Just Finished Reading: Sealand – The True Story of the World's Most Stubborn Micronation by Dylan Taylor-Lehman (FP: 2020) [285pp] 

I'm not sure when I first heard of Sealand. It was probably in the late 1960's as, no doubt, my parent's tabloid newspaper had reported its occupation to be used as an illegal pirate radio platform. Sealand or, as it was originally named, Roughs Tower is a small platform (around 400 square metres in size) located around 11Km off the English coast in the North Sea - pictured below. Its original function was as an anti-aircraft installation in WW2 but, as you might imagine, fell into disuse after the fighting stopped. Subsequently ignored and left to rot for years afterwards it was eventually, and illegally, occupied in 1967 by Roy Bates (and family) and declared an independent micro-state shortly after. 

As you might imagine the British government really didn't know what to do about this new 'country' popping up on its doorstep. For one thing it was (at the time) just outside Britain's territorial waters so, at least technically, they had no ownership rights to the structure. This was one reason why Roy Bates wanted it – so that he could install a pirate radio station there and cash in on the craze for such things at the time (the pirate radio stations mostly disappeared after BBC Radio 1 came on-line a few years later). 

The British government did muse over taking the platform by force (which could be easily accomplished by the Royal navy and Marines) but considered it both low priority and potentially very bad 'optics' especially in the age of decolonisation! The Bates family had enough excitement of their own though – with an armed coup, equally armed countercoup, police involvement, arrests and court appearances, international concern over abuse of Sealand passports and much more – never mind the notoriously severe North Sea storms. Being associated with and living on Sealand was far from a cushy existence! 

This was certainly an interesting look at one of the stranger aspects of British/North Sea history. The author looked at the Sealand project in exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) detail which occasionally morphed into rather annoying fanboy territory. That criticism aside I rather enjoyed this slice of British eccentricity, and it was good to discover the details behind something, and somewhere, that I'd heard very little about previously. An odd little read. Reasonable. 

Just Finished Reading: People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield (FP: 2020) [419pp] 

London, 1888. It was almost a dream come true. Susannah had secured her future with her marriage to up-and-coming young surgeon Thomas Lancaster. If only the clouds on the horizon would clear, she could be happy. But the honeymoon in Brighton is well and truly over. The new household is cold if not actively hostile to her presence and her new husband is no longer the loving man she married so recently. His mood has begun to change, sometimes aloof and at others frighteningly violent. But worse, much worse, are his unexplained absences he calls 'work'. But seeing clients should not involve staying away for days on end, nor coming home covered in blood not his own. Then there are the stories in the press, stories of women being murdered in the streets of Whitechapel, women mutilated in depraved ways. Slowly, reluctantly, Susannah begins to wonder, begins to suspect – could her mercurial husband be 'Jack the Ripper'? 

As soon as I saw the location and the date, I immediately knew what this novel was about, even before reading the rest of the blurb. The year 1888 is famous for the short spate of gruesome murders that have fascinated generations since then. This was a nice twist on that story that revolved around the wife of the potential mass killer and has an equally nice explanation of why the killing stopped. I'm sure that more than one woman living in London at that time suspected a husband, brother or father of the crimes that horrified and entranced the city at the time. Of course, it has been long suspected that 'Jack' had some medical training, so it made sense for the novels prime suspect (of Susannah rather than the police who honestly didn't have a clue who he was!) should be someone who was, in fact, being trained to cut people open. The sense of time and place was very strong here and very well done. I liked the way that Susannah became obsessed with the newspaper reports surrounding the murders and investigations which, no doubt, came from actual reports (although it doesn't say so in my paperback copy they certainly 'feel' authentic). As always, I have to highlight the characterisation throughout the book, which was very good especially Susannah who I liked a lot (although this was tarnished somewhat late on as we learnt more about her past). Other characters, even her horrible husband, were very well drawn and totally believable with their own credible backgrounds and motivations. Not a single eyebrow was raised in question throughout the novel. But... 

Despite being very well written from beginning to end I did have a few problems with this novel. It suffered from what I'm calling First Novel Syndrome (FNS). I can well understand the fear that an author's first novel will also be their last and, because of that, they want to get everything that they've imagined in there – be it plot, characters, observations and so on. If they're not going to get another chance to shine, then its ALL going in. That's the major problem I had here. There were several sub-plots and flashbacks that added little or nothing to the overall narrative except (probably) that they were part of the original imagining. A case in point is Susannah's journaling during the murders where she imagined the deaths of each victim in order to help her 'understand' what was happening – despite knowing nothing more than the press reports she read each day. Considering that the rest of the novel was purely from her PoV this was both jarring and honestly pointless. Another more minor niggle was when she was explaining something to a major sub-character which was almost word for word what we had already been reading in the novel. An 'explanation' that took 2-3 pages could very easily have been completed in 2-3 lines. That, I think, was just an example of bad/insufficient editing but still...  

Overall, this was a good (and often very good) read. If the editing had been a bit more aggressive and the 'side quests' removed or much reduced, it could have been a very good book indeed. I certainly haven't been put off reading her subsequent work as hopefully she's calmed down a bit and no longer feels the need to include all of her ideas along with the kitchen sink. Better than reasonable but could have been much better.

[Highest page count of the year so far: 419pp][+13pp]

Happy Birthday: Sir Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis (born 17 October 1935) is an English dairy farmer and the co-creator of the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place at his farm in Pilton, Somerset.

Eavis was born in Pilton, Somerset, on 17 October 1935, and grew up at Worthy Farm in the village. His father was a dairy farmer and a Methodist local preacher, and his mother a school teacher. Eavis was educated at Wells Cathedral School, followed by the Thames Nautical Training College in Greenhithe, Kent, after which he joined the Union-Castle Line, part of the British Merchant Navy, as a trainee midshipman. His plan was to spend twenty years at sea, and return with a pension to help subsidise the income from the family farm.

After his father died when Eavis was 19, he inherited the family farm of 150 acres and 60 cows. He worked at Mendip Colliery at Nettlebridge or New Rock colliery at Stratton-on-the-Fosse on the Somerset Coalfield for a couple of years to help supplement the income from the farm.

Eavis and his first wife, Ruth, had three daughters, but divorced in 1964.[3] He married Jean Hayball, with whom he had a son and a daughter, Emily. Jean died of cancer in 1999, and Eavis has since married his third wife, Liz. In common with his parents and second wife, Eavis remains a practising Methodist, although he has also stated that he is "not really bothered" about the existence of God. He is a teetotaler and does not smoke.

In June 1970, Eavis and his second wife Jean visited the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Inspired by seeing the performance of Led Zeppelin, Eavis hosted the Pilton Pop Folk & Blues Festival in 1970. The following year a free festival, Glastonbury Fayre, was organised by Andrew Kerr and associates. It later developed into Glastonbury Festival.

[I was at Glastonbury in 2000 with some friends. It was definitely an *experience* and I enjoyed some very good music - the tent & the toilets not so much!!]