Louis MacNeice and Accidents of Origin: ‘Carrickfergus’ The Louis MacNeice Society

When considering the concept of identity - a prevailing theme in Louis MacNeice’s canon - the significance of place in one’s formative years is, arguably, inescapable. Born in Belfast in 1907, MacNeice spent much of his childhood in ‘Smoky Carrick’ (7), the family having moved to the County Antrim town in the wake of his birth.¹  In The Earth Compels, published in 1938, MacNeice revisits his heritage in ‘Carrickfergus’.[1] In this poem, MacNeice’s recollection of detail is testament to the enduring impact of geographical origin. Despite later Anglican influences ...

Murphy Goes To Moscow - Available on Amazon

It was Christmas morning. Soft snowflakes fell gently. Fairy lights twinkled through windows of the slowly waking town. It was still dark. Children everywhere were excitedly ripping wrapping paper from the presents Santa had left for them.

Murphy the Labradoodle slowly woke from his sweet dreams: chasing pigeons, chewing a large bone,   playing with his ball. Stretching and yawning, he emerged from his bed. Murphy’s first instinct was to look longingly up at the mantelpiece, where his wooden advent calendar was kept. It was gone!  Where was it? Who had taken it? Murphy wanted his treat! And then it dawned on him … it was Christmas day!  There would be no advent treat today. Instead, Murphy could look forward to opening his pile of presents that sat at the foot of the tree.

Murphy Goes to Malmö - Available on Amazon

It was a lazy August afternoon. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky, and the only sounds were the buzzing of bees and the distant hum of a lawnmower. Murphy the Labradoodle watched from the doorway of his kitchen, separated from the garden by a transparent fly-screen. The day was hot, and his thick, shaggy coat left him panting as he tried to find a cool spot to rest.

From his spot, Murphy gazed at his playhouse in the middle of the garden. A white butterfly danced above it, and Murphy’s tail wagged just a little. The playhouse looked so inviting, especially with the cool shade it offered. But Murphy hesitated. The last time he had gone inside, something unexpected happened—he had been magically transported to Moscow! The adventure had been exciting, but also a bit scary. What if it happened again? What if he ended up somewhere even more frightening?

The Gladstone Bags - Reedsy.com (shortlisted story)

First to notice that their bags were identical was the velvet-clad bundle of menopausal flush, all feathered turban, red lipstick and suede winkle-pickers.

In no other way were the two adjacent passengers similar. Is it even possible that this iPhone-clutching, business-suit-wearing wunderkind by her side would choose the exact same artfully- battered brown Gladstone bag as herself? You know, the type who probably prefaces every adjective with ‘super’ and interjects every third word with ‘like’.

Shostakovich's Fifth: a dramatic monologue - North East Bylines

“With sleepy brush the barbarian artist/The master’s painting blackens” (Alexander Pushkin)

To save my skin
I became
Stalin’s doll on a string.
Pretender. Chronicler. Holy Fool.

(continued)

Perforated Clock - North East Bylines

First two stanzas - see whole poem by clicking image.

Time – not
linear, but
a perforated clock
that bayonets us on a whim.
Invades.

Back then,
the sun stood still.
Kiki Dee’s dungarees
and sun-sizzled shoulders blister.
Before.

(continued)

The Story of Russia - BookBrowse

Traveling back to the foundation of the state of Rus in the ninth century, Figes leads his readers on a revelatory journey that terminates with Russia's expansion of its invasion into Ukraine in February of 2022. This sweeping chronology is comprised of numerous micro-stories, stretching from the days of the commonwealth-style Kievan Rus to Putin's exploitation of history to achieve his own vision of Russia. Figes shows how recorded events are open to reimagined versions of history, that they can be molded to legitimize the ruling ideology of the day and shape collective memory, thus blurring the boundaries between mythology and historical fact.

Jack Through Time - IndieReader

Time travel, mystery, and adventure combine in Peter B. Dunfield’s JACK THROUGH TIME, a middle-grade narrative that sees main character Avie help track down the infamous Jack the Ripper on the foggy streets of Victorian Whitechapel. At her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, present-day Avie is innocently enjoying her latest book, Mysteries and Enigmas Solved: True Case Files of Wembley Oliver (W.O.) Dahs. But the twelve-year-old becomes more involved in one of the mysteries than she could ever have imagined and finds herself wrenched back through time to London of 1888, where a murderer stalks the streets, brutally killing the town’s women.

A Christmas Carol: A Thoroughly Modern Haunting - AussieTheatre.com

Few festive stories summon the spirit of the season as much as the Dickensian classic, A Christmas Carol. Following the intervention of four ghostly visitations on Christmas Eve, a miserly curmudgeon magically transitions overnight into a benevolent philanthropist. In doing so, lead character Ebenezer Scrooge illustrates a powerful message: nobody is beyond redemption.

From 12 November until Christmas Eve, Melburnians et al can experience this perennially relevant musical at the Melbourne Comedy Theatre.

Nostalgia: ailment or remedy? - North East Bylines

Not too long ago, I became ridiculously excited when I spotted a mint green Beryl Ware cup and saucer in an episode of the TV remake of The Ipcress File. Beryl Ware, for those who may never have heard of such a thing (although you’d recognise it on sight), is very basic earthenware that screams utilitarianism and has made regular appearances in hospitals, village halls and period dramas since its birth in the 1930s. Some of it has even made its way into my kitchen cupboards.

What is it about this unremarkable crockery that immediately transports me back to days of yore and leaves me yearning for an idealised past? This televisual encounter left me pondering the subject of nostalgia in general. Is it simply part of the human psyche, something we all experience? Perhaps a side effect of one’s inability to deal with the present? Or just a natural accompaniment to getting older?

Dogs First: a unique rescue charity living up to its name - North East Bylines

Dogs First, a local charity dedicated to rescuing and rehoming animals in need, was founded in 2014 by two devoted dog lovers: former nuclear medicine technologist Pat Heard and former social worker Pat McGovern. Their mission was simple but powerful: to help unwanted or abandoned pets with nowhere else to turn. The pair initially helped friends who could no longer care for their pets. Over time, their efforts expanded, and Dogs First officially became a trust in 2018, achieving charity status in 2021.

Rescue crisis

Today, ten years after its inception, the charity’s services are in greater demand than ever. Nationally, the aftermath of lockdown led to a surge in pets being surrendered for rehoming. This ongoing ‘rescue crisis’ continues to overwhelm animal charities, with  reports of a significant drop in adoption figures. Campaigns aim to reverse this trend, but capacity concerns persist amid rising costs of living. In this challenging environment, local rescue charities like Dogs First have become essential.

Remembering William Jobling  - North East Bylines

When I joined Jarrow’s only secondary school as an English teacher in 2003, I determined to build on my limited knowledge of the town and its history. I knew, of course, the story of the Jarrow March, the 1936 organised protest against unemployment and poverty. The backdrop to the story is well chronicled and has placed Jarrow firmly in the national consciousness. Somewhat less well known, though, is the story of William Jobling, a local pitman and last man in the country to be gibbeted.

Jobling was born in Jarrow in 1794. Like most of the male townsfolk, he was destined for the pit. The work was arduous and dangerous: two years prior to Jobling’s arrest in 1832, 40 men and boys had lost their lives in a local mining accident. This was not uncommon.

Is Musical Theatre Zigging or Zagging? - AussieTheatre.com

But is this purely a result of factors such as bankability, or is musical theatre plagued by a lack of originality? In response to this question, it’s worth remembering that stories have always been plundered. A famous example is Shakespeare, who shamelessly borrowed from Plutarch and Ovid. Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliott, is keen to defend adaptations, saying that each of his stage versions is a ‘vehicle for saying what [he] want[s] to say about the world’. He states that he has ‘loads of ideas’, which suggests that sometimes a reworking of an existing story can be original in its own way and can capture the mood of the moment.

The Mousetrap: Why We’re All Ensnared - AussieTheatre.com

Like Osborne’s showpiece, Christie’s play is hugely zeitgeisty. First performed in a  Blitz-scarred London, this whodunnit is replete with tweedy costumes and dated dialogue, oozing fusty Englishness. In fact, over two decades ago, the play was described as ‘mouldy cheese’ in the Evening Standard. But audiences disagree. It clearly transcends time. Three-score years and ten it may be, but retirement is far from imminent for this seasoned theatrical number.

Tosca: A Truly Topical Thriller - AussieTheatre.com

The theatrical juggernaut in question first premiered in Rome on 14 January 1900, but is set during the Napoleonic Wars (June 1800), a time of intense political unrest. I’m talking about Giacomo Puccini’s tense operatic drama, Tosca. Before you say ‘Ugh! Opera!’ and turn your attention elsewhere, just bear with me … 

Zines and the 1990s - BookBrowse

The zine is the perfect medium for underrepresented voices and subcultures, and those rebelling against authority. Believed to have originated in the 1930s for fans of science fiction, the zine has existed in other forms for a lot longer if one considers the political pamphlet as an early iteration. In 1776, Thomas Paine's self-published Common Sense was dispersed, advocating America's independence from Great Britain. In the 1830s, the American Anti-Slavery Society produced wood-printed abolition pamphlets to generate support for their cause. Le Libertaire, a paper co-founded by anarchist Sébastien Faure during the French Revolution, embodied the spirit of resistance.

Misogynistic Themes in Murder Ballads - BookBrowse

Whether based on historical fact – as some murder ballads are – or completely fictional, these songs often share one common denominator: misogyny. Subjects such as unwanted pregnancies, violence against women, male jealousy and its consequences, and gendered killing — frequently by drowning — all pervade the genre. The shame of unwed mothers who get their comeuppance is a particularly common theme, and the female subject of the ballad often suffers violence at the hands of a man, as in "On the Banks of the Ohio."

Book Burning and Censorship - BookBrowse

Two weeks prior to the event, American Jewish organizations had become aware of the planned book burnings, impelling many to protest. Helen Keller, whose own books were destined for destruction, wrote an open letter to German students. She warned that ideas, far from being destroyed in the fire, would survive and thrive and wreak revenge on the persecutors: "History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas." And in New York on May 10, almost 100,000 people marched in protest of the Berlin book burnings. In The Nation, Ludwig Lewisohn prophesied a "dark age," a forecast that history has proven to be accurate. Nineteenth-century German writer Heinrich Heine's observation that "where one burns books, one will soon burn people" turned out to be chillingly prescient.

Colonization and the Irish Language - BookBrowse

Severe acceleration of the Irish language's decline began in the 19th century, in the form of three key historical events: the establishment of English-speaking national schools (set up in 1831), the Great Famine and mass emigration. The famine of the 1840s claimed over one million Irish lives from a population of approximately eight million. Many of the victims were Irish-speaking inhabitants of rural Ireland. This was also a period of mass emigration — largely triggered by famine — to the United States and mainland Britain.

The Bylina - BookBrowse

The bylina has died out as a literary form since the spread of literacy, but it continues to be studied and preserved as a cultural and historical source; and although folkloric, its quasi-historical nature means that it is open to exploitation for propaganda purposes.

The Story of Tunnel 29 - BookBrowse

Escape attempts commenced almost immediately following the erection of the wall, with East Berliners willing to go to extreme measures: Some would sneak into houses close to the wall and jump from an upstairs window over to the other side; others would attempt swimming across the River Spree or crossing it in bathtubs; false documents and secret compartments in cars were common strategies; and, of course, there was tunneling.