So for all future posts head over to awritecarryon.blogspot.com - Contact me at editor@brighton.co.uk
The Brighton Magazine presents, The Dream Catcher Project, a forthcoming ebook and dedicated section for local writers, or those with a local story to tell. Plus, via Wholepoint Publications, the forthcoming book, A Write Carry On.
Friday, 27 January 2012
This Blog Has A New Home!
So for all future posts head over to awritecarryon.blogspot.com - Contact me at editor@brighton.co.uk
Thursday, 19 January 2012
My Life With Carry Ons. Part 2
Sid was alone and looking somewhat haggard as I slipped out into the midday summer's sun and sat on a small bench at the side of the paddock.
He was dressed in khaki coloured slacks and an open lose fitting untucked check shirt. His sandals, like much of what he was wearing, looked very much on their last legs.
For at least ten minutes Sid kept his distance and remained deep in thought. From inside Tolly's house the sound of Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor holding court was clearly one of the reasons Sid was braving the direct intensity of the sun's rays. Kenny Williams wasn’t his cup of tea – that was common knowledge.
Later we were joined by Tolly. He patted me on the head and smiled and then ambled over to Sid and gave the actor a hearty pat on the back.
‘All right, old chap?’
‘That bloody Williams is getting on my tits, Tolly. I know I shouldn’t rise to it, but the way he looks down his nose at me and talks over the end of my sentences, drives me mad.’
‘He means well, Sid. Anyway, food's up and we are all about to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Jim (Dale). Join us, come on.’
With that Sid wandered over, grabbed me by the arm and said: ‘If I ain’t getting out of this neither are you.’ With that, we entered the house, painted on our smiles, opened our mouths and sang ‘happy birthday’ to a rather squiffy looking Jim Dale.
will get a full digital release on 1st May 2012.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
The Dark Side Of The 'Carry On' Funny Man
It might have been the heat that brought the outpouring of information, or then again it may have been the circumstances. After all, unbeknown to me, he’d just signed-off his very last Carry On script.
As we sat in his garden, I noted Tolly didn’t look well. Not just strained, but unwell. His usual spark seemed absent. His eyes, which always sparkled and engaged, seemed to be roaming in search of nothing in particular. It was then, as a lone siren wailed in the distance, that he embarked on a journey through his little known past.
He told me that there was a saying in the Palestine Police Old Comrades Association: "There is no promotion after Jerusalem
He was young and not used to having to jump when someone barked for him to do so. He’d signed-up on a late-summer’s wet Wednesday, and over a year later he was still in training and only just nearing the end of his compulsory attachment to the mobile unit.
Tolly then smiled as he recalled that it hadn’t taken long for him to ingratiate himself into the very separate communities of the stallholders and shopkeepers from the city’s Moslem, Jewish and Christian Quarters. He said his natural way of being courteous and respectful had made him feel welcomed and seemingly above suspicion.
But one thing he didn’t’ take to was the chilly climate of the uplands of Jerusalem
Whilst on routine company patrols and manoeuvres Tolly recalled how he was a witness to the inner-workings and social-struggles of local families. Some mothers were raising as many as eight or nine children on an income of what Tolly classed as a pittance.
Initially it had taken him a while to gain the families’ trust. On spying Tolly’s uniform the children had been taught to run and hide, while their mothers would close shut their front doors and wait for ‘the law’ to pass.
But as he befriended their fathers and husbands in the workplace, it soon spread back to the families that Talbot ‘Tolly’ Rothwell was an honourable man, and as such, he was, in time, to become an easily tolerated part of the fabric of the local community.
That didn’t stop what came next. January 13th 1939 was set to be a pretty average day on tour of duty for Tolly. But it was to end in near death and a realisation that life was short and as such opportunities should be grabbed with both hands and exploited to the full.
To find out what happened on that fateful day, look out for:
Check-out some of our related posts:
Monday, 19 December 2011
The Dream Catcher Project: All Authors Welcome As We Gear Up For A Two Ebook Release
Owing to the high interest in the project, we here at The Brighton Magazine have decided to make People, Places & Memories a two-part project (released simultaneously):
ebook one will be for Brighton-based writers, or those with a Brighton-centric short story, poem or piece of prose.
ebook two will contain the writing of authors from all other world localities – but still based on the People, Places & Memories submissions topic guidelines.
If you have any questions on the above, then please feel free to contact editor@brighton.co.uk
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A Write Carry On (Wholepoint Publications) is still looking for your recollections and memories on all things Carry On.
The book is a fictional tale from the pen of Talbot ‘Tolly’ Rothwell and covers the twenty-two Carry On movies he worked on as sole scriptwriter.
Check-out some of our related posts:
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Talking Extramarital Affairs: Between The Sheets With Barbara Windsor
Affairs can be so destructive. But what’s a girl to do when a man wears her down? In the case of Barbara Windsor she was never going to hold out for long.
She’d already succumbed to the charms of George Best:
‘There was this vision, this absolute vision. In the Sixties he was so beautiful. Anyway, in the bar afterwards he came over to me and I said, “Look, don’t waste your time with me, darling. You’ve got all these lovely ladies after you. And he said, “Well, when do I ever get to talk to somebody like you?” Well, that did it. That was it. A magic moment. It was great, he was fabulous.’
But that wasn’t the affair we are eluding to here. Nor was Babs’ dalliance with a Bee Gee. She once had a ‘magic moment’ with Maurice Gibb:
‘I said to him, “Where would you like to go? My friend said we could go for coffee? And he said: “Look Bar, let’s get it over and done with, let’s go to bed”. Because he knew that he wasn’t giving it on stage, so we went and had a little moment. It was lovely.’
No, the affair on most people’s lips was the one between Barbara Windsor and her fellow Carry On, Sid James.
He expected they’d ‘just do it’ and that would be that. But things turned out differently.
“I cared deeply for him. I didn't at first, he was just my leading man, who liked me,” recalls Barbara.
But things got a little deep and more that just a little complicated. The pair’s union became common knowledge, not least on the Carry On set.
Kenneth Williams didn’t like it that’s for sure. The woman he adored shacking up with the man he had little time for. Not good.
Babs admits that she had five abortions, the first three before the age of 21 and the last when she was 42. She also believes that physically she’s an acquired taste:
‘I’ll tell you about men. They either really want to give me one – I’ve had them say, “Ooh, I could really give you one” – or [they say]: ‘No, you don’t do anything for me”.’
No, extramarital affairs are good for tittle-tattle but bad for the health:
‘I couldn’t have survived my depression without my current man,' admits Babs. It’s a relationship that’s lasted 26 years.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
My Life With The Carry Ons. Part 1
I met Kenneth Williams just the once. We stood, along with Jim Dale, in the front room of Talbot ‘Tolly’ Rothwell’s house. Tolly was the then scriptwriter of the much loved Carry On films (and Kenneth Williams and Jim Dale were two long serving actors of the successful series).
Kenneth was bleating. He did that a lot. If you were in another room with a crowd of chattering people, then that not-so-far-away sound of bleating was more than likely to be the sound of Kenneth Williams holding court. For when Kenneth was in a room 1/ he was never alone, and 2/ he was the king of all he surveyed and the others were there merely to listen.
‘Is this where you get felt?’ These were the first words Kenneth Williams uttered in my presence. I was barely into my teens and took his query to be one pertaining to non-woven cloth and not the sexually charged nod-and-a-wink meaning he had in mind.
Jim Dale piped-up in my defence and asked Kenneth to pipe-down. ‘He knows I’m only having a laugh, don’t you?’ I smiled back. Kenneth then asked my name and how come I happened to be at Tolly’s gaffe at the same time as comedy royalty.
I explained that Tolly and my dad had been friends since school and that we were often here at weekends. ‘Well, good for you. And what fine profession have you got your eye on,’ inquired Kenneth.
‘I want to be a vet.’
‘A vet. Dirty job. All those hours with you hands up strangers’ arses. What drew you to that?’
‘James Herriot. Well his books, I love them.’
‘Good for you,’ smiled Kenneth. ‘Read and ye shall find.’ He then broke his attention away from me, realised the bulk of guests were in another room .. and the next I heard was the not-so-distant sound of a bleating sheep.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
The Readers Write: ‘Carry On' Submissions Flood In!
Since my last post, first drafts of the introduction, prologue and first chapter have been completed. A structure for the whole story is in place and a contact has agreed to open up an archive of material that will add great weight to my argument that more than one person should read A Write Carry On!
Having sussed my angles, reasons and motivations for writing the book, I’m now at the stage where the characters are successful in having their own identities. Now is the time for them to interact, so it’s also time for dialogue!
Dialog is one of the most important components of story, for many reasons:
It relays important information and moves the story forward
It shows what a character is thinking, feeling, doing
It can be funny, scary, sad, dramatic
It breaks up the visual monotony of large, clunky paragraphs
It reads quickly
It can be the most memorable part of a narrative
(Joe Konrath) http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2006/04/elements-of-dialog.html
He said/she said is needed but not every line which can be distracting. But be careful of the opposite extreme so the reader loses sense of who is speaking:
Often, dialogue can be the most underwritten or overwritten part of your story. It can be underwritten when the words you choose aren’t strong enough; when your dialogue is weak. It needs the constant use of adverbs, such as quietly, excitedly, and angrily in order to convey what the dialogue itself should be conveying.
(Vanessa Di Gregorio) http://letthewordsflow.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/dialogue-woes-writing-tips-and-tricks/
So, by the next post I’ll give you an idea of how A Write Carry On dialogue is coming along. If you want to add your dialogue input, just email editor@brighton.co.uk
The Brighton Magazine’s forthcoming ebook:
People, Places and Memories
Submission guidelines.
Please send no more than one short story or poem at a time to editor@brighton.co.uk. In the subject line of your email put ‘The Dream Catcher Project’. I will endeavour to reply within one working week
We have no word limit, but the story/poem topic should be either ‘people, places or memories’. If it is good, we will publish it!
Please send your work in the body of the e-mail. Attachments will not be opened.
Contact the Dream Catcher Project via: editor@brighton.co.uk - or check-us out at The Brighton Magazine.
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