"Cream. A People’s History” by Richard Houghton (published by Spenwood Books)
Superlatives flow for “supergroup” but for Eric they weren’t The Band
Did you see The Jam, XTC, Marc Bolan with or without T. Rex, the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, The Clash, Sandy Denny, Stiff Little Fingers, Billy Bragg, The Smiths, Siouxsie or Emerson, Lake and Palmer? If so, Richard Houghton of Spenwood Books wants your memories. This niche publisher, launched in 2021 in Manchester, UK, specialises in “People’s History” books of rock bands and artists in which fans offer up their recollections of gigs and close encounters.
"Veronica, The Autobiography of Veronica Lake” (published by Dean Street Press)
A defiant lady looks back with no real regrets
Doubtless, many people younger than Veronica Lake wrote autobiographies, with hers having been published in 1969 when she was only 47 years old. But by 1973 she was dead; as legend has it, a washed-up, bankrupt Hollywood beauty who drank to oblivion. It would ...
"Robert My Father" by Sheridan Morley (published by Dean Street Press)
Son recalls a Dad like few others
Robert Morley was a singular personality. Few actors could rival him for a good solid dose of peculiarly English eccentricity – when he appeared on screen (and no doubt on stage too) you pretty much knew exactly what you were going to get as ...
More News
"Story of a a Murder. The Wives, The Mistress and Doctor Crippen” by Hallie Rubenhold (published by doubleday)
Victim emerges from the shadows cast by her killer
The wives of the book’s subtitle are Corrine "Cora" Turner, otherwise known as music-hall performer Belle Elmore, who Hawley Harvey Crippen killed in 1910, and before her, Charlotte Bell, who died in highly suspicious but unprovable circumstances. The mistress is Ethel Le Neve, Crippen’s ...
"Being and Becoming, a Memoir" by Myrna Loy (published by Dean Street Press)
A star and a fighter for humanity too
Yes, I may have married and divorced four times but don’t expect the Whore of Babylon, Myrna Loy cautions upfront. She can’t understand how you can love one man while sleeping with another. No, rather, here is a level-headed woman, and what’s really important ...
"Göring's Man in Paris: The Story of a Nazi Art Plunderer and His World" by Jonathan Petropoulos (published by Yale University Press)
Scrabbling for spoils amid a terrible lot of death
Germany’s National Socialists, call them Nazis, wanted to expand the country’s lebensraum, its living space, by crushing other nations and murdering Jews, Slavs and Bolsheviks supposedly inferior to their "superior” Aryan selves. And, of course, there were lots of nice paintings and other objets ...
“Somerset Maugham and the Cinema” by Robert Calder (published by The University of Wisconsin Press)
Losing the plots in an antiseptic Hollywood
Only Belgian author Georges Simenon (1903-1989) has had more of his books filmed than English author William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965). We don’t have the number for Simenon but for Maugham, to date and if television films are included, there have been more than 90 ...
“With Nails” by Richard E. Grant” (published by Picador Collection)
An acting career takes off
It’s only once the book is opened that “With Nails” turns out to have a fuller title, “With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant”, so potential readers might not be wise to expect reminiscences of the usual variety, the old “I was ...
“All God's Chillun Got Pride“ by Chester Himes (published by Penguin Archive)
Black author committed to damning the black experience
Readers of this Books section should be well acquainted with Chester Bomar Himes, the black American writer (1909-1984) best known for his hard-boiled but wry Harlem Detectives series, all eight of which, and a couple of his others, we have featured as they were ...
"Lana, The Lady, The Legend, The Truth" by Lana Turner (published by Dean Street Press)
Star of the screen offers her side of the story
They don’t come much better qualified In the Hollywood Babylon stakes than Lana Turner, not when you’re glamorous enough to earn the "blonde bombshell” tag, you had seven husbands and you were swept up in one of Tinseltown’s greatest scandals after your daughter stabbed ...
“Luckier Than Most” by David Tomlinson (published by Dean Street Press)
Tragedies, triumphs of a life off and on stage and screen
It’s a bit of a relief to read in British actor David Tomlinson’s autobiography his recognition that he was known for “my dimwitted upper-class twit performances” – a relief because if you had asked us here at The Budapest Times to describe Tomlinson, we ...
Most read articles Books
"Robert My Father" by Sheridan Morley (published by Dean Street Press)
Son recalls a Dad like few others
Robert Morley was a singular personality. Few actors could rival him for a good solid dose of peculiarly English eccentricity – when he appeared on screen (and no doubt on stage too) you pretty much knew exactly what you were going to get as ...
"Cream. A People’s History” by Richard Houghton (published by Spenwood Books)
Superlatives flow for “supergroup” but for Eric they weren’t The Band
Did you see The Jam, XTC, Marc Bolan with or without T. Rex, the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, The Clash, Sandy Denny, Stiff Little Fingers, Billy Bragg, The Smiths, Siouxsie or Emerson, Lake and Palmer? If so, Richard Houghton of Spenwood Books wants your ...
"Veronica, The Autobiography of Veronica Lake” (published by Dean Street Press)
A defiant lady looks back with no real regrets
Doubtless, many people younger than Veronica Lake wrote autobiographies, with hers having been published in 1969 when she was only 47 years old. But by 1973 she was dead; as legend has it, a washed-up, bankrupt Hollywood beauty who drank to oblivion. It would ...
Most commented articles Books
“A Promenade in Parc Munkácsy” by Alexander York (published by Austin Macauley)
Colourful characters twist and turn in crime caper
Debut novelist Alexander York has seemingly gone for filmic atmosphere rather than minor style issues such as crossing the “t”s and dotting the “i”s, and Hungarians can be along for the scenic ride as the action sets out from England and passes numerous Magyarország ...
“Greyhound” by C.S. Forester (published by Penguin Books)
Dogged by death in the deep
C.S. Forester died in 1966 and he is not forgotten in The Budapest Times office, where we have a nice little collection of 18 of his books. But they don’t include “Greyhound”, and in fact we were a bit puzzled when it was published ...
Plan outlined for carbon-zero emissions
Bill Gates book aims to avoid climate catastrophe
American business magnate and humanitarian Bill Gates has written an urgent book setting out a wide-ranging, practical vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.
