl.

Michael Rosen, poet and former Children’s Laureate, is the brains behind the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. To mark the third year of the prize and the fifth annual Roald Dahl Day, he is joined by a host of special guests including author Philip Ardagh and comedian Shappi Khorsandi, both Roald Dahl Funny Prize judges.

Side-splitting stories, revolting rhymes, and priceless poems are guaranteed to make you and your children guffaw. Even the book-signing afterwards will have you in stitches.

Click here to buy tickets for the event

The prize has two categories:

• The funniest book for children aged six and under

• The funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen

Friday, August 6, 2010

Verily Anderson, 1915-2010

Verily Anderson was an author whose writing received what her obituarist in The Times called "respectful attention". The daughter of a vicar, she was born in Edgbaston, and grew up in East Sussex, where she went to Normanhurst School. Here, whether you owned a horse or not, foxhunting was on the curriculum. Verily Anderson showed some musical talent, and was accepted at the Royal College of Music, but her time there ended abruptly. Her father stopped paying the fees when it became clear she would not succeed as a concert pianist.

As a child, she had been a keen guide, and had many badges. Using these as qualifications, she embarked on a varied series of jobs: designing toffee papers; a chauffeur, and by 1939, a sub-editor on The Guide, the Guides' magazine.

In 1940 she married Donald Anderson, a playwright, and the couple both became freelance writers. They had five children, and when Donald died in 1956, Verily Anderson had to support the family on her own. She wrote about bringing up her family on virtually nothing (the wonderfully named Spam Tomorrow as well as five others), and wrote the eight book Brownie series. Alas, the Brownie books were considered too exciting by the Girl Guide Association for it to support them.


I had no Brownie experience with which to compare them, having not been allowed to join the Brownies, but I found the books completely enchanting as a child: they were a window into another world where girls worked together and had adventures.



Verily Anderson carried on writing virtually until her death. The day before she died, she finished a book about Herstmonceux Castle.

This piece is illustrated with the following:
Daughters of Divinity: Hart-Davis, London, 1960. 1st edition hardback in dw, vg/vg. Very clean copy in d/w that has slightly browned in places. This book comes from Malcolm Saville's book collection, and contains the inscription "Malcolm Saville best wishes Verily Anderson" on fep. £70.00 Peakirk Books

Brownies on Wheels: Brockhampton Press, 1st edn, 1966. VG/VG. Very good book in very good dustjacket. No previous owner's name, pages clean, binding tight. Black and white illustrations by Edgar Norfield. Very good unclipped dustjacket (9/6) with minimal wear to spine tips and corners. A holiday for Brownies in a real gipsy caravan! The trek into the New Forest provides Amanda, Tulip, Lucinda and their Brownie friends with an exciting holiday, but it also proves how resourceful Brownies can be... £10.00 March House Books

Monday, August 2, 2010

Conan Doyle's old house, Undershaw, to be redeveloped

Undershaw is the house Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived in, having had it built in 1897 as his wife needed to move into the country for health reasons. He lived there for ten years, and wrote while there, among other things, The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Undershaw Preservation Trust would like to turn the Grade II listed building into a museum, but in June Waverley District Council granted listed building and planning consent for the conversion of the house into three apartments with an extension containing five town houses. The council has previously spent over £70,000 on emergency repairs to the building which had been neglected by the owners.

There has been a lengthy campaign, the latest stage of which has seen a number of people, including Conan Doyle’s great-great-nephews, Joshua and Oliver Conan Doyle, writing to Jeremy Hunt, MP for South West Surrey - he had previously been in favour of preserving the property. Stephen Fry, Christopher Frayling and Uri Geller are listed among the campaign's supporters.

You can read on at Bagotbooks's Blog.
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