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Post by samdawson on Feb 12, 2022 19:19:00 GMT
I refuse to believe that Mary Poppins would behave this way Really? I always thought her a dubious character. 'With a spoonful of sugar', come on I forgive you for saying that. But I don't know if Bert will
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Post by andydecker on Feb 12, 2022 19:30:46 GMT
Really? I always thought her a dubious character. 'With a spoonful of sugar', come on I forgive you for saying that. But I don't know if Bert will I have to confess that is not my idea. :-) I stole it from Robin Scherbatsky. But she has a point.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 20, 2022 6:50:55 GMT
G. A. Household [ed] - The Devil's Footprints: The Great Devon Mystery of 1855 (Devon Books, 1985). Preface Contemporary newspaper & magazine reports Further Reading Index of Place NamesBlurb: 'The inhabitants were surprised at discovering the footmarks of some strange and mysterious animal. . . The footprints were seen on the tops of houses . . . The creature seems to have approached the doors of several houses...' THE TIMES
'No one is able to discern the starting or resting point of this mysterious visitor. . . A party armed themselves with guns and bludgeons, and spent the greater part of the day in tracing the footprints.' THE EXETER & PLYMOUTH GAZETTE
'It appeared that the foot had followed foot in a single line... No known animal could have traversed this extent of country in one night... Neither does any known animal walk in a line of single footsteps, not even man.' ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS Dutifully investigated contents of every box on friend back-of-van-man's stall yesterday. Drew a blank, "not my day" — until we came to the very last one, and this delightful 24 page booklet. From the editor's foreword; "Since 1855, many fantastic explanations have been put forward for what was, and still is, a completely mystifying phenomenon. Rather than add to the list of 'explanations,' we are reprinting the contemporary accounts in full, exactly as they appeared in the South Devon newspapers of the time. In addition, we are reprinting the complete correspondence on the subject that was published in four consecutive issues of The Illustrated London News, from 24th February 1855. Most writers have tended to pick and choose from this correspondence, so as to make their particular theory seem more plausible. We have, therefore, reprinted all the letters. This, then, is the story as it was reported in February and March of 1855."
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 20, 2022 16:39:25 GMT
I remember first reading about the "Devil's Footprints" as a young kid, probably in some Xmas annual or another. BTW, the G.A. Household who edited this book is Geoffrey Household, best known as the author of the classic thriller Rogue Male (1939) - but who also wrote the horror-ish The Sending (1980) and the short story "Taboo" (which can be found in The Second Pan Book of Horror Stories). He wrote at least one other novel with a horror/weird aspect - Dance of Dwarfs (1968), apparently a cryptozoology adventure set in the Amazonian jungle, though I have never come across it.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jun 20, 2022 20:56:34 GMT
I remember first reading about the "Devil's Footprints" as a young kid, probably in some Xmas annual or another. I first read about it in that Readers Digest compilation Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. I read that book to death as a kid. Also the first time I read about Jack the Ripper.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 20, 2022 22:27:30 GMT
I first read about it in that Readers Digest compilation Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. I read that book to death as a kid. Also the first time I read about Jack the Ripper. I know what you mean. I detest Readers Digest today, but as a kid I read some non fiction account of the battle of Waterloo which I could never forget. It still interests me.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 21, 2022 7:07:17 GMT
I first read about it in that Readers Digest compilation Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. I read that book to death as a kid. Also the first time I read about Jack the Ripper. I know what you mean. I detest Readers Digest today, but as a kid I read some non fiction account of the battle of Waterloo which I could never forget. It still interests me. Not gone back to it for a while, but Strange Stories, Amazing Facts is a favourite of both bride of dem and me. The Readers Digest Great Ghost Stories is likewise impressive.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 21, 2022 19:59:45 GMT
I remember first reading about the "Devil's Footprints" as a young kid, probably in some Xmas annual or another. BTW, the G.A. Household who edited this book is Geoffrey Household, best known as the author of the classic thriller Rogue Male (1939) - but who also wrote the horror-ish The Sending (1980) and the short story "Taboo" (which can be found in The Second Pan Book of Horror Stories). He wrote at least one other novel with a horror/weird aspect - Dance of Dwarfs (1968), apparently a cryptozoology adventure set in the Amazonian jungle, though I have never come across it. Thanks Dr. S. Never even crossed my mind that G. A and Geoffrey might be one and same entity. He plays it low-key in the booklet, allowing the newspaper reports and magazine speculations (some sceptical) to speak for themselves. My first exposure to the story was via R. T. Gould's The Devil's Hoofprints in 50 Strangest Stories Ever Told, among the very first books I bought, via a glorious junk shop on the Isle of Dogs, which, circa mid-late 'eighties, earned proprietor Dave extra revenue by moonlighting as the chip shop in a Channel 4 series, Prospects.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 21, 2022 20:41:43 GMT
I remember first reading about the "Devil's Footprints" as a young kid, probably in some Xmas annual or another. BTW, the G.A. Household who edited this book is Geoffrey Household, best known as the author of the classic thriller Rogue Male (1939) - but who also wrote the horror-ish The Sending (1980) and the short story "Taboo" (which can be found in The Second Pan Book of Horror Stories). Thanks Dr. S. Never even crossed my mind that G. A and Geoffrey might be one and same entity. I came across The Sending in my local library sometime in the early 80s (I had already seen the 1976 TV film of Rogue Male with Peter O'Toole, but I think I only read the book of that later). It's an odd one, and I don't really remember a lot about it, but it has the idea of British shamanistic / nature-based magic at it's heart, with the central character "inheriting" a polecat ferret from his artist friend (who has died in mysterious circumstances) - which turns out to be some sort of familiar. He then comes under a "psychic attack" and has to find some way of fighting back, as it tuns out his friend was some sort of white magician and was killed by a rival (European) black magician. Like I said - odd. Both a bit "of it's time" (shamanism was big in the early 80s), and a bit old-fashioned (even then) occult thriller of the Wheatley/Blackwood/Buchan sort.
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enoch
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 117
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Post by enoch on Jun 22, 2022 5:33:08 GMT
I remember first reading about the "Devil's Footprints" as a young kid, probably in some Xmas annual or another. I first read about it in that Readers Digest compilation Strange Stories, Amazing Facts. I read that book to death as a kid. Also the first time I read about Jack the Ripper. I think that's the first place I first read about it, too. I got Strange Stories, Amazing Facts as a Christmas present one year when I was about 12 or 13. Read it cover to cover. I still have the book, and still pull it down and re-read parts of it now and then. Glad to see there are a few other fans of it around.
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Post by samdawson on Jun 22, 2022 10:07:11 GMT
I'm a bit of fan of Household, having read Rogue Male after seeing the 1976 BBC film, and then having scoured bookshops in the 80s to pick up more, but I have to agree about The Sending. It is rather of its time and, for Household, rather dull, even though it taps into a slightly mystical view of the English countryside and our part in it that is evident throughout his books (and his pleasingly accomplished life). He did have a tendency to rewrite Rogue Male and as a result some of his books can feel a little formulaic, but it's The Sending that disappoints, if memory serves. Dance of the Dwarfs though is terrific, despite a few iffy attitudes from the narrator to his young indigenous Colombian mistress. It has an ending whose boldness made me suck air in through my teeth.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 22, 2022 16:21:04 GMT
Nice Mayflower paperback edition of Dance of the Dwarfs from 1971 -
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 25, 2022 10:48:25 GMT
Nice Mayflower paperback edition of Dance of the Dwarfs from 1971 - Great cover. Never heard of the book but it looks rather good
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 25, 2022 12:46:04 GMT
Nice Mayflower paperback edition of Dance of the Dwarfs from 1971 - Great cover. Never heard of the book but it looks rather good It was filmed in 1983 (as Dance of the Dwarfs, aka Jungle Heat, aka Easy Flyer) with Peter Fonda and Deborah Raffin in the lead roles, though it seems they messed about with the story and the nature of the creatures quite a bit. It's on YT, and looks terrible.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 2, 2022 18:39:26 GMT
I'm a bit of fan of Household, having read Rogue Male after seeing the 1976 BBC film, and then having scoured bookshops in the 80s to pick up more, but I have to agree about The Sending. It is rather of its time and, for Household, rather dull, even though it taps into a slightly mystical view of the English countryside and our part in it that is evident throughout his books (and his pleasingly accomplished life). He did have a tendency to rewrite Rogue Male and as a result some of his books can feel a little formulaic, but it's The Sending that disappoints, if memory serves. Dance of the Dwarfs though is terrific, despite a few iffy attitudes from the narrator to his young indigenous Colombian mistress. It has an ending whose boldness made me suck air in through my teeth. I read ROGUE MALE some years ago but remember nothing about it. I decided to give Household another chance, and just finished WATCHER IN THE SHADOWS. Sadly, I think I will not remember it either.
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