James Herbert R.I.P.

Horror writer James Herbert died yesterday, 21 March 2013, at the age of 69.

James Herbert was born on 8 April 1943 in the East End of London. His parents operated a fruit stall in Bethnal Green market. Young Mr. Herbert attended St Aloysius Grammar School in Highgate on a scholarship and later Hornsey College of Art. Afterwards he got a job at John Collings, a small advertising agency. He was inspired by one of Renfield's lines from Tod Browning's  Dracula ("Rats. Rats. Rats! Thousands! Millions of them!") and his own experience with the animals growing up in the East End of London to write his first novel The Rats. The novel was rejected five times before it was sold to the New English Library for £150 and a 5% royalty. Published in 1974, The Rats met with harsh reviews from many critics, although notably the critic for the Sunday Times thought it was brilliant. Regardless, The Rats proved to be a commercial success and would later be adapted into the film Deadly Eyes (1982).

James Herbert would follow the success of The Rats with his second novel The Fog (unrelated to the John Carpenter novel of the same name).  Until 1988 he wrote a novel a year, among which were The Survivor, Fluke, The Spear, The Dark, The Magic Cottage, Sepulchre, and Haunted. . The Survivor, Fluke, and Haunted were all adapted into films. His output slowed following 1988, although he was still quite prolific, writing such novels as Creed, The Ghosts of Sleath, '48, The Secret of Crickley Hall (later adapted by BBC One), and Ash.

James Herbert was often described as "the British Stephen King," while Mr. King himself compared him to The Sex Pistols, once writing, "If The Rats, with its scenes of gruesome horror and its blasted East End landscape, is not a literary version of Anarchy in the UK, what is?" My late best friend Brian and I had a slight different take on James Herbert--he was the British horror equivalent of American pulp adventures novels, with scenes of horror rather than action occurring every ten to twenty pages.

In truth James Herbert was actually much more than any of these things. He was a writer with a brisk, nearly minimal, easy to read style who often explored social themes in his work. In The Rats Mr. Herbert touched upon life in the East End of post-War London. '48 examined extremely right wing politics and the use of propaganda. The Secret of Crickley Hall looked at the nature of religious zealotry. And while James Herbert was often described as a horror writer, his work actually crossed several genres. '48 was a alternate history science fiction. Both Sepulchre and Portent could be counted as thrillers. With Creed Mr. Herbert even delved into comedy. Common to all of his novels was the fact that they dealt with ordinary, everyday people. While traditional British horror concentrated on the upper class, James Herbert's protagonists belonged to the working class more often than not. James Herbert took British horror and not only modernised it, but he made it much more democratic.

The Late Great Frank Thornton

Frank Thornton, best known for his role as floorwalker Captain Peacock on the long running sticom Are You Being Served?, died 16 March 2013 at the age of 92.

Frank Thornton was born Frank Thornton Ball on 15 January 1921 in Dulwich, London. He attended Alleyn's School in Dulwich, after which he attended evening classes at the London School of Dramatic Art while working as an insurance clerk by day. He eventually quit his day job and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. It was in 1940 that he made his Terence Rattigan’s French Without Tears at the Confraternity Hall at Thurles in County Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland. Afterwards he toured Ireland with various plays. After a year he returned to London where he became part of Sir  Donald Wolfit’s Shakespearean company. On the West End he appeared in such productions as The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Macbeth. He toured with a production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. In late 1942 he enlisted in the Royal Air Force. He trained as a navigator, but World War II ended before he could be assigned to a squadron. In 1945 he became part of the RAF Entertainment unit. He left the service in 1947.

Following the war Frank Thornton appeared in a tour of The Dancing Years from 1947 to 1948. Afterwards he toured with a production of  Vernon Sylvaine’s One Wild Oat. He made his television debut in 1951 in the BBC Sunday Night Theatre production of The Secret Sharer. In the Fifties he appeared on television in such programmes as The Passing Show, The Granville Melodramas, William Tell, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Men From Room 13. He was a regular on the series The Four Just Men. He made his motion picture debut in 1954 in The Silent Witness. In the Fifties he also appeared in such films as Radio Cab Murder (1954), Stock Car (1954), Johnny You're Wanted (1956), Cloak Without Dagger (1956), and Battle of the V-1 (1958).

In the Sixties Frank Thornton was a regular on the TV shows HMS Paradise and The World of Beachcomber. He appeared on such shows as Danger Man, Hancock, The Avengers, The Cheaters, Hugh and I, Benny Hill, The Champions, Thicker Than Water, and The Morecambe and Wise Show. He appeared in such films as The Impersonator (1961), Victim (1961), It's Trad, Dad! (1962), Doomsday at Eleven (1963), The Wild Affair (1963), The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), Gonks Go Beat (1965), The Big Job (1965), The Murder Game (1965), Carry on Screaming! (1966), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Ride of the Valkyrie (1967), 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), Crooks and Coronets (1969), The Magic Christian (1969), and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).


It was in 1972 that Frank Thornton as cast in his most famous role, the rather stuffy floorwalker at Grace Brothers department store, Captain Stephen Peacock, on Are You Being Served. The show proved to be a hit in the United Kingdom and achieved cult status in the Untied States. In the end it ran until 1985. In the Seventies Mr. Thornton also appeared on such shows as And Mother Makes Three, From a Bird's Eye View, Bachelor Father (not to be confused with the American show of he same name), Love They Neighbour, Sykes, Armchair Theatre, Steptoe and Son, Crown Court, The New Avengers, and The Goodies. He appeared in such films as The Chastity Belt (1971), Bless This House (1972), Our Miss Fred (1972), That's Your Funeral (1972), Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), Old Drac (1975), and Are You Being Served? (1977--the film adaptation of the show).

In the Eighties Frank Thornton continued his role as Captain Peacock on Are You Being Served. He was also a regular on Jane. He appeared on the shows The Gentle Touch, The Kenny Everett Television Show, The Sooty Show, and The Ronnie Corbett Show. He provided the voice of Mr. Tibbs for the animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's The BFG (1989).

In the Nineties Mr. Thornton once more played Captain Peacock in the Are You Being Served? spin off Grace & Favour. In 1997 he was cast in what may be his second most famous role, that of Truly in Last of the Summer Wine. The show proved to be a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, running from 1997 to 2010. From the Nineties into the Naughts he appeared on television not only in Last of the Summer Wine, but also the 1991 BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, the 1995 adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop, and the TV shows The Upper Hand, Causality, Doctors, and Holby City. He appeared in the films Out of the Black (2001), Gosford Park (2001), Back in Business (2007), and Run for Your Wife (2012).

Although he was best known for his work in comedy, Frank Thornton was a truly versatile actor who was as gifted at playing drama as he was comedy. After all, he had begun his career as a Shakespearean actor and continued to appear in productions of the Bard's plays for decades. Of course, it is for his work in comedy that he is best known, and there is no denying that Mr. Thornton had a singular gift for the genre. Frank Thornton's brand of comedy was character driven. The humour in his roles generally did not derive from gags or situations, but from the personalities of the characters he played. To wit, he played both Captain Peacock and Truly straight--these were characters who took themselves seriously, even if others didn't always do so. What is more Frank Thornton played these characters very well. He could elicit laughs from merely arching an eyebrow. Few actors were as gifted as Frank Thornton. There can be no wonder as to why he had such success in his career.

My Latest YouTube Video: All of Your Toys by The Monkees

For years "All of Your Toys" was something of a lost Monkees song. It was written by a friend of Michael Nesmith, Bill Martin, and The Monkees intended for it to be their third single. Unfortunately circumstances in 1967 would prevent it from being released at the time. Every song released by The Monkees had to be published on Screen Gems Music, and "All of Your Toys" had been published on Tickson Music. Tickson Music refused to sell the song and so it would remain an unreleased Monkees track until 1987. Regardless, "All of Your Toys" would be historic as the first Monkees song on which they played their own accompaniment.

Of course, the fact that the song was not released during the run of the television show meant that it was never featured in any of the show's episodes. Since this was the case I decided to create my own Monkees romp for the song, using footage from the episode "Monkee vs. Machine." I chose "Monkee vs. Machine" as it deals with, well, toys. Anyhow, without further ado, here is my video for "All of Your Toys."

Facebook Does Something Right...For a Change

Anyone who has read this blog regularly for the past few years know that I have often been very vocal about many of the changes Facebook has made to their site. In the case of many of these changes it has often seemed to me that Facebook was determined to reduce the over all usability of the site. This was particularly true of Timeline, the new user interface for user and page profiles. From the hype Facebook seemed convinced that Timeline was some sort of quantum leap in social network user profiles. On the other hand, most users I know hated Timeline. They thought its double column layout was not only unattractive, but made it hard to read anyone's profile, even one's own. While complaints about Facebook would decline after the social network forced everyone to change to the Timeline layout, the hatred for it has never truly gone away. Most users I know simply tolerate because they feel complaining will do no good.

Fortunately, it appears that Facebook realised that users hated the double column layout of Timeline and started taking measures to correct it. Earlier this year Facebook began testing a single column version of Timeline. Fortunately, I was among the users who received this new Timeline layout and I must say that I liked it much better than the original, double column version of Timeline. Not only was it more attractive, but more importantly it was easier to read. It was just last week that Facebook rolled out a new version of the single column Timeline. If anything, this version is even more of an improvement. Below are a few screen shots.

As you can see on one's posts are on the right, while on the left are a series of boxes. The boxes on my profile are About (a bit of information about myself), Friends, Photos, and Likes (various Facebook pages I like). To some degree one has control over which boxes appear in the right sidebar of one's profile. While one cannot remove the About, Friends, or Photos boxes, he or she could set them to where they could be seen by himself or herself. In addition, one can add boxes for Places (places one has lived or visited), Music, Films, TV Programmes, Books, Notes, and so on.

Above one's boxes and posts, but below the cover photo, one will see a horizontal menu that includes "Timeline," "About," "Friends," "Photos," and "More (which provides a drop down menu including "Likes" and "Notes." This much more compact than the original double column Timeline or even the original single column Timeline, which had little boxes for each category.

My first impression of the new, single column Timeline is that it is much easier on the eyes than the original version of the single column Timline and especially the original, double column Timeline (which I think could quite accurately be described as an "eyesore"). It is fairly easy to use. In fact, I would say it set up much more intuitively than the original, double column Timeline. And I must say I like that Facebook is giving users a degree of customisation, something that has been lacking on the site for some time. Personally I would like to be able to be given the ability to hide all of the boxes (there does seem to be a bit of redundancy in having both a link to one's Photos and a box for one's Photos), but the fact that I can add boxes is real progress for Facebook. Over all, then, I must say that I actually like the new version of the single column Timeline, not something I've been able to say about a change Facebook has made in quite some time.

Of course, this is not to say that Facebook has saved itself in my eyes. Facebook has made far too many missteps over the years for me to think that they are turning themselves around from a company that doesn't listen to its users to one that does. Indeed, they are supposed to be releasing a new version of the News Feed quite shortly and I worry how they may have changed it. Regardless, this new single column Timeline is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Margaret Lockwood Society on Facebook

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchock, British cinema, or both, chances are very good that you have heard of Margaret Lockwood. She may be best known in Canada and the United States as the star of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). In the United Kingdom she was the top British star of the Forties. When adjusted for inflation, Miss Lockwood's film The Wicked Lady (1946) still ranks among the highest grossing films in the United Kingdom.

Although she may not be as well known as some of the Hollywood stars of the Forties and Fifties, Margaret Lockwood maintains a following to this day. Indeed, if you are a fan of Margaret Lockwood and you have a Facebook account, there is the Margaret Lockwood Society there. The Margaret Lockwood Society page not only has a wealth of photos, but also links and notes related to her as well.

The Demise of Google Reader

It was in on 7 October 2005 that Google launched Google Reader, an RSS aggregator  that was meant to make it easier for users to keep track of blogs and news sites. Yesterday, on The Official Google Blog, Google announced that Google Reader will be retired on 1 July 2013. The reason given was that "...over the years usage has declined." To say that Google Reader's users were outraged might be putting it mildly. In post after post on Google+ and Facebook and tweet after tweet on Twitter people expressed their dismay at Google discontinuing Reader. "Google Reader" zoomed to the top of the trending topics on both Google+ and Twitter. Every place from Mashable to Forbes to The Atlantic published editorials condemning Google's decision. While usage may have declined over the years, it would seem that Google Reader still has a large and fanatically loyal following.

I can perfectly understand the reaction of many Google Reader users. While there are many RSS aggregators out there, in my humble opinion there is only one that is as good as Google Reader (more on that later). What makes Google Reader such a good web feed aggregator is that it is simple and without any frills. In one's subscriptions one only sees headlines and the first few lines of each blog post or news story. This makes it easy for someone to swiftly scroll through Reader and pick out what he or she wants to read. What is more Google Reader can be accessed directly through the web without having to install any applications, plug ins, or extensions. The simple fact is the vast majority of aggregators do not have these advantages.

Indeed, while Bloglines, Netvibes, and Newsblur are all accessible through the web, they also tend to be heavy on graphics, making them less desirable to someone who simply wants to read headlines and the first few lines of blog posts or news stories. Feedly has the simplicity of Google Reader, but one must install the Feedly application to one's browser to use it. While there may be others, the one RSS reader that is both simple and easily accessible through the web would  seem to be The Old Reader, which is in some ways even simpler than The Google Reader. Unfortunately there is not a phone or tablet computer app for The Old Reader as of yet. It would then seem that very few of Google Reader's rivals possess its elegant simplicity or its ease of access. It is little wonder, then, that its users are upset.

Regardless, it would seem that Google Reader is by far the most popular RSS aggregator out there. In posts to social media sites, blog posts, and articles in various publications journalists and writers complained that they use Google Reader in their work. Even various third party apps depend on Google Reader for syncing and subscriptions, including Pulp, NetNewsWire, Reeder, and others. These apps will be forced to find alternatives. As to somewhat more casual blog and news readers, they were not happy at the prospect of finding another RSS aggregator. It would seem that the retirement of Google Reader will have a huge impact across the internet.

While it probably would not be a good idea to get one's hopes up, I do think it is possible given the outcry that Google could reconsider its decision. Unlike some other web based companies (I won't name names, but if you follow this blog you can probably guess whom I am talking about), Google actually does listen to its users. I see this regularly at Google+ where they have made changes to the site based on our suggestions. It is possible, then, that Google might listen to its users and keep Google Reader in some form. That having been said, I have no idea how likely that is.

If Google does indeed retire Google Reader, and I think we should probably just assume they will until we get word otherwise, I suspect that another simple, web based web feed aggregator will take its place. Right now my bet is that it will probably be the Old Reader. While phone and tablet users might choose Feedly, I think desktop and laptop computer users will prefer something that does not require them to install an application or plug in to their browser. Regardless, it seems obvious to me from the outrage expressed over the retirement of Google Reader that there is a big demand for RSS aggregators so that something will rise up to take its place.

In the end, however, I think it would be wise for Google to reconsider its decision. Over the years various web sites have done away with various features with nary a peep from their users. Google itself has discontinued many products (everything from Google Buzz to Google Wave) with virtually no complaints from users. That the announcement of the closure of Google Reader provoked such widespread outrage demonstrates that it is still popular and used by many, many people. Any company that has a product with that kind of popularity and loyalty would be well advised to keep it.

Clive Burr R.I.P.

Clive Burr, best known as the drummer on Iron Maiden's first three albums, died on 12 March 2013 at the age of 56. He had primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Clive Burr was born on 8 March 1957 in Manor Park in London’s East End. He took to drumming at a young age, even building his own drum kit as a boy. He performed with the band Maya for a time before joining the band Samson in 1977. He remained with the band until 1978. It was in 1979 that he joined Iron Maiden. He appeared on the band's debut EP The Soundhouse Tapes, released in November of that year. Iron Maiden released their eponymous debut album in April 1980. The album not only received critical acclaim, but produced a hit single in the form of "Running Free (which went to #34 on the UK singles chart)."

Iron Maiden followed the success of Iron Maiden with their second album, Killers. Killers proved very successful, reaching #12 on the UK albums chart and #78 on the U.S. albums chart. It also produced a hit single in the form of "Twilight Zone," which went to #31 on the UK singles chart. It would be their third album, The Number of the Beast, that would establish Iron Maiden as one of the premiere heavy metal bands to emerge from the United Kingdom. The album reached #1 on the UK albums chart and #33 on the Billboard albums chart in the United States. The album produced the hit singles "Run to the Hills" and "The Number of the Beast," both of which hit the top twenty of the UK singles chart.

After three albums with Iron Maiden, Clive Burr was asked to leave the band for reasons that still remain unclear. He played for a time in the French band Trust. In 1983 he was a member of the initial line up of Alcatrazz, remaining with the band for only a week. From reports he left the band after learning it was going to be based in the United States as opposed to England. He was a member of the British supergroup Gogmagog, which featured former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno as well. They only released one EP, I Will Be There, in 1985. Clive Burr also formed his own band. Initially called "Clive Burr's Escape," it was later renamed "Stratus" and included former members of Praying Mantis. Stratus released one album, Throwing Shapes, in 1985. In the Nineties he performed with both Elixir and Praying Mantis, although he was never officially a member of either band.

It was in 1994 that Clive Burr was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The disease would eventually affect his drumming skills and in the end he was confined to a wheelchair.

Clive Burr was arguably one of the best drummers to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. He had a particularly powerful drumming style, strong and often complex. It was in many ways the perfect compliment to Iron Maiden's guitar harmonies. While he was with the band for only their first three albums, it was his drumming that helped shape the sound of the band for the rest of their career. In turn Clive Burr would also influence a generation of heavy metal drummers, from Machine Head's Dave McClain to Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall.