Travels in South East England – Colchester

Colchester in Essex was known as Camulodunum and is the first major city in Roman Britain, and as such is Britain’s first city.  It is well worth a visit as it has many structures dating back to Roman times.  It’s earliest remains comprise a Roman wall and in the Balkerne area can be found a historic gateway through the wall consisting of two ancient carriageways.  It is the best-preserved Roman gateway in the country.  Next to it and built into some of the foundations of the wall is the modern day Hole in The Wall pub.

Hole in Roman Wall

Hole in The Wall next to Pub

Other sites worth visiting are the imposing Norman Colchester Castle and the nearby 12 Century St Botolph’s Priory.

Colchester Castle

 

St Bololph’s Priory

All these structures are in walking distance and the best way to see them is on foot.  Travel by car proved complicated and the best way to get around is to follow a detailed street map.  If you wish to know more about Roman Britain then Colchester is a must place to explore.  A much more detailed guide can be found by following the link below.

Keith Jahans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Q9P5sByYE

I read the first of Ian Rankin’s novels, ‘Knots & Crosses’, featuring the detective John Rebus, many years ago and have watched both British John Hannah and Ken Stott television series.  This story opens with Rebus retired from the police force and in court charged with a serious crime.  The rest of the narrative is a flashback to how he got into this situation.  The characters feature gangsters, corrupt police officers, honest police officers and his former colleague Siobhan Clarke, all of which are realistically depicted.  The plot follows various twists and turns until the end when we discover how the hero arrives at his grave predicament.  I had a little difficulty in keeping up with the large cast of characters but despite this the story kept me intrigued right to the end.

Keith Jahans

 

Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook and as an audiobook.

 

Book Review – Gin Palace by Tracy Whitwell

Ghosts and things that go bump night and day.

Ghost Stories are far from my favourite reading genres.  That said I decided to give this novel a go.  The characters are well drawn and the author has an obvious insight into the making of British TV soaps.  It took me awhile to work out which characters were ghosts and which were representing living people.  Once I established this I was then able to suspend my natural disbelief and follow the narrative.  It is hardly your standard crime drama but it is an intriguing read and I found it very enjoyable.

 

Keith Jahans

Available as a paperback, ebook and audiobook

Book Review – The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

I had wanted to read this book as a boy having watched episodes of the 1957 TV series Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans.  But I was advised against it as I was told it was a difficult read.

There have been a number of movies based on the book, the best being, the Michael Mann film of 1992 with Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye.  I also watched a few the other movies and found the endings differed so I decided to go to Cooper’s original text to discover what truly happed to Cora, Alice, Heywood and Uncas.

The novel, written in 1826, really is a difficult read as the language used by the author is archaic in the extreme making the narrative difficult to follow.  But I ploughed on until the end and found the story rewarding in its telling.  Reading it is definitely not for the fainthearted.

Keith Jahans

Available as an audiobook, ebook, paperback, hardback on Amazon
and as an ebook on Project Gutenberg

Travels in Northern England – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate: Day 4

The Writing Festival closed the afternoon of 23 July.  I missed the morning activities as I optimistically waited for the start of the final day’s play in the England v Australia Cricket Test match.  Alas it was not to be.  I consoled myself with ordering a pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar at the Harrogate bar followed by a Sunday roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding lunch.

The beer and food were magnificent and I can honestly say were the best I have tasted in any pub in England including those in the South.  The whole festival had been a wonderful experience as I made friends with extremely caring and friendly people all of who were interested in reading or writing crime fiction.

Keith Jahans

 

A pint of Old Peculiar at The Harrogate Inn bar.

Enjoying an extremely tasty roast beef and
Yorkshire Pudding lunch at The Harrogate Inn.

Travels in Northern England – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate: Day 3

It was raining in the morning and before I set off for the Festival I decided to explore a little of Harrogate town centre.  I found The Royal Pump Room which houses the town’s museum but did not go inside.  It was formerly a spa water pump house and located in Crown Place in the western part of Harrogate town centre, near the town’s Valley Gardens Park and offered guests of the town an all weather facility where they could drink sulphur water which was pumped on site from a natural spring.  Opposite the Pump House I spotted Hales Bar and called briefly inside.  I first visited this place many years ago back in the bad old days when people smoked in pubs.  A long the bar were brass flame emitting ducks from which customers could light up there cigarettes and cigars.  I was delighted to find the flaming ducts were still there and lighted, but the flames were protected by glass domes preventing anyone tempted to light up.  I passed briefly through the nearby beautiful Valley Gardens Park and then headed to the festival.

That evening I took part in the late night festival quiz.  As the previous night we divided into groups and allocated tables, but this time in the grand marquee and not the ballroom.  The questions were asked by crime writers Val McDermid and Mark Billingham.  There were just four of us on our table out of the maximum allowed six.  We finished 37^th.  The winners turned out to be the team who habitually won every year and were made up of renowned authors, literary agents and publishers, in other words the crime literary insiders, so we stood no chance.  One of the tests was to list some samples of beer in a correct order.  Simon Theakston was on one of the tables and as the samples were all his company’s beers this part of the contest was a no brainer for him.  Photography was forbidden so I had no photos to mark the event.  The quiz had started at 8 pm and ended at midnight.  Afterwards, tired and wet from the drizzle which had descended all day, I wended my weary way back to my room in the Harrogate Inn.

Keith Jahans

 

Royal Pump Room

Hales Bar

Inside Hales Bar with its historic cigarette lighters

Valley Gardens Park

Travels in Northern England – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate: Day 2

I got rather distracted watching the England v Australia cricket match on my computer so I did not get to the Festival ground until 5 pm that afternoon.  I had bought a ticket for the Author Dinner at 6.15 pm that evening.  I arrived to find my table (Table 14) already occupied.  The table was hosted by crime writer Tracey Whitwell who presented all of us seated there with a copy of her latest novel.

Our task during the dinner was to solve a fictitious murder mystery and to my surprise our table won the competition with the other tables in the dining room.  This was despite the fact I got the name of the perpetrator wrong.  Fortunately, I was overruled by the majority of our table and I was able to partake in receiving the first prize which was a book token.  This turned out to be two book tokens each as one of the members of the table was an employee of Waterstones, the festival book shop, and he was able to do deal which doubled the number of tokens to two.

 

Keith Jahans

 

Available in hardcover, as an ebook, paperback and audio book.

Travels in Northern England – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate: Day 1

I arrived in Harrogate on 19 July having driven about 200 miles from London.  I had been to Harrogate a few times before to attend meetings of The British Society of Immunology back in the days when I was a working microbiologist.  It did not seem to have changed much but I had little time to explore this time, but I did pass Bettys famous tea shop.

The next day I set off for the festival where I was staying just round the corner of the festival site at The Harrogate Inn.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Inn had both Theakstons Old Peculiar and Theakstone’s best bitter on draft.  The Festival was not due to start until the afternoon so I was not able to collect my site pass until 3 pm.  In the meantime I was able to sample a pint of Theakstone’s best bitter.  Old Peculiar was listed as much stronger and too strong for me to attempt at the time.  In my younger times maybe but for now I would have to leave it until a later date.

Keith Jahans

 

The Harrogate Inn

Bettys Famous Tea Shop

Early morning and the Festival is about to setup

The afternoon and the Festival is underway

Travels in Southwest England – Mangotsfield village, Gloucestershire

I visited Mangotsfield on 4^th July where I lived from 1959 to 1969 and my parents lived for most of their married life.  The ashes of my parents, Gordon Alexander Jahans, Vera Jahans, my brother Paul Jahans and sister Ruth Jahans-Price, are buried there in an unmarked Garden of Remembrance in the grounds of St James Parish Church.  The village has many poignant memories for me and well worth a visit to savour the delight of a small English village which was once my home.

Keith Jahans

St James Parish Church

The Grapevine, formerly called The Salutation where I drank my first pint of beer.

The Red Lion where I spent many happy hours with my brother and friends.

The memorial green in the centre of the village

Book Review – The Sceptred Flute Songs of India by Sarogini Naidu

Words that sing and rhyme

Sarojini Naidu is expert in the English Language and Indian culture.  Her words beautifully convey universal themes of life, love and death.  Though first published in 1943 her writings are as poignant now as they were then.  As I read this work I found something to convey the human condition on every page and recommend this book to all who love poetry.

Keith Jahans

 

Available as an ebook and paperback