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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #196

Dear Reader,

From a number of high-quality auditions, we have selected our narrator for Tula, my novel set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Amelia Mendez is a voice actor with over fifteen years experience in storytelling, acting, and producing. She has a lovely voice and we think she is ideally suited to narrate Tula’s story. We anticipate that it will take around two months to produce the audiobook. I’m very excited about this project and can’t wait to get started 🙂

https://www.ameliamendez.com/

The opening chapter of my Golden Age of Hollywood novel, Tula, takes place in Kings County Asylum, Brooklyn, where Tula introduces her story. The asylum looks bleak, and it was. The building was smaller when Tula was there; additional storeys were added in the 1930s.

Research for Sunshine, book two in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

Marie Meyer (January 17, 1899 – May 24, 1956) was a barnstorming pilot, a wing-walker and a parachutist. In the 1920s, she created the Marie Meyer Flying Circus. Her pilots included the man who made the first transatlantic solo flight, Charles Lindbergh.

📸 Marie on the top wing, 1924.

Clara Bow’s thirty-fifth movie was Mantrap a silent comedy directed by Victor Fleming. Fleming also directed The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and many others. 

Mantrap was produced between April 7 – May 12, 1926 with location shooting at Lake Arrowhead, California, and released on July 24, 1926. Clara played Alverna, a flirtatious manicurist.

Clara and Fleming had an affair, at the same time that Clara was conducting a relationship with actor Gilbert Roland. Indeed, affairs were commonplace during this phase of her life.

In the silent era, through no fault of her own, Clara Bow was the most undereducated star to make the grade. Furthermore, she was the only star at Paramount without a morals clause in her contract. Ironically, she was the star in greatest needed of one. 

Clara needed guidance and Fleming, a much older man, offered that to some extent. But for Clara the person to thrive, someone at Paramount should have devoted time to her wellbeing. Instead, the studio’s focus was on the millions of dollars Clara was making for the company.

My ancestor Thomas Brereton was buried on 25 July 1817. His death seems to have triggered a series of tragic events.

Thomas’ son, Francis, was born on 24 January 1796. On 18 February 1818, Francis found himself at the Old Bailey, indicted for stealing, on the 13 November 1817, 60 printed bound books, value £10, the goods of Thomas Davies, Esq. A full transcript of the trial can be read here https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t18180218-18

Aged 22, Francis was found guilty and transported to Australia for seven years. On 23 March 1818, he was placed on the prison ship Retribution, moored at Woolwich. In July 1818, he set sail on the Morley, destination Sydney. He arrived on 7 November 1818.

A clerk, Francis had a florid complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes. He obtained a certificate of freedom on 10 March 1825. I have found no record to suggest that he returned to Britain.

Old Bailey c1800

Madeleine Carroll’s second British film was What Money Can Buy (1928) a story about a man who makes a bet that he can seduce a woman, a tale about “a woman’s soul.”

At this stage of her career, every newspaper report of Madeleine’s movies included a mention of her B.A. from Birmingham University. The column writers promoted her as an example of “the modern intelligent woman who seeks to combine a career with a family.” However, this was a challenge that lay ahead for Madeleine.

Charlie Chaplin and Virginia Cherrill did not get on during the making of City Lights. He was a perfectionist, she was casual about acting; he fancied her, she didn’t fancy him. Nevertheless, in this article dated December 1933 Virginia was full of praise for Chaplin describing him as a ‘genius’, ‘unorthodox’ and a ‘colossal worker’ who understood what audiences wanted.

In 1933, Hedy Lamarr featured in Ecstasy, a movie that would shape her life and career. Banned in America and Germany, the film won awards in Europe where it was regarded as a work of art. 

Ecstasy received its first mention in the British press on 22 May 1933. The reaction? Members of the Leicester Film Society found the film “of absorbing interest”. However, Hedy’s, and Ecstasy’s, story had only just begun…

May 1933, and a good concise report on Hedy Lamarr’s film career and personal plans. Given Hedy’s anti-Nazi stance during World War II, the last paragraph is particularly fascinating.

November 1933

Arms manufacturer Fritz Mandl’s (futile) attempts to suppress Hedy Lamarr’s controversial movie, Ecstasy. He married her after she’d made the film, then objected to it. Mandl also insisted that Hedy should retire from screen and stage acting, and refuse to have her picture taken. Needless to say, the marriage did not last.

In the spring of 1937, Hedwig Kiesler, disguised as her maid, made her escape from her first husband, Fritz Mandl. She made her way to London, then on to Southampton. On September 25, 1937, she boarded the Normandie, (pictured) and set sail for New York.

On her travel documents, Hedwig described herself as 5’ 7” tall, fair complexion, brown eyes, brown hair. She claimed that she had no intention of seeking citizenship in America.

Hedwig boarded the Normandie with actress Sonja Henie. Earlier that day, in Le Havre, movie producer Louis B. Mayer also boarded the ship. Over the following five days Hedwig and Mayer became well acquainted to the extent that when Hedwig stepped off the Normandie in New York she was ready to embrace a new name, Hedy Lamarr, and a career in Hollywood.

Mastodon 1970s Mega Movie Poll

First Round

Capricorn One 40% v 60% The China Syndrome

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 25% v 75% Monty Python and the Holy Grail

A Clockwork Orange 80% v 20% THX 1138

The Sting 78% v 22% McCabe and Mrs Miller

Slaughterhouse-Five 56% v 44% Time After Time

The Godfather 82% v 18% Marathon Man

Catch 22 57% v 43% Kelly’s Heroes

My latest article for the Seaside News, about Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, appears on page 40 of the magazine.

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

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Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #195

Dear Reader,

Research for my forthcoming novel, Sunshine: The Golden Age of Hollywood, Book Two.

Marie Meyer (January 17, 1899 – May 24, 1956) was a barnstorming pilot who ran the Marie Meyer Flying Circus in the 1920s. She participated in the Flying Circus as a pilot, a wing-walker and a parachutist.

📸 Marie wing-walking in 1924.

Clara Bow’s thirty-fourth movie was The Runaway, a melodrama produced between January 26, 1926 and February 27, 1926, and released on April 5, 1926. 

Clara played Cynthia Meade, a movie star who erroneously assumes that she has murdered someone and consequently flees to Kentucky. 

William Powell featured in the picture which, sadly, is now regarded as lost.

17th February 1802

From the Old Bailey website, my ancestors Thomas Brereton and his wife, Sarah, victims of grand larceny.

SUSANNAH SMITH was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 22nd of January, a sheet, value 7s. and a blanket, value 4s. the property of Thomas Brereton.

SARAH BRERETON sworn – I am the wife of Thomas Brereton, who keeps a house in Rose and Crown-court, Shoe-lane: On Friday, the 22nd of January, about six o’clock, I was called out into the court, and met them bringing the prisoner back, she was a stranger to me; the things were brought back by Catharina Rowley.

CATHARINA ROWLEY sworn – I am a neighbour of Mrs. Brereton’s; I had been out, and coming home, in consequence of what Mrs. Young told me, I took the prisoner by the shoulder, and took from her a blanket and sheet, which I gave to Mrs. Brereton; it was pinned round her waist under a great long red cloak; she d – d (degraded) me for a b – h (bitch), and told me she had got none but her own property.

ELIZABETH YOUNG sworn – I lodge in Mr. Brereron’s house: On Friday, the 22nd of January, I met the prisoner about half past five in the afternoon, in Shoe-lane, I was going home; she said she had been in sits, and asked me to be so kind as to give her a drop of water; I took her to the door, and she said she was so faint, she could not stand, and followed me up stairs, and said, nothing would bring her too, unless it was a raw pickled herring, or a cucumber; I told her I was a stranger, and did not know where they hold them, and I gave her some porter that stood upon the table; then she said nothing would do but cold water; I told her I had none in the house, I would go down in the kitchen, and get her some; when I had got down stairs, I perceived her running out at the street-door; I had some mistrust, and I ran out after her, and stopped her, then she d – d (degraded) me, called me a b – h (bitch), and said, if I did not leave her alone, she would murder me; then I called out for assistance, and Catharina Rowley came up, and took the sheet and blanket from her.

Mrs. Brereton. These are my property; they were in Elizabeth Young’s room; it is a ready furnished room.

Young. I turned up the bed with these things upon it, while she was in the room.

Prisoner’s defence. I had been after a place; I was taken violently ill, and this woman pressed me very hard to go home with her, which I accordingly did; I asked her if she would have any thing to drink; she said she did not care if she did; I gave her a shilling, and she fetched a pot of porter; I was there three quarters of an hour, and she pressed me to come and see her the next Sunday; I asked her to see me part of my way home, and when we had got down the stairs, she said she must go back again, and she came out again with something in her hand; I did not see what it was; and when she had got into the court, she fell a screaming, and said, I had robbed her.

Q. (To Young.) Did she give you a shilling? – A. No.

Q. That you say, upon your oath? – A. Yes; and she had no porter, except some that my husband had left at dinner.

The prisoner called two witnesses, who gave her a good character. 

GUILTY , aged 28. Transported for seven years.

London Jury, before Mr. Recorder.

Madeleine Carroll’s movie breakthrough arrived in 1927 with The Guns of Loos (released in 1928). A silent war film produced in Britain, the plot centres on a blind World War One veteran who returns home to run his family’s industrial empire. 

Madeleine Carroll was selected from 150 applicants to play the role of Diana Cheswick, and her selection attracted a lot of media interest at the time.

Personal note: my ancestor Albert Charles Bick died on the first morning of the Battle of Loos. He was gassed by his own generals.

Madeleine Carroll was very quick to lend her name to health and beauty products. Health and beauty became a major theme in her life, as we shall see in future posts.

This item is from The Tatler, 14 December 1927, before the release of her first movie, The Guns of Loos.

Along with a number of other newspapers, The Sketch (28 December 1927) featured promotional photographs of Madeleine Carroll for her first movie, The Guns of Loos, and remarked that along with her B.A. from Birmingham University, stage career, promotional endorsements and a year spent teaching, she’d been signed to make more movies. She was 21, determined, focused and going places.

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. From an early age, she developed a fascination for acting and inventing, two interests that dominated her life. She made her movie debut in Money on the Street a 1930 Austrian-German romantic-comedy, appearing as an extra.

After appearing as an extra in Money on the Street, Hedy Lamarr featured in three more German movies, all comedies: Storm in a Water Glass, The Trunks of Mr. O.F., a critique on capitalism, and No Money Needed. Hedy moved up the bill with each production. It was 1932 and she was about to make the movie that would transform her life…

1933 was a pivotal year for Hedy Lamarr. She made her fifth movie, Ecstasy (more about that in the future) and, on 10 August 1933 in Vienna, against her parents’ wishes, she married Friedrich Alexander Maria Mandl, an Austrian arms dealer with ties to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. The marriage was not a success (understatement).

November 1933 and Virgina Cherrill’s on-off affair with Cary Grant is still on-off. Virginia, the Blind Flower Girl in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, has escaped to Britain to be away from Cary Grant while Grant, determined to marry Virginia, has followed her. To complicate matters, Randolph Scott, Grant’s housemate, has arrived in London to “keep an eye” on Grant.

In London, Virgina is appearing in modest movies and stage productions. Nevertheless, as an actress and “society girl” she is constantly invited to London’s high society parties. 

To the media, Virginia stated that she’s never had a part as good as the Blind Flower Girl, and she never would. Her acting career would remain low-key. Meanwhile, Cary Grant was on the brink of a major breakthrough in Hollywood.

At this time, there’s a Great Gatsby air to Virginia Cherrill and Cary Grant’s lives. He is obsessed with her, and she seems content to drift from one low-key role to another, from one high society party to the next one. And like the Great Gatsby, you know it’s going to end in tears.

The 1970s Mastodon Mega Movie Poll

Round One

Serpico 46% v 54% Murder on the Orient Express

All the President’s Men 83% v 17% The Great Gatsby

Saturday Night Fever 42% v 58% Grease

M*A*S*H 94% v 6% California Suite

Close Encounters of the Third Kind 29% v 71% Alien

The French Connection 66% v 34% Shaft

Cabaret 47% v 53% Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The Taking of Pelham 123 95% v 5% Charley Varrick

Jaws 73% v 27% Eraserhead

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #194

Dear Reader,

Research for Sunshine, book two in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

Between 1921 and 1929, Lillian Boyer (January 15, 1901 – February 1, 1989) performed numerous aerial stunts. They included: wing walks, automobile-to-aeroplane transfers, and parachute jumps.

While Lillian was working as a waitress, two customers invited her to fly in their plane. During her second flight, she climbed out on to the wing and began her career as an aerial performer.

Lillian was the first woman to jump from a speeding automobile to an aeroplane. According to a 1922 Milwaukee newspaper, she was “without doubt the greatest thrill-producer since the days of the gladiators.”

Lillian’s performances included: 352 shows in 41 US states and Canada, most of them wing-walking; 143 automobile-to-plane changes; 37 parachute jumps (13 into Lake Erie).

📸 Lillian performing the “breakaway” and “the ladder of the sky.”

After her success in My Lady of Whims, Clara Bow was billed as “Clara Bow – Movie Star” in her thirty-third movie, Fascinating Youth, which went on general release on August 23, 1926. 

Fascinating Youth was a silent romantic comedy. The movie starred Charles “Buddy” Rogers, on debut. Buddy Rogers would soon become a regular in Clara’s personal and professional lives. 

Many well-known personalities, including Clara, made guest appearances in Fascinating Youth, judging a beauty contest. 

This movie was just a filler for Clara. Paramount recognised that they had a star on their hands, and were keen to cast her in bigger projects. At twenty, Clara’s star was bright, and it would become even brighter as the decade unfolded.

The Brereton branch of my family starts with Fanny Brereton, baptised on 19 November 1837 in Holy Trinity, Bristol. Fanny had five children out of wedlock with William Bick. In 1864, via Southampton, the family moved to London, where they married, on 14 December 1868 in St Mary’s, Lambeth. As a married couple, they had five more children.

Fanny’s father, James Richard Brereton, born 19 November 1793 in Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, London, baptised 22 December 1793, was a cutler. He travelled to the West Country where he worked with various metals. On 17 May 1818, James married Ann Lowcock in All Saints’ Church, Martock, Somerset. The couple had six children. 

I’m now researching the lives of James’ parents, Thomas Brereton and Sarah Wright.

Thomas Brereton was born on 24 April 1762 in Apollo Court, St Dunstan’s in the West, London. His parents were Sandford Brereton and Sophia Berry. Sandford was from Nantwich, Cheshire, while some records suggest that Sophia was born in Amsterdam. The family links are brought together in this document from 1766, which records the birth of Thomas’ brother, William, in the Holborn Lying-In Hospital.

My ancestor Thomas Brereton married Sarah Wright on 12 May 1788 in St Dunstan in the West, London. Sarah’s parents were William Wright and Margaret Woodhouse. Like his father before him, Gregory, William ran a coaching business. The couple had nine children, five girls and four boys. It’s lovely to see Thomas and Sarah’s signatures on this document.

My ancestor Thomas Brereton was a clerk in Holborn, London. Charles Booth’s map shows that he lived and worked in the heart of London’s legal district, so it seems fair to assume that he spent his days working on legal documents. Ironically, the Old Bailey was to feature large in the family’s affairs in Thomas’ later years.

Madeleine Carroll

In 1938, when this picture was taken, Madeleine Carroll (26 February 1906 – 2 October 1987) was the world’s highest-paid actress. How did she achieve such success? Through public records, I’m endeavouring to find out.

Madeleine Carroll was born in Herbert Street, West Bromwich, Staffordshire to John Carroll, an Irish professor of languages, and his French wife, Helene Tuaillon. Helene died on 7 May 1980, four days after her 100th birthday.

Madeleine graduated from the University of Birmingham with a B.A. degree in languages. Indeed, her first appearance in the local newspapers, on 3 July 1924, was the announcement of her exam results.

First steps. While at the University of Birmingham, Madeleine Carroll appeared in productions for the university’s dramatic society, taking the female lead in her first production and receiving a creditable review.

Madeleine’s parents employed a domestic servant, which suggests she enjoyed a comfortable upbringing. The family consisted of Madeleine, her parents and her sister, Marguerite Marie.

Second steps. The Birmingham Daily Gazette, 6 January 1927. While at university, Madeleine Carroll’s stage career progresses. In eleven years she would become the highest paid actress in the world.

Third steps. Combining her university studies with acting, Madeleine Carroll next appeared on stage in The Lash. This review is from 21 May 1927. More stage productions followed over the summer. Then, on 19 September 1927, the Birmingham Daily Gazette announced that Madeleine was to become a film actress. She would appear as Diana Cheswick in The Guns of Loos.

Latest results from the Quarter-Finals of our Mastodon movie poll

Singin’ in the Rain 38% v 62% Lawrence of Arabia

Casablanca 61% v 39% Rear Window

Semi-Finals

Dr Strangelove 46% v 54% Citizen Kane

Casablanca 70% v 30% Lawrence of Arabia

Final

Citizen Kane 32% v 68% Casablanca

Some book news. Three of my books are listed on Amazon’s Hot New Releases French Fiction chart: #2 Operation Jedburgh, #3 Operation Butterfly and #4 Operation Liberty, books 10, 11 and 12 in my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series. Butterfly will be published in July and Liberty, which completes the series, will be published in October.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #191

Dear Reader,

For my forthcoming novel, Sunshine, I’m researching the Air Transport Auxiliary. The ATA was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War to ferry aircraft between factories and active service squadrons. 

Ten percent, 168, of its pilots were women. They ferried all types of planes, from Lancasters to Spitfires, sometimes as many as six different types of planes a day, familiarising themselves with the controls on the spot.

The ATA’s call sign, after D-Day, was “Ferdinand the Bull”, while their unofficial motto was “Anything to Anywhere”.

📸 First Officer Maureen Dunlop on the cover of Picture Post

Clara Bow’s thirtieth movie was Two Can Play, another low-budget affair that was beneath Clara’s talent. The movie was released on February 21, 1926, disappeared on the daily-change circuit and is now presumed lost.

After thirty movies, Clara had certainly served her apprenticeship. All she needed was the right script, and the right lifestyle guidance, to propel her to superstardom. The script arrived with her thirty-first movie, Dancing Mothers. Whether the lifestyle guidance ever arrived is a matter for debate.

After the bright lights of Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights and the critical disaster of Girls Demand Excitement, Virginia Cherrill made two more movies in 1931, The Brat and Delicious.

In The Brat, a comedy directed by John Ford and starring Sally O’Neil, Virginia played Angela, a support character. She also had a supporting role in Delicious, a musical romantic comedy starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. 

Career-wise, Virginia was slotting into support roles. However, her profile remained high in Hollywood, and she was a regular at parties hosted by William Randolph Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. 

Engagements to eligible bachelors were announced in the press, but they amounted to nothing. After the distressing experience of a brief first marriage and divorce, Virginia was understandably cautious.

Latest results in our Mastodon Mega Movie Poll, Round Three

The Wizard of Oz 59% v 41% The Bridge on the River Kwai

Vertigo 76% v 24% Spartacus

Singin’ in the Rain 67% v 33% Modern Times

It’s a Wonderful Life 47% v 53% Some Like it Hot

On the Waterfront 47% v 53% The Grapes of Wrath

The General 39% v 61% To Kill a Mockingbird

The Manchurian Candidate 47% v 53% His Girl Friday

I’ve discovered this portrait, by an unknown artist, of my ancestor David Papillon (1581-1659). An oil on canvas, it depicts David at the age of 73.

David was an architect and military engineer. Born in Paris, he arrived in Britain in 1588 as a refugee. His mother died when their ship was wrecked. David and his two sisters were saved.

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #190

Dear Reader,

June 1938 and my character, Abigail Summer, aka Sunshine, sets sail on the Queen Mary, heading for New York en route to Hollywood to holiday with her uncle, who’s a screenwriter. The ship featured two indoor swimming pools, beauty salons, libraries, a children’s nursery, a music studio, a lecture hall, telephone connectivity to anywhere in the world, and dog kennels. Sunshine meets an actor on board, but doesn’t recognise him. Nevertheless, he invites her to dinner…

Clara Bow’s twenty-ninth movie was The Shadow of the Law, a silent crime drama produced during the Fall of 1925 and released on January 24, 1926. Clara played Mary Brophy a woman sent to prison for a crime she did not commit, similar to characters she’d played before.

The Shadow of the Law was another marking time movie for Clara. It disappeared on the daily-change circuit and is now considered lost.

I’m exploring the life and career of Virginia Cherrill, the person who, along with Charlie Chaplin, delivered the “Greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid.”

In 1930, while filming Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (pictured), Virginia Cherrill was living with her mother, Blanche. Aged 22 and separated from her husband, Irving Adler, Virginia was mixing with Hollywood high society, including newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. Indeed, Virginia became good friends with Marion and through her influence she managed to persuade Chaplin to double her salary to $150 a week.

Virginia and Blanche were paying rent of $165 a month. The 1930 census reveals that they owned a radio, that Blanche was divorced and not in employment, and that Virginia was presenting herself as single, with no reference to her marriage. Furthermore, Virginia stated that she worked in motion pictures.

To help promote City Lights, Virginia regularly featured in newspapers and magazines, such as this item from the December 31, 1930 issue of The Tatler.

Ancestral Stories: Lions Led by Donkeys

When the First World War broke out, my 2 x great grandfather Albert Charles Bick was working as a car man at Doulton’s Pipe Works in Lambeth. Married to Annie Noulton, he was the father of six children with another on the way.

On 31 August 1915, Albert departed for France to serve his country. Less than a month later, on 25 September 1915, he found himself in the Battle of Loos, the biggest British attack of 1915, and the first time that the British had used poisoned gas.

The engineers manning the poisoned gas cylinders warned against their use, because of the unpredictability of the wind. However, they were overruled by General Sir Hubert Gough. So, at 6.30 am on 25 September 1915, Albert engaged in battle, charging across open ground, the air full of poisoned gas and bullets.

📸 British infantry advancing at Loos 25 September 1915

As the battle developed, the gas claimed more British than German casualties. In four hours, twelve attacking battalions suffered 8,000 casualties out of 10,000 men. In total, the British suffered 48,367 casualties in the main attack and 10,880 more in the second attack, a total of 59,247 losses, a high percentage of the 285,107 British casualties on the Western Front in 1915. 

Albert Charles Bick died at Loos on 25 September 1915, whether through gas poisoning, a machine gun bullet or a mortar bomb is not known, for his body was not recovered. In the official files he is listed as ‘presumed dead’.

Although General Sir Hubert Gough was guilty of gross incompetence and responsible for the deaths of thousands of his own men, the authorities closed ranks and did not apportion blame.

The poet Robert Graves featured in the Battle of Loos and wrote about his experiences in Goodbye to All That, while the Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who fell in the battle and have no known grave, including Albert Charles Bick.

📸 Loos war memorial 

Latest results from Round Two in my Mastodon Mega Movie Poll.

Laura 22% v 78% Rear Window

The Maltese Falcon 78% v 22% Sunrise

Third Round

Citizen Kane 73% v 27% A Streetcar Named Desire

Gone with the Wind 23% v 77% Dr Strangelove

Lawrence of Arabia 63% v 37% The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Duck Soup 51% v 49% Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Casablanca 78% v 22% King Kong 

Some book news, after fifteen appearances at number one, Sam’s Song, book one in my Sam Smith Mystery Series, is currently number two on the Amazon charts. Not bad for a book that’s eight years old 🙂

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂