Tag: writing

In memory of Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty the Queen during a visit to HMS Ocean in Devonport in 2015.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons

It’s the late Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday today. She would have been one hundred years old.

There is a series of events in the UK marking this milestone, including an exhibition of hundreds of garments and related items belonging to Her Majesty.

I don’t think many of us think of the late Queen as a style icon, not in the way, say, of Princess Diana, whose leggy frame and passion for fashion sparked real trends.

Who can forget Di’s Emanuel ‘meringue’ wedding dress and its extra long train, which could indeed have had its own long train (like The Flying Scotsman) to transport it end-to-end?

Or the dazzling, figure-huggingly flattering and chic dresses she wore much later on?

When I picture the late Queen, I think of the block colour coats and matching hats from the 1960s and 70s, which on special occasions were de rigeur for women of my mother and mother-in-law’s generation. This is not surprising because they were both the same age as the Queen.

I’m guilty as the rest at underestimating the influence and effect the Queen’s choice of clothing had on generations of women.

5 June 1961 Buckingham Palace: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip host Queen’s Dinner for President and Mrs. Kennedy. U. S. Department of State photograph in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

HRH worked closely with favourite designers such as Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies. There’s a fascinating article on The Independent’s website about our longest reigning monarch’s relationship with fashion and how the look she created was not at all accidental.

You can read it here. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is at the King’s Gallery. Buckingham Palace, until 18 October.

The Queen died in September 2022 aged 96. She was the country’s longest-reigning monarch, chalking up an incredible 70 years.

As well as the exhibition, there are other things taking place to commemorate her life.

According to the BBC, today The King and Queen Camilla will visit the British Museum to view plans for the Queen Elizabeth II national memorial in St James Park in London designed by architect Sir Norman Foster.

Later in the day, they will host a reception at Buckingham Palace where guests will be presented with birthday cards by the King.

The Princess Royal will honour her mother by officially opening the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in Regent’s Park, London.

Buckingham Palace has also announced that award-winning historian Dr Anna Keay will write the the late monarch’s official authorised biography.

It’s fitting that these things are happening in honour of a woman who – whatever your views on the monarchy – had a great sense of duty and was devoted to her role.

A lasting legacy – and to my mind, the best way of celebrating this remarkable woman – is the creation of a new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, which will focus on restoring shared spaces in communities.

The charity aims to develop and transform underused buildings and green spaces, as well as ensure that communities have the skills and training needed to organise local events, says the BBC.

Three cheers for that.

Here’s a very informative video produced to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It draws on a rich selection of records held at The National Archives, including photographs, letters, and speeches, this film looks back at Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life and reign.

Today is World Poetry Day

Years ago, I was shortlisted for a poem in the internationally-acclaimed Bridport Prize competition.

To be honest, it wasn’t very good but it was a pleasing accomplishment because poems aren’t really my thing. This is probably because, despite studying them quite closely, I find them tricky to analyse, decipher and I always get a bit flustered with the rules.

It’s silly really, because I love the poetry in many song lyrics – I’m thinking Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Ian Dury. I adore those lines in National Express by the Divine Comedy about the jolly hostess and her large behind…

Here’s one of my favourite Joni Mitchell numbers.

If that isn’t poetry, I don’t know what is.

I think perhaps it’s because I’ve studied poetry closely for a creative writing degree that it’s reinforced my natural – and lazy -resistance to anything that requires me to think rather than just imbibe through natural osmosis.

So I need to cast off the hang-ups and fear of getting it wrong and just enjoy poetry for its lyricism, rhythm, cadence and imagery. I should just go with the flow and embrace the sheer joy and beauty in hearing or reading a great poem.

So, on World Poetry Day, tell me – what are your favourite poems?

I like the Spike Milligan one about the worm:

Today I saw a little worm, wriggling on his belly. Perhaps he’d like to come inside and see what’s on the telly.

I like The Voice by Thomas Hardy. I like anything written by Christina Rossetti. I like this one by William Butler Yates:

He wishes for the cloths of heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

But come to think of it, my favourite poem is Ithaka by Greek poet C P Cavafy. I saw somewhere that it was read at Jackie Kennedy’s funeral in May 1994.

Here it is read by the wonderful Sean Connery with music by Greece’s own Vangelis. Cheesy but profound.

That’s about it.

Love, Maddie x

How did you use that extra hour?

It’s the day after the clocks went back and it’s one of those Sundays that seems to have gone on and on.

I was up early and did all the ironing, fed the dogs, order a dog harness, water bowl, poo bags and three motion sensor lights for the landing, made a pot of tea, scored eight on my daily popquiz – Popquizza.com – and finished an episode of The Rest Is Politics US before the clock showed seven-fifteen.

By eight o’clock, I’d walked the dogs and was ready for breakfast.

I’ve managed to tick loads of things off my to-do list, although by three o’clock this afternoon I was flagging and the dogs were doing circles because they were so hungry.

Mr Grigg has dug up four lots of leggy lavender for me to replace, and there is more planting to come.

I’ve also gone mad with the bulbs again, ordering with gay abandon from Farmer Gracy and then bricking it when a massive box the size of Matabeleland arrived on the doorstep with a smug look on its face.

It’s half term in Dorset this coming week but no doubt the weather will be dreadful, so the chance of me finding room for 90 narcissi bulbs is pretty remote.

Two years ago, I ordered so many tulips I had to enlist the support of Number One Son and the tiny grandson who waddled around in dear little wellies and was armed with a lethal dibber.

We managed to plant them all but, of course, I was away when they flowered, so I missed the lot.

With just five days of October left, it’s been a busy month.

And now the nights are darker, it’s time for slowly simmered stews, log fires and a ridiculous binge on all four series of Stranger Things to remind myself of the plot and premise before the new one drops at the end of November.

I’m going to try to pull my socks up and blog at least twice a week, but as my late mother used to say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That’s about it.

Maddie x

October book reviews

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of these two novels in exchange for an honest review.

I’m currently reading Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall, who is coming to speak at the always excellent Bridport Literary Festival. Set in Dorset in the 1950s and 1960s, the novel is being turned into a film by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine.

I’m also just about to start The Widow by the master of the courtroom drama thriller, John Grisham. It comes out later this month.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit *****

Expected publication 10 February 2026

The Sharaf family live in Virginia, USA, after fleeing from war-torn Afghanistan to safety in America. The couple have four children and the nub of the plot is what happens when the older daughter embraces a western way of life and rejects the family’s traditional Muslim culture.

The story is told chapter by short chapter through the voices of the people who know the family or are somehow involved in the aftermath of a terrible incident which threatens to tear the family apart. It takes a while to learn what has happened and to whom, by which time we have learned more about the family and their pursuit of the American dream.

The bystander narration works well, like a documentary, but we can never really be sure of the interal workings and motivation of the characters because we are never inside their heads. This ‘reportage’ style is effective, with unreliable narrators vying to give their opinions, making for a powerful narrative, full of speculation and sometimes prejudice.

However, it is also tricky because all we know about the family is what others tell us. At the end, we’re still not sure if the outcome is just or not, because we don’t know the truth. This is slightly frustrating, but is a really thought provoking device because it confirms or goes against the reader’s own thoughts and prejudices.

The novel does not shy away from racism and Islamophobia, and the discussions around that make it an even stronger book.

It was a compelling story, which flowed very easily. I thought the author did a terrific job in capturing the different voices in a totally authentic way.

Recommended.

A Far-flung Life by M L Stedman ***

Expected publication 3 March 2026

This is one of those novels that I romped through (apart from the middle, which sagged a bit for me) and then spent several days pondering the story.

Set in the Australian outback, mostly in the 1950s and 60s, this is a family saga which starts with a terrible tragedy and then more trauma is piled on top.

Sounds depressing, but it wasn’t. The author writes well and it’s an easy read, with short chapters from different perspectives – family and the few characters around them.

It’s about family secrets, coming to terms with awfulness and how you deal with it. Everyone is coping with their own personal tragedy and the interaction between the characters is like when snooker balls are hit by a cue.

Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans (a much better title than A Far-flung Life) was made into a successful film. I’m not sure that this would work so well, as some of the subjects tackled are difficult to handle on the big screen although, in the novel, they work because the reader empathises with the characters, largely because of the writer’s skill.

I enjoyed this book and will recommend it. I didn’t love it and, to be consistent with my ratings, I’m giving it three stars.

Ten years a columnist

I’ve just penned my 500th weekly column for The People’s Friend magazine.

You’ll have to wait a little while to read it, but I’ve worked out that’s about 300,000 words in the last decade.

Cripes!

I could have written a J R R Tolkien-like epic at that rate, if only I’d put 600-700 words down towards it every week for ten years.

Still, the gig at The People’s Friend – the world’s longest-running women’s weekly magazine – is a joy, especially as it came to me without any pitching on my part.

Back in 2006, I started studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in humanities with The Open University, alongside working full time.

I took two creative writing modules as part of my studies and, in 2011 I was awarded a first class honours degree. It was a wonderful experience, and I’ll never forget the graduation ceremony, surrounded by family and friends and fellow graduates.

As part of the first creative writing module, I started a blog called The World From My Window in which I charted everyday life.

I was put on to blogging by my old flatmade, Gail, who runs the fashion and book blog for over-50s, Is This Mutton?

It was a good move – the blog got me and my writing out there and attracted the attention of The People’s Friend, whose editorial team just happened to be looking for a weekly columnist.

I am forever pinching myself for my good fortune. And the day I received my official contract through the post from D C Thomson (publishers of The Beano, no less) felt like winning the Lottery.

The moral of this story is that if you love doing something, just do it. Who knows where it might lead?