I forgot to repost this so I hope BlueSky’s Celia Fremlin fans didn’t miss it. The Hitchcock Hours are also on Now TV if you have access to that.

Jonathan Coe@jonathancoe.bsky.social · last wk.

CELIA FREMLIN ALERT! (fao @jacquiwine.bsky.social and @andrewmale.bsky.social among others) Next Tuesday, August 2nd, at 14:00 Sky Arts are showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, S1 E23, 'The Lonely Hours', an adaptation of 'The Hours Before Dawn'. Starring Gena Rowlands!

‘The scores for both 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯 and 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘰 are the work of a composer who recognises that his task is to seek out the essence of the material on screen and to express that rather than himself.’ @jonathancoe.bsky.social on Hitchcock’s composer Bernard Herrmann. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Jonathan Coe · Where was the drum kit? Hitchcock’s Music

The music Bernard Herrmann wrote for The Wrong Man is diffident, sometimes almost unnoticeable. His score for Hitchcock...

lrb.co.uk

Last two nights' double bills: Accident (Joseph Losey, 1967) Carry On At Your Convenience (Gerald Thomas, 1971) Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000) The Bed Sitting Room (Richard Lester, 1969) Didn't make it through the whole of the second film on either occasion.

As a Brit can I apologise for what has become of the BBC

‘Just as you can hear Poulenc behind the music for 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, so another member of Les Six, Arthur Honegger, seems to have left his mark on Psycho’s score.’ @jonathancoe.bsky.social on Hitchcock’s composer Bernard Herrmann. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Jonathan Coe · Where was the drum kit? Hitchcock’s Music

The music Bernard Herrmann wrote for The Wrong Man is diffident, sometimes almost unnoticeable. His score for Hitchcock...

lrb.co.uk

Still going through old photos and paperwork, and have now been reminded of one of the oddest events I ever did: the time I was the warm-up act for an Elvis tribute show on a Saga cruise.

This is good. An illustrated catalogue of 2,000+ feature films on YouTube, covering 1930-1970. You can search by country and decade. In Spanish but easy to navigate, and you get the fun bonus of learning the Spanish titles of the films ...

Thanks for sharing. Samira Ahmed and Graham Kibble-White had a lovely in-depth interview with Graeme earlier this year for those who missed it. squarewindow.co.uk/podcast/epis...

A tangential thought. So many British comedy TV shows were turned into films in the 70s, despite being totally unsuited to the big screen. The Goodies, chock-full of brilliant visual humour, never did. Why no movie?

Isabel Rogers@isabelrogers.bsky.social · last wk.

Well this is just lovely - last night's Front Row with Samira talking to Graeme Garden about Bill Oddie.

CELIA FREMLIN ALERT! (fao @jacquiwine.bsky.social and @andrewmale.bsky.social among others) Next Tuesday, August 2nd, at 14:00 Sky Arts are showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, S1 E23, 'The Lonely Hours', an adaptation of 'The Hours Before Dawn'. Starring Gena Rowlands!

I went to the same school as Bill Oddie (KES in Birmingham) and there were legends that he'd once arrived at school on horseback and also had put up diversion signs which meant all the traffic along the main Bristol Road had to pass through the school grounds but I don't know if either is true.

So I think I've finally discovered the worst film ever made. It began yesterday at the bfi, listening to the excellent discussion between Sophie Hannah and Kazuo Ishiguro before a screening of Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express. They discussed the history of Agatha Christie adaptations.

I saw The Odyssey and thought it was OK. More hot film takes as they come in …

Can't believe the prog prom didn't end with Apotheosis of the Necromancer by Gandalf's Pikestaff.

Five hours left to grab this bargain!

Jonathan Coe@jonathancoe.bsky.social · 2w ago

For three days only Waterstones are offering 25% off my new novel if you pre-order. You just have to enter the code SUMMER26 when you check out.

I wrote (at some length) about Hitchcock's films and how Bernard Herrmann's music elevated some of them to greatness.

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 2w ago

‘Despite the clear evidence that he was rude, obstinate, difficult, opinionated, ungracious and often cruel, I find it hard to conclude that Herrmann was to blame for the partnership’s demise. He acted with integrity.’ @jonathancoe.bsky.social on Hitchcock’s composer. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

For three days only Waterstones are offering 25% off my new novel if you pre-order. You just have to enter the code SUMMER26 when you check out.

Lessons in Harmony by Jonathan Coe | Waterstones

Buy Lessons in Harmony by Jonathan Coe from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

waterstones.com

‘The scores for both 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯 and 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘰 are the work of a composer who recognises that his task is to seek out the essence of the material on screen and to express that rather than himself.’ @jonathancoe.bsky.social on Hitchcock’s composer Bernard Herrmann. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Jonathan Coe · Where was the drum kit? Hitchcock’s Music

The music Bernard Herrmann wrote for The Wrong Man is diffident, sometimes almost unnoticeable. His score for Hitchcock...

lrb.co.uk

Scrolling through old pictures and being reminded of the time when one of my novels was an A/S Level set text and I vanity-searched Twitter to see what students were saying about it, and got a warm glow at the thought that I was inspiring a whole new generation of readers.

When he began his collaboration with Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Hitchcock was also about to be launched as an unlikely TV star. My take on the creative symbiosis between the two men.

Jonathan Coe · Where was the drum kit? Hitchcock’s Music

The music Bernard Herrmann wrote for The Wrong Man is diffident, sometimes almost unnoticeable. His score for Hitchcock...

lrb.co.uk

This piece is mainly about Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, although I also used it as an excuse to talk about The Three Investigators. ???

Jonathan Coe · Where was the drum kit? Hitchcock’s Music

The music Bernard Herrmann wrote for The Wrong Man is diffident, sometimes almost unnoticeable. His score for Hitchcock...

lrb.co.uk

Then they came for the Customer Service team, And I did not speak out, Because I was on hold, owing to an exceptionally high volume of calls. But my call was important to them.

“The most recent [survey] finds that supporters of Farage rank “being English” above “being a parent” as a marker of who they think they are.” Fintan O’Toole on Brexit and the undiagnosed, untreated and ignored issue of English Nationalism www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU

Essays by the great and the good address the legacy of Brexit, but ignore the nationalist elephant in the room

theguardian.com

Has anyone ever seen one of the three sequels to Midnight Run that were made in 1994?

Cover of new novel has quietly appeared online. It's a beauty, I think. www.penguin.co.uk/books/476261...

Watched The Driver's Seat (1974) last night. Such an odd film. One odd thing about it is that when Elizabeth Taylor is browsing for books at Copenhagen (?) airport, her hand reaches out for one of my favourite - but least-known - novels of the 1960s. @quantick.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social

This is hilarious. I can't believe I have no memory of it whatsoever. Transitioning to decimalisation was very easy but this song makes it seem hellishly complicated. It must have baffled a lot of people.

Vintage Obscura Radio@vintageobscura.net · last mo.

Max Bygraves - Decimalisation [UK, Pop, Novelty] (1970) A catchy tune that had the purpose of teaching the people of the UK on how to convert their old currency system to the new decimalised one https://redd.it/104w6ob https://youtu.be/ncZihiuztvg

Dear Daily Telegraph, you do know that you posted this on ... um, Bluesky, right?

The Telegraph@telegraph.co.uk · last mo.

The progressive version of Twitter offers a world of vicious, sneering odium that only those who see themselves as kinder humans dish out 🔗 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/03/is-there-anything-more-pathetic-than-a-bluesky-user/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_li_pathetic-than-a-bluesky-user/

Penelope Keith as a leather-clad, motorbike-riding, lesbian au pair from Hamburg with a sideline in mud wrestling? Yes please.

Penelope Keith ~ Every Home Should Have One 1970

YouTube video by k8nairne

youtube.com