Warhorses of Letters

Remember when I got all millitant about Warhorse? I'm about to get more millitant.  And slightly more millitary.

Ages ago I raved about a literary night I'd been to in Kilburn, called Tall Tales.  Among the things I said about it were this:

We were privy to the early stages of an ill-fated equine love affair, conducted entirely by letters. Hints came which suggested there could be a sequel to this at some point; I really really hope there is. 

Various circumstances mean I haven't been to Tall Tales forever, but from all accounts it is going from strength to strength.  They now have a podcast and a website and Toby Davies is still writing brilliant stories which sometimes feature excellently named cats. 

Which is all very exciting for everyone involved, I'm sure.  But the very very exciting news is that wishes sometimes do come true. Warhorses of Letters - the story of the love affair between Napolean's horse Marengo, and Wellington's horse Copenhagen, is going to be broadcast on Radio 4; starting from next week and running for four weeks. 

And that's not even the most exciting part.  The most exciting part is the casting. 
Daniel Rigby is playing Copenhagen, and the part of Marengo is being played by Stephen Fry. Stephen actual Fry.

That's right.  Stephen actual Fry will be on the radio next week, playing a love-struck French horse.  What's not to love? Having heard early versions of the first two installments, let me add the following rider: this would be worth a listen even if it didn't feature Stephen actual Fry.* But since it does, you'd be mad not to tune in.

By now you must be wondering how. If you are in the UK you can hear the first installment of Warhorses of Letters next Tuesday (October 25th) at 11pm.  Also if you are in the UK- more specifically London, more specifically north-west-ish London - you can see the next Tall Tales at the Good Ship in Kilburn on November 24th.  (Unless, annoyingly, you are me.  I can't make this one either.  Don't let that put you off.)   In the meantime, if you live ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD** you can listen to Warhorses of Letters on the iPlayer, from October 25th onwards.

If all that still hasn't convinced you, I should probably mention that co-writer Robbie Hudson  currently appears to be suffering from a very manky-looking, tea-related foot injury.  Surely that deserves a sympathy vote.

*HA! Rider! I didn't even mean to make a joke.


** Also if you are in London.

I've always felt that August is over-rated

See also: September.  I mean, who wants to read anything in those stupid months?

October is where it's at.  I mean, October is where I'm at - as are the rest of you, presumably - and it's sort of caught me by surprise.  Once again I'm caught in the trap of knowing it's not really the done thing to apologise for lack of posts but desperately wanting to acknowledge that I've been, well, a bit crap.

For what it's worth,  I do have some genuine excuses this time.  Especially if you are willing to overlook the fact that I was on holidays for most of August.


First, I have moved house.  Now, instead of living on my own in a shoebox in the middle of nowhere, I am renting out said shoebox and sharing a place near Waterloo with a friend.   If I had been blogging in August, chances are that anything you read would have been a variation on the theme of OH MY GOD!! LIVING IN CENTRAL LONDON IS SO AMAZING!! I CAN SEE THE LONDON EYE FROM MY LIVING ROOM!!!  I LOVE MY NEW FLAT!!! OH MY GOD LOOK, YOU CAN STILL SEE THE LONDON EYE FROM MY LIVING ROOM!! And etcetera.   This is pretty much all that the people I know in real life have managed to get out of me for the last few months.

(I quite like my new flat.  The people who know me in real life are all now VERY aware of this. You're quite lucky if you're not one of them.*)

Excuse number two is this:  my new blog.  Because that's exactly what someone without enough time, will-power or inclination to update their blog should do: start another one. Seriously though: if you like wine or books or, even better, wine AND books, please do stop by. Despite appearances, it's an 'as well as', not an 'instead of' project, in theory at least.

Excuse numbers three four and five are the usual: other writing, part-time day-job, trying to figure out exactly what I plan to do with the rest of my life. You know the drill. Oh, and my Mum was in town for a while.  That counts, yes?

Anyway.  None of this, interesting as it may be, is the reason I stopped by.  That is still to come in a different post. I bet the suspense is killing you.


*Although you might already be as sick as they all are of hearing about how amazing my new flat is.  But since you're here already and we're on the subject, I may as well tell you:  I can also see the London Eye from my bedroom.  Also,  if you stand in exactly the right spot in our two-windowed living room, you can see the London Eye from one of them and The Shard out of the other.  In the first week that I lived here, I was so excited by the fact that we had views of the London Eye that I completely failed to notice we could even see The Shard.