Book Review: War at the Top of the World, Eric S. Margolis (Routledge, 2001)

This book is a gripping, revelatory explanation of what is going on at the 'top of the world', the moutainous regions that incorporate Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet, an area that includes various conflicts, open and underhand, between regional superpowers such as China, India, Russia and Pakistan.

It is all the more remarkable in that it was published before 9/11 yet presages many of the events of the past 5 years. My copy arrived at Exeter Central Library in 2001 and the first stamp at the front states 27 SEP 2001, which means it went out on 6 September, 2001, just 5 days before 9/11.

Film Review: The Queen (dir Stephen Frears, 2006)

This is a sensational, outstanding film from director Stephen Frears, the man who brought us The Deal (2003), also featuring Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. Queen is all about one week in the life of HM the Queen and Tony Blair, shortly after he came to power in 1997.

Sheen is quite simply outstanding in this film, spot-on as Blair in his early days as Prime Minister. His uncanny resemblance to Tony Blair should keep him in work for life. We see him anointed as Prime Minister by Helen Mirren, with his idiot, fruitcake wife Cherie Blair giggling in the background like a schoolgirl. The mannerisms, the gait, the speech are Blair personified.

Later on, in his early dealings with the public and the media, Sheen is perfect with Blair's silly, meaningless, distracting moving of his arms and hands everytime he speaks, as if it somehow contributes to communication.

Likewise, Helen Mirren has delivered possibly her finest ever performance. There are a lot of close-up, intimate shots of Mirren's face, at point-blank focus, capturing the inner self of the Queen. A lot of the action takes place up at Balmoral, in the Scottish highlands, and there are some spectacular shots of the dramatic landscape.

There are many, many fine performances in this film, particularly James Cromwell as an unremittingly grumpy Prince Philip, and Mark Bazeley as the media/PR guru and professional northerner (and Burnley man) Alistair Campbell, the man who writes the speeches (he coins "People's Princess) and runs the media side of things. A sort of Rasputin of communications.

One of the themes of the film is how the media and newspapers in particular work; there are lots of front pages, reviewed, seemingly dictating how the funeral of the moron, bimbo-extraordinaire Diana should be staged.

There is a lot of hunting in the highlands, lots of Land Rovers. It's quite charming how the Queen prefers an old banger of a car over a new one and you learn more about her such as when she was a mechanic in the British Army during the war.

I'm not quite sure of the significance of the hunting and stag motifs. The Queen comes face to face with a stag and later on covers up her disquiet when she learns it has been shot. Something to do with crowns and stalking, probably.

When, in 20 years time (if the world still exists), they come to make the film of how Blair took Britain to war, Michael Sheen can draw on Hitler for added authenticity.

Book Review: The Wigwam Murder (M J Trow, Constable 1994)

This is a fascinating book about a very sad case, the brutal murder of Joan Perl Wolfe, a confused and vulnerable 19 year old drifter from Royal Tunbridge Wells. The chief suspect was a 28-year-old Canadian mestis, August Sangret. He was subsequently hanged (at Wandsworth Prison, south London).

M J Trow also wrote Let Him Have It, the story of Derek Bentley and his wrongful execution for the murder of a policeman on top of a warehouse in Croydon, back in about 1952. This book is just as good.

Trow sets the atmosphere well, with descriptions of Hankley Common and its nearbly towns and villages, such as Thursley, Witley, Weybridge, Guildford and so on. At the time of the terrible murder, 1942, the entire areas was awash with servicemen, mainly Canadians and Americans, but with a few British, too (Aldershot, the home of the British army, is nearby). I have a 1959 Ordnance Survey map of the area, 1:25,000 and it shows in fine detail the entire area (I bought it because I partly grew up in Sunningdale and Bagshot, just about 3 miles to the north).

Joan Wolfe was from Tunbridge Wells, in particular Goods Station Road. I grew up here, too, so the book in particularly interesting to me. However, Trow didn't apparantly visit Tunbridge Wells for this book so there is little description, other than that 'everyone knew everyone else'. That is a complete load of rubbish, of course, in a town of 42,000 people.

The "We 8 Argyle" football shirt case

About 2 1/2 months ago in Exeter - back in July - a woman was brutally attacked on her way home along Pinhoe Road, in a little cul de sace called Redlands Close. She was raped and almost killed by an obviously brutal, ruthless person. Who is the suspect?

The thing that struck me recently was the big campaign - with leaflets plastered in windows in shops, cafes, bars, etc. all over Exeter - and the thought of 'what if they got it wront'? They have got the public's attention fixated on the picture of a vintage Exeter City Football Club shirt (red and white stripes, black shorts, just like Sunderland) with a very unusual logo on the back: We 8 Argyle.

This refers to Plymouth Argyle, the local rivals in Devon (and light years ahead of Exeter City who are now floundering in the Conference after relegation about 3 years ago).

So, the suspect might be an Exeter City fan who likes wearing their shirt. If so, he can be easily identified by anyone who knows him - I've never seen anyone with that sort of logo on the back. There can't be more than about 100 in the whole of the city. It is nearly unique. But, supposing the bloke in the Exeter City shirt is not the attacker? What then?

Then, it's the Yorkshire Ripper case all over again, another Geordie tapes hoax disaster. the public are only looking for this person with the Exeter City shirt. This may well be the case, as just the other week, the police were again given the whole front page of the local paper (the Express & Echo) and another suspect - this time in Gandy Street - was shown, again from CCTV footage.

I would guess the following, that the attacker:

• Lives in Exeter. In particular, lives in either Whipton Barton or Beacon Heath, the area surrounding where the attack took place.
• Goes to St James's Park (if only occasionally) to watch Exeter City.
• Is about 6ft tall (from the CCTV images) and thin.
• About 27 years old.

He might also have not followed the woman for very long at all. He might have joined from a side street, somewhere down near Polsoe Bridge. Perhaps he took evasive action regarding CCTV: maybe he knew how to avoid being followed on CCTV.

Let's hope they get the bloke, anyway.

Plymouth by Train

Note: The Taunton by Train entry (previous) is actually Tuesday, 3 October 2006, though it seems it is not now possible to change this in blogger.

I arrive on a Thursday afternoon (5 October 2006) again at Exeter St Davids, this time intending to get a train to Honiton which I haven't visited since I nearly moved there about 2 years ago. But the train is just leaving as I arrive at the ticket office/main entrance. Instead, after a little look at the automated ticket machine and its many destinations - and the Departures tv screen above - I opt for Plymouth, at #7.00 Cheap Day Return. Ideal.

A sluggish 40 mile journey through Newton Abbot, Totnes, Ashburton, etc., which takes an incredible 70 minutes though the distance should only take about half that.

Plymouth station is ghastly. I thought Sevenoaks and London Bridge were bad enough, but this makes them look like the Giles Gilbert Scott's St Pancras of railway stations. Dreadful. A 12 storey tower block is about all there is, with lots of 1970s white concrete scattered around, just down the road from Home Park. Welcome to the Home of the Royal Navy it says outside. Fair enough. I head for the Barbican district.

Taunton by Train

£7.50 from Exeter St Davids station for a cheap day return to Taunton. It is very inexpensive. It used to be a lot more but, apparantly, they put the prices down a few weeks ago on the Cheap Day Returns, which makes it ideal for a little break from my local station, just a 10 minute walk down the road.

I catch the 14.30 to arrive in Taunton (via Tiverton Parkway) at about 14.58. It is a nondescript railway station at Taunton, certainly not Brunel's finest work. (Just wait until you see the dreadful, Sevenoakesque, Plymouth). After disembarking the Virgin Voyager, you gown downstairs, underneath the platforms and railway lines, to exit the station, always the worst kind of greeting to a new place.

I stop and ask a woman directions, inexplicably disoriented by my location in Taunton - I've only ever seen the other end of town, the posh end. I cross the River Tone, pass the County Ground (where Botham, Garner, Viv Richards etc. must've been amazing in the late 1970s). First stop, the Coal Porter, a Wetherspoons pub, for one of their cheap, #3.99 cheeseburger and chips and pint meal.

Later, I find a superb Betfred bookmakers