The Ministry of Time
By Kiliane Bradley
Narrated by George Weightman & Katie Leung
Published by Hodder and Stourton
07 May 2024
Running time 10hr 23min
This is the first time I have reviewed an audio book.
I was drawn to this by the title. I was intrigued as to whether it was connected to the Spanish TV series of a similar name, from the synopsis I deduced it was not, the title is coincidental.
Original Release on Disney+
29th March 2024 – 8 Episodes
Created by Sally Wainwright
Starring:
Louisa Harland as Nell Jackson
Nick Mohammed as Billy Blind
Adrian Lester as Earl of Poynton
Bo Bragason as Roxy Jackson
Florence Keen as George Jackson
Enyi Okoronkwo as Rasselas
Frank Dillane as Charles Devereux
Alice Kremelberg as Sofia Wilmot
Jake Dunn as Thomas Blancheford
Joely Richardson as Lady Eularia Moggerhanger
Iz Hesketh as Valerian
Craig Parkinson as Sam Totter
Pip Torrens as Lord Blancheford
From the Writer of Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, Sally Wainwright.
An 8 part series dropped on Disney+ on 29th March 2024. Produced by Lookout Point, a division of BBC which produced all of Sally Wainwright’s biggest titles.
It received publicity from shows such as Graham Norton Show in UK when Adrian Lester was a guest on his sofa. So I am assuming quote a buzz around it.
It was billed as a story about a female highwayman with some other-worldly powers.
I wrote recently about people sharing “Facts” when what they share is wrong. I focused on people sharing what they believed to be facts bit were speaking from a lack of knowledge.
Related to this is people making an assumption. The type I’ve seen a lot of recently are people assuming things known now couldn’t be known in the past. And kind of the opposite, assuming something we accept as normal was the same in the past.
Short stories come to me quickly, often without any planning. This is one such example.
The premis came fully formed. Not just the topic but the delivery.
Short stories need few characters, this had only one unnamed female character.
All stories need to set a scene, tell us the needs and wants of a character. There should be some form of conflict or concern. The reader should understand what the needs are and resolving conflict should make sense in the scene.
I think I achieved all those aims in this story. Hopefully without revealing the outcome too quickly.
I am very interested in History.
I find it surprising sometimes when I find out that people might be unaware of certain things. Then I recall what I was taught in school and realise that is where gaps in knowledge tend to stem from.
In the UK History we are taught in our general schooling I’d very British centred. Indeed it is even mostly English centred from my perspective. I was surprised yo find a close friend had almost no knowledge of many aspects of the Partition of India – something my father was keen I understood when I was about 10 (that would have been 1977/78). For context, my father wasn’t done “leftist radical” he was an NCO I the RAF. He was an Armourer by trade. But he was very clear that all our history makes us, not the bits we cherry pick.
Topics in school for example regarding Empire always focused on perceived benefits. Never mentioning things such as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, in 1919.
We are taught about Drake beating the Spanish Armada. But not about Drake’s time as a Slaver on the ship of his cousin, John Hawkins, or subsequently with John Lovell. Nor was I taught about Drake and Earl of Essex and the slaughter on Rathlin Island.
These parts of History are not hidden. They are easy to read up on and several TV series have covered them.
I’m not for removing History, such as destroying statues, but I am I favour of honest History. Warts and all.
One of my favourite topics is History.
I read a lit about it, I watch programs about it. I like Museums.
I am a Member of Royal Armouries in Leeds. Royal Armouries is a National Museum, so us free to enter, and houses part of the collection of Arms & Armour from the Royal Collection. It is a sister Museum to the Tower if London and Fort Nelson.
Being a Member means I pay a Monthly donation to the Museum. I receive a few perks, such as special Tours for Members.
Might seem odd paying a Membership to a Museum which is free to enter. Bur there ya go.
As I write this I am traveling to Royal Armouries for a Members Tour. Continue reading
Watching ‘The Dig’ on Netflix about the excavation at Sutton Ho. Famously an Anglo Saxon burial mound.
I am a fan of History and live watching programs about Archaeology and all things similar.
I’m a Member of Royal Armouries here in Leeds and usually attend the museum dizens of times in a year. Of course I currently can’t at the moment.
Sadly of course we learn about History but all to often do not learn from History…
Most years I do a round up of the last year. Nah, not this time. We all know about 2020.
2021 might be better.
Sadly already Lawless has been cancelled. Lawless is a Comic Con in Bristol, usually in May where I am a Moderator on Panels. I also sit on the Organiser’s group.
So that is a big loss to me. I love meeting up with my friends at Cons and I really enjoy Moderating.
We will be doing somethings online in May so keep an eye out.
But what else am I doing? And why has this blog been quite quiet recently?
52 Times Britain was a Bellend
by James Felton
Published by Sphere
17 October 2019
Hardback or Kindle
128 Pages
James Felton is a journalist who has been published in the Guardian, Independent, Daily Mash and IFL Science.
This book is a humorous look at the history of Britain.
Here’s what the Publisher says:
Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school, fully illustrated and chronicling 52 of the most ludicrous, weird and downright ‘baddie’ things we Brits* have done to the world since time immemorial – before conveniently forgetting all about them, of course. Including:
– Starting wars with China when they didn’t buy enough of our class A drugs
– Inventing a law so we didn’t have to return objects we’d blatantly stolen from other countries
– Casually creating muzzles for women
– And almost going to war over a crime committed by a pig52 TIMES BRITAIN WAS A BELLEND will complete your knowledge of this sceptred isle in ways you never expected. So if you’ve ever wondered how we put the ‘Great’ in ‘Great Britain’, wonder no more . . .
*And when we say British, for the most part we unfortunately just mean the English.
Here’s what I think Continue reading
The more Eagle-eyed reader might spot a difference this week.
Last Week I covered 22nd to 28th June. This week I’m starting on 28 June. I realised that publishing on Sunday was restricting me a little as I was including the day I published. So from now I will cover the previous Sunday to Saturday. That way if I learn something after publishing I don’t need to squeeze it in to Monday…
I’m aware no one reading this would know I had fudged it… but if it troubled me when I realised.
This article won’t double up on anything I learnt on 28th…
You may also have noticed I have dropped the ‘th’ in the date format. I am doing this as I am aware non-native English Speakers sometimes struggle with ‘st’ and ‘nd’. Dates are clear enough without them. I use Month name to avoid International/US date convention confusion.
So, what did I learn in this week? Continue reading
Judge-Tutor Semple 