How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..........

My one true love is Doctor Who. Always has been, always will be. Like Jack, I have genuinely never doubted the Doctor, nor never will I. They had me at hello, really - in my case, hello was episode one of Spearhead from Space. And that was that.

And I have always been faithful.

But there have been.....flirtations with other shows. I can't deny it. Blake's 7, Hill Street Blues, The West Wing, Studio 60 and Deep Space 9 have all captured my heart too - HSB and DS9 especially, each having held undisputed 'number 2' position for the duration of their runs on the telly box. And DS9 is still pretty close, thanks to a complete rewatch last year with the children. But one show has overtaken all the other runners and riders and become the closest challenger, in the history of me, to Doctor Who. At a time when my devotion to Doctor Who is pretty much as high as it's ever been.

Lost (of course, was there ever any doubt?) is a masterpiece. It is quite simply the most ambitious show - apart from Doctor Who - I have ever seen. Its scope is huge. Its potential - which is most certainly being realised - is immense. The paybacks are spot on and the plot is so strong, so intricate, that they just keep on giving. And, on top of all that - it is genuinely funny. And touching. And scary (well - OK, not so much. Despite all the death. But I don't actually go for scary, much, so I'm delighted about that). The best thing about it (well, OK, the second best thing. ) is that it demands the viewers' full attention. You can't just switch off half your brain and veg out while watching it. You have to (shock horror) concentrate. And remember stuff that maybe happened 4 years ago. Complete (up to now) rewatches every close season are a must. You have to join the dots yourself - no spoon feeding here. I mean - it's not Dostoevsky. It's not Shakespeare. But....it's more than a bit David Mitchell. It's a little bit Escher. It's a lot Dizzy.

Lost isn't Doctor Who. It's Losty. And that, my friends, is (almost) as Good as it Gets.

(Shirtless. Obviously. I'm still me.)

The one where Richard Sharpe has a close brush with the black death, finds the grail, loses it, finds it again, loses it again, and repeat......

The Bernard Cornwell Love-Fest continues - in my world, at least.

Cornwell's Grail Quest series comprises three novels :

• Harlequin
• Vagabond
• Heretic

In this series, should it ever be filmed, once again Sean Bean won't be playing the Sharpe character as, once again, the Sharpe Character - Thomas of Hookton - is about 20 years old. And not from Sheffield although I'm sure that alone wouldn't be a barrier to Bean playing yet another character who seems to be Richard Sharpe in all but name. And, OK age.

The Grail Quest books are set at the outset of the 100 years war (and thus form a nice bookend to accompany Azincourt) and several real life battles are recounted, as Thomas participates in them - most famously Cressy. And we win! Always. Because that's how these things work. And to be fair, that is what history tells us so it's not like Cornwell is trying to, you know, create a parallel world - the brave English Archers really were the best, most lethal and most successful fighting force of the time. Also, brave, noble, potty-mouthed........you get the picture.

The McGuffin of the books is, not surprisingly given the series title, the Holy Grail. Of Monty Python, Indiana Jones and the Bible fame. I actually guessed the final denouement (as those who read my Tweets will confirm) about 20 pages in (or less). Did that ruin the series for me? Not one tiny weeny bit. The conceit is actually rather original for Cornwell books - a bit off piste from the normal forumla - but it works very well so I didn't mind the variation from the norm.

Thomas, bastard son of a formerly heretic (and occasionally mad) French priest, born and borought up in a small Dorest seaside village, and desperate to be an Archer, has his life turned upside down when his village is attacked and destroyed by a mercenary French raiding party. His father is murdered by the mercenaries' employer, his mother by the mercenaries' leader. He vows revenge and joins the Kings forces as the easiest way to both get to France to pursue his revenge and at the same time follow his vocation as an Archer.

Much slaughter ensues, plus the usual components of a Cornwell saga - 3 women over the space of 3 books, the gaining of a soldiering family and then the gradual destruction of that family through the inevitability of war. The religious and faith elements are new, and work well. The questions of whether the quest for the grail is real or a chimera, who should have the grail 'win' and what they should do with it, are central to the narrative. As are themes of vengeance, forgiveness, ambition, love, loyalty, faith and superstition. These books see a cast of characters whose loyalties shift - there are few totally 'black or white' characters - there are several characters who have an element of Hakeswill lite about them but none who really fit the bill - the chief villain, Thomas's cousin Guy, is....complex. Certainly no panto villain like Hakeswill. There are other villains who are more panto-esque but none has that big a role in the narrative or lasts that long. Thomas's little soldier family, consisting primarily of the leader of his fighting troop will Skeet, Sir Guillaime D'Evoque, the leader of the mercenaries that destroy Hookton (only one example of shifting loyalties) and Robbie, son of a Scottish Lord (another whose loyalties are tested and found wanting), is certainly not as tight as Sharpe's chosen men, and nor is it as important to Thomas's well being or his ultimate survival.

The way in which the grail quest is handled and resolved (even though I guessed it from the start) is addressed very well, as is the arrival and impact of the Black Death. I finished the third book desperate for the saga to continue.

Bernard Cornwell continues to do no wrong in my eyes!

Legs eleven...........

Actually, I know little about his legs.

He's not who I would have chosen. He's not who I was expecting. But his hair looks great and he has a big nose (a sine qua non for the part) and I'm sure he is going to be great. Moffat knows what he is doing. And Matt Smith is going to be........fantastic.

How many children, exactly?

One of my absolute favourite 'childrens'' series is the books about the Marlow family, written by Antonia Forest. The series comprises 10 books, published between 1948 and 1982:

• Autumn Term
• The Marlows and the Traitor
• Falconer's Lure
• End of Term
• Peter's Room
• The Thuggery Affair
• The Ready Made Family
• The Cricket Term
• The Attic Term
• Run Away Home

The Marlow family was, by any standards, large. There were two sons and six daughters. So, that's eight children in all ................yep, eight. Yet Mrs Marlow, never a main chacter but often peripherally involved (usually wheeled in to either express exasperation at the lunacy of her offspring or to bewail the state of the family finances) appears to be neither mad nor it has to be said particularly maternal. Eight children. Really. Eight.

The main players in all the books are the twins, Nicola and Lawrie, who are the youngest of the brood. Nicola is the star (main POV character) of all but one of the books, the exception being The Thuggery Affair - but Lawrie generally has a big (although less sympathetic ) role. The other siblings - Giles, Kay, Rowan, Ann, Ginty and Peter take roles of varying importance throughout the series.

One thing the Marlow books is not is simply a school series. For a start, only four of the books are actually set in term time, in the school attended by most of the girls (although increasingly few as the series goes on - drop like flies they do. None of them dies but stuff happens. Blimey does stuff happen.) The first book, Autumn Term, is for the most part a straightforward (although superior) boarding school tale, in which we follow Nick and Lawrie as they go away to school with their sisters for the first time - but thereafter the books go way off piste (for traditional school stories).

Among the topics examined in the series are:
Faith
Artistic giftedness (is that even aword? Well, anyway)
Teen death
Adult death
Drugs
Gang culture
Teen romance
Exam cheating
Vatican II (seriously)
The Gondal writings of Emily Bronte
Mental illness
Superstition
Falconry
Financial woes
Wartime treachery
Divorce
Blended families

I fell in love with the Marlows when I was 10 - possibly a little bit young (at the time)for some of the themes but nevermind eh. It took me years to complete the set, anyway, although thanks to the lending library system in Croydon and Cambridge I was able to read them all before I managed to score my own copies. The most elusive volume, for me, was Falconer's Lure - naturally my favourite of the series (well, duh!). I finally managed to find a copy of that in the late 90s - just before Girls Gone By publising re-issued it themselves. But actually, I don't mind about that, I'm glad I own a real first edition.

I'm going to blog about each Marlow book individually (oh joy) . Something to look forward to, eh? ;)

Personent Hodie

Personent hodie
Voces puerulae,
Laudantes iucunde
Qui nobis est natus,
Summo Deo datus,
Et de virgineo
Ventre procreatus.

In mundo nascitur;
Pannis involvitur;
Praesepi ponitur
Stabulo brutorum*
Rector supernorum;
Perdidit spolia
Princeps Infernorum.

Magi tres venerunt;
Munera offerunt;
Parvulum inquirunt,
Stellulam sequendo,
Ipsum adorando,
Aurum, thus et myrrham
Ei offerendo.

Omnes clericuli,
Pariter pueri,
Cantent ut angeli:
'Advenisti mundo:
Laudes tibi fundo
Ideo: Gloria
In excelsis Deo'.

Those people who have known me forever call me Marvo the memory woman. Not because of my near photographic memory for dates, facts, formulae, vocab or whatever but because I always remember the minutiae of life - the stuff that actually happened to us when we were kids. Who said what to whom, who did what, times, dates, places, etc. Plus all that TV and film trivia too. Turns out, I was an early prototype of wikipedia.

Well - I'm not entirely convinced my memory is entirely what it was. There are some things though that will be carved on my heart forever. There are plenty of things - loads and loads of things, too many things perhaps - that I cling on to from my childhood and school days. Some things that might be better let go....but the clearest and best memories I have are of Christmas, and the school carol concerts. They were the highlight of the school year, if music was your thing. And they were certainly the highlight of my year for the 7 years I was at Coloma.I loved singing in those concerts, I loved the predictableness of them, I loved the songs we used to sing. One of the worst things about living in Exeter is that the carols here are absolutely dire. Apparently Devonians have sworn off all good carols and only consent to sing the dirgey ones or bizarrely random ones. So, it's many years since I sung the proper Christmas songs. But I'll never forget them.

Personent Hodie
See Amid the Winter's Snow
In the Bleak Midwinter
All under the leaves
This Little Babe
We three kings
Hark the Herold
Come come come to the manager
Buloolaloo

*The gusto with which we used to sing this line was always quite satisfying. Or maybe that was just me!

The one where Sharpe wins the battle of Agincourt. Sort of.

I love Sharpe books. I really really love them. I love them more than the telly version of Sharpe, but let's be honest - I love them as much as I do because of the telly version, even though I read some of the book s before I ever saw Sean Bean marching across a muddy field being all rough and northern and ....ahem. I lack the imagination to invent Sean Bean. I also lack the spatial awareness to be able to picture battles or sieges or whatever if I haven't previously seen them realised on screen with about 20 Russian extras and a dog.

So - to recap. I love Sharpe books. I love Sharpe on the telly. I especially love Sean Bean (if I had a triumvirate of wonderfulness to accompany the triumvirate of ultimate evil, he'd be there. With Toby. And Shirtless! )



Where am I going with this? You may well ask.

This blog entry isn't about the Sharpe books, or about the Sharpe telly, or about the relative merits of Sean Bean, Toby or Shirtless!. I may, one day write blogs about one or all of those things. but today is not that day and this blog is not that blog (those blogs?). This is about Azincourt, Bernard Cornwell's latest best seller, which is far and away the most enjoyable book I have read in some time. It's really great, buy it now. And, you know, read it. Having said that, though - and absolutely standing by it - there are just a few things which....amused me.

Primarily, I spent the entire book trying to work out which part BC has earmarked for Sean Bean in the (hopefully) inevitable film adaptation (it has to be filmed, it's brilliant. Buy it now). Sadly, Sean Bean is too old to play the hero. Now that's a sobering thought. And believe me, I'm not happy voicing it. But it's true. The hero is - maybe 19? If that. So....not Sean. Tell you who would be good - the actor currently playing King Arthur, in Merlin. Or indeed Merlin himself, he'd be great too. But I digress. It's not Sean's part. Surely BC hasn't abandoned him? Especially as I can hear his voice all the time when I'm reading the book - every time more French people get disemboweled in inventive and rather graphically described ways (he's just helping the art department here, I'm sure that's what he is trying to do) I can hear Sean saying 'take that yer French Bastards' and boy, does it bring a song to my heart and a smile to my lips.

Hmmmm. voices. In my head. Perhaps BC has earmarked Sean for the part of either Saint Crispin or Saint Crispinian, two patron saints of Soissons, a Burgundian town which underwent atrocity at the hands of the French shortly before Agincourt, and who used the hero - Nicholas Hook - as their tool to help get revenge on the French. They speak to him throughout the course of the book, and as far as the reader is concerned, they are real. Now - there is absolutely no mention of them speaking in a Sheffield accent. But on the other hand - nowhere does it say they don't. So Sean could be one of them. Or both of them. But we wouldn't actually see him. Which would be a terrible waste and relegate the film or TV adaptation to the status of an O2 commercial. We can't be having that. So, although maybe Sean could do their voices too (because he is after all totally heavenly) he needs a proper part. And I know which one - clearly he is supposed to play Henry V. Henry has quite a big role actually (much bigger than Wellington got in Sharpe's Waterloo or Nelson got in Sharpe's Trafalgar) and I can definitely hear his words in Sean's voice. Oh yes. Accent and all. And let's face it - what's the point in being the divinely ordained King of England and lots of other places (including - and of course this is the nub of the problem - France) if you can't look like Sean Bean?

So that's that sorted. Next up - how do we solve a problem like Obadiah? BC killed off Obadiah Hakeswill in the one where Hakeswill gets shot and it was a huge mistake. Sharpe never again had a foe as dastardly. BC even had to bring him back in the prequels. Because he was such a great character. So, in Azincourt, BC clearly decided that waste not want not and recreated Obadiah in the guise of sir Martin - a randy rapine priest, who does most of the things Hakeswill did, including the whole steal something valuable and plant it in someone's baggage to get him in trouble (only this time the poor sod got hung not just flogged). This time round though, the not!Theresa managed to not only avoid being raped by him but managed to kill him. So finally we get closure for Theresa's death. And justice is done. The not!Theresa is a good character. And her Sharpe (Hook) actually marries her. And appears to be faithful. this too is good.

One bad point - there is no Harps equivalent. I can't work out why. Unless it's to give Hook and Melisande (which is what we have to remember to call the not!Theresa) a chance. Sharpe and Theresa never had a proper chance cos clearly he loved Harps more than her (didn't we all). This time round there is no rival for Hook/Sharpe's heart.

Anyway - as I said right from the start - Azincourt is a fabulous book. Massively entertaining, well written, detailed - and very very familiar. Which is good if you like that sort of thing. And I SO do. And I'm thinking that anyone else who likes Sharpe will, too. And anyone who hasn't read Sharpe, but is interested in the battle of Agincourt, and reads and enjoys Azincourt - get yourself down to the bookshop and buy some Sharpe books cos if you like the one you'll like the other. Guaranteed.

Tell me where you're going

I really like a LOT of singers.

Seriously. A LOT. I'm not mean with my affections. I'm not sparing with my praise. I'm also really very loyal. All of which means there are a vast number of artistes I consider to be 'mine'.

Very high up this really quite long list, is Silje Nergaard. I've never seen Silje live - although I still harbour vague ambitions of doing so at some point. I'm sure she's very good live - but all I have to go on is her recordings. Which are wonderful.

Silje is a Norwegian jazz singer who gained a very small amount of fame in the UK in the 90s when she released a single called 'Tell me where you're going' which got a fair amount of airplay on the DLT show on radio 1 at the weekends. Not the most promising of testimonials you might think - but actually, at that time DLT was playing good stuff. Lots of Steely Dan and Donald Fagen, which was what reeled me in (see what I did there? ;) ) and lots of stuff that people who liked that sort of thing would, you know, like.

And I did.

Sadly, few other people did and Silje's UK career didn't take off. So she went back to Norway, and released a whole series of wonderful Jazzy records which are a delight to listen to. My personal favourites include 'At First Light' and 'Darkness Out of Blue', both of which have some beautiful songs. and 'Tell me where you're going' remains one of the most joyful and uplifting pop songs I have ever heard.

So - love the lovely Silje!