Issue 13 - October 2011 (PDF - Chipping Norton Times

More documents

Recommendations

Info

34 A small and friendly salon in Moreton in Marsh Town Centre Specalising in quality hairdressing for all the family...at competative prices!! Creative Cutting Colouring Colour Correction Barbering Pamper Parties Gents cuts on a monday for only £10 Appointments not always necessary! Call us on 01608 652299 17 Old Market Way, Moreton in Marsh, GL56 0AJ www.hairforyou.co.uk Delightful Kitchen Gift Ideas for the person who has everything at Cotswold Kitchen and Tableware We have a wonderful selection of:- Mugs, Plates, Tableware, Kitchen Gadgets and much much more STOCKISTS OF: STELLAR, JUDGE, JAMES MARTIN KNIVES & SAUCEPANS, PORTMEIRION, DARTINGTON CRYSTAL, CATH KIDSTON, HEATH MCCABE, BRYN PARRY, ALEX CLARK, ALISON’S ANIMALS, TWO BAD MICE. BENAYA CERAMIC ART TILES, and LITTLE CHEFS items. Coming soon!…. KEEP CALM & CARRY ON RANGE and for those Graffiti fans BANKSY art on a mug! KEEP AN EYE ON OUR WEBSITE FOR REGULAR UPDATES AND OFFERS! WWW.COTSWOLDKT.VPWEB.CO.UK Cotswold Kitchen & Tableware is an Independent Retailer situated in beautiful Grade II listed building in the Cotswold town of Moreton in Marsh. We are focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction. We have a selection of pretty china mugs, plates and tableware, useful kitchen gadgets and delightful gift ideas, even for the person who has everything! COTSWOLD KITCHEN & TABLEWARE 8 HIGH STREET, MORETON IN MARSH, GL56 0AH | TEL: 01608 652028 2 H I G H S T R E E T, M O R E T O N I N M A R S H T E L : 0 1 6 0 8 6 5 0 3 3 1 Shoes Gabor • Rieker Padders • Lunar Hosiery Pretty Polly Ladieswear Emreco • Poppy Slimma Lingerie Playtex • Triumph Haberdashery • Curtains • Blinds (7 day Curtain Express Service)
As Literary Festivals become big business and celebrities flock to a big tent near you with memoirs, novels and cookery books, Nicholas John (armed only with a spare biro), stands in line and begs the question - WHAT PRICE A SIGNATURE? A Short Story by Nicholas John I once stood with my son for forty-five minutes in a snaking line of parents and toddlers in order to get Francesca Simon to sign six “Horrid Henry” paperbacks. When we got back to the car, my son asked me who the lady was and I explained (for the twelfth time) that she was “the nice lady who wrote the stories.” He, frankly, didn’t give a fig and it transpired he had been expecting Miranda Richardson who had voiced the audio-books. Cue heaven-wards look of exasperation. For a brief minute it looked like gardening was to become the new rock ‘n’ roll, but no, turned out it was writing and literature. All hail the rise and rise of The Literary Festival. They’ve sprung up all over the place (in much the same way as you can’t move in the summer for music festivals: find a farmer with a muddy field and you’re away). We rush to Cheltenham and Hay-on-Wye to hear our favourites reading from their latest tome, then spend twenty minutes in line for a quick greeting and a hallowed signature (and maybe even a photo on your mobile). And all the while you just know you could pick up the thing for half the price on Amazon. But, let’s face it, there is a certain credence, a certain (dare I say it) style in paying the full retail price and lugging that 400-page hardcover all the way to the front of the queue to obtain the authorial flourish From the author’s point of view, selling books directly at a book-signing or literary event, yields a greater return than simply waiting for one’s publishing royalties to arrive in the post. Reading a few extracts, meeting the public and squiggling “all the best” for a half-hour is a better way of shifting units than hoping someone in Waterstone's is going to pluck your offering from the shelf. This tactic is something that jobbing musicians have been employing for a while: folk artists have long followed a tradition of being “of the people” by communing with their audience to discuss Arran knitwear (only kidding) and to sign copies of their latest disc. In these days of Amazon and iTunes, it’s a personal touch that seems to resonate, judging by the number of acts that now take to the road surrounded by boxes of CDs and DVDs. Obviously, Bono is not going to stop for long round the back of Wembley Stadium to flog a few more copies of ‘The Joshua Tree’ but in the world of normal, it’s a practice that has become commonplace. Publishers are increasingly seeing the manifold opportunities in getting their charges in front of the paying public. Independent bookshops are often effectively invited to tender for book-signing appearances – a friend successfully bid for Charley Boorman to do a three-hour “meet and greet” in his shop and flavoured the shebang by arranging a “ride-through” (forgive me if this is an incorrect biking term) by the Oxford branch of the BMW Bikers Club. And it paid off too – he shifted over eighty books to a steady stream of customers (all signed by Charley) and received much welcome publicity from the whole event. So everybody goes home happy. It’s a winwin situation. At this point in proceedings, as I merrily tap away, I'm sorely tempted to bang on a bit about how the likes of the Cheltenham Literary Festival increasingly appear to be relying on the pulling power of mainstream culture (television, film, sport, politics), to put bums on seats, rather than actual poets, authors or playwrights. Sorely tempted, but then I realised that I would be forced to instigate an argument with myself. It’s unlikely to be our nation’s finest authors attracting the longest queues, it will be the “celebrity writers," those who have successfully plied their trade elsewhere and have gone back to write about it. Surely (I would say with a smug smile), the shedloads of fans who wait for hours to get Katie Price to autograph her new, ahem, novel, are not there because they think she's a brilliant writer? But then I would have to confess my duplicity: Martin Jarvis signed three dog-eared “Just William” hardbacks one year that had been my Dad’s (well, I couldn’t get Richmal Crompton could I?) and my wife "did" Brenda Blethyn, Terry Jones and Leslie Phillips in two (expensive) days. Uh oh. Cue unsavoury incident between pot and black kettle. So far, so what? Big deal. "Celebrity" will sell everything from books to game shows to fridges. And it’s a two-way street: Sue Cook, the journalist and former BBC television presenter (who in 2009 published her second novel ‘Force Of Nature’ and is currently at work on her third), readily admitted that having been a “face” on television was undoubtedly helpful in securing her publishing deal. So is it the notion of celebrity we actually value? Are we getting our books signed because we like the written work or because we’d like to meet the writer? Authors rapidly grew wise to the individuals who would arrive at the desk holding six or seven copies of the same book and ask for a signature with no message or named greeting – these were destined to be CONTINUED OVER 35
Page 1 and 2: CHIPPING NORTON TIMES Issue 13 Octo
Page 3 and 4: chipping norton times From the Edit
Page 7 and 8: CLOSING DOWN SALE ALL CARPETS REDUC
Page 9 and 10: tHe CotswoLd FestivaL Love History?
Page 11 and 12: I know where that is! Where was tha
Page 13 and 14: Strictly - In Moreton Learn to danc
Page 15 and 16: With over 10 years experience the R
Page 17 and 18: WINDOWS - DOORS CONSERVATORIES SECO
Page 19 and 20: CHIPPING NORTON TOWN COUNCIL MEETS
Page 21 and 22: THAMES VALLEY POLICE www.police.uk
Page 23 and 24: SEWING DAY Learn a skill & make a C
Page 25: THE PLAYHOUSE, ST GEORGES HALL, BLO
Page 30 and 31: LOCAL WALKS WITH THE COTSWOLDS VOLU
Page 36 and 37: CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE on eBa
Page 38 and 39: 38 MATT KEYTE BSc (hons) Dip (ossm)
Page 40 and 41: 40 FREE TRAINING AVAILABLE FREEPHON
Page 44 and 45: 44 WOLFORDS HALLOWEEN THE IN AID OF
Page 47 and 48: A toe on the green…’ It’s not
Page 49 and 50: Stow on the Wold Cricket Club Repor
Page 51 and 52: Report from Martn Jones MORETON RAN
Page 53 and 54: Local Clubs, Societies, Association
Page 55 and 56: Local Business Directory Stow Times

Issue 13 - October 2011 (PDF - Chipping Norton Times

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?