vICTORIAN CURIOSITIES was a book I adapted in 1995 from Everybody’s Scrapbook of Curious Facts – A Book for Odd Moments, compiled by Don Lemon in 1890. It’s a sort of Not Many People Know That from a century earlier. My original Little, Brown edition has been out of print for some years, but now a publisher appositely called Victorian Secrets Ltd has issued it as a Kindle. It’s the perfect loo-side book when you have a few spare minutes, as it were. You can read all about it here: http://www.victoriansecrets.co.uk/catalogue/victorian-curiosities/
The same publisher has issued a new biography of Jerome K. Jerome, entitled BELOW THE FAIRY CITY by Dr Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton. It’s the first full-scale biography of Jerome for over 20 years and is by far the most detailed and accurate account of his life yet. As President of the Jerome K. Jerome Society, I was asked to contribute the Foreword – and I’m really proud to be part of Carolyn Oulton’s valuable study.
In the last week I’ve been sent three CDs from three different labels, each with my booklet notes: Yundi playing three Beethoven sonatas on DG , Lang Lang playing Chopin on Sony, and Joseph Moog playing transcriptions of Scarlatti sonatas on Onyx – Moog’s CD came with a lovely thank-you note from the pianist himself. A name to watch out for.
