BENT’S NOTES
No Brown-nosing from Rankin
I was informed that the bookies’ favourites for the “surprise guest”
were Lord Lucan and Plato, but at a chilly, dreich Edinburgh for
the 25th international book festival, it turned out to be Prime
Minister Gordon Brown. A chinwag with Ian “Rebus” Rankin
kicked off the three-week event.
The PM was in a jolly mood, perhaps because he was apparently
due to watch his beloved Raith Rovers FC later that day (they beat
Queens Park 2-0 in front of 1,500 people). There was a wide-ranging
blether between the two Fifers, with much discussion on the three
books Brown has had published in the past 18 months.
Rankin mentioned the summer reading list David Cameron gave
to Conservative MPs, which included Ffion Hague’s biography
of Lloyd George. “I’ve had a look at that,” Brown said. “I wonder
how he had the time for all those affairs.” Rankin countered: “I’m
wondering how you have the time to write all these books.”
A few moments later, Brown mentioned, in passing, Margaret
Thatcher’s recent visit to No 10. “I wonder if you talked about
books?” Rankin asked. “In particular one of your older books,
Where There is Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of
Britain’s Future, and if she asked you to sign a copy?”
Supplier conferences. If there’s a better way to spend a
summer afternoon than chit-
chats on market share and
“The Apprentice”-style videos
of shopping aisles and point of
sale (backed by the dulcet tones
of Goldfrapp and the Chemical
Brothers), then call me John
James Sainsbury. Last week,
Sainsbury’s decided to “try
something new”.
Following the supermarket’s
presentation, book buyer Kate
Greenlaw unveiled its special
guest—the colossal-collared
ex-doctor Harry Hill.
To an astonished audience of
publishers, he quipped in his
trademark style: “Jodie Foster.
Jodie Kidd. What is it about the
name ‘Jodie’ that makes you think
of childcare?” Following with:
“Kate Moss. Kate Bush. What is it
about the name ‘Kate’ that makes
you think of vegetation?”
I received an email from someone
pretending to be a publicist with the
moniker “Ms B Looms-Bury”. Hmm.
It began: “Watch out, Beadle’s
about! Well, he used to be. Of course,
he sadly passed away earlier this year,
but a long-awaited biography of the
great man is out later this year
. . . We will be publishing The Tales of
Beedle the Bard, written by none other
than Harry Potter’s real mother, J K
Rowling.”
SPROUTING TALENT
Continuing to punch well above its weight, indie
Michael O’Mara adorns the pages of The Organ
on a regular basis, so it was only a matter of time
before a smattering of its employees appeared
on the only page anyone actually reads.
Pictured at their recent summer party as an
out-of-season walking advertisement for Tess
Read’s The Sprout Book are (from left) Daisy
Pearce (foreign sales assistant), Helen Pickford
(senior foreign sales manager), Kate McFadden
(PA and export sales manager), and Polly Tingle
(office administrator). Read’s celebration of
the hated veg uncovers a “whole new world
of sprout-related pleasure”, including sprout
indoor boules and the “conversation-stopping”
jewellery on show above.
42 The Bookseller | 15 August 2008 www.thebookseller.com
The email closes: “Amazon paid almost £2m for a handwritten
version, don’t you know? But there’s a slight typo in the title that
needs addressing.” True enough.
I can’t wait to read Rowling’s arguments for the ascent in rank of
the ITV “Candid Camera” man so that he may now sit alongside the
likes of Shakespeare and Burns.
The coverage The Organ has received for
the Diagram of Diagrams has been nothing
short of “fairly big”. Numerous media
outlets with a not-altogether undeserved
slightly larger readership than The Organ
covered my announcement last week for the
search for the “Oddest of the Odd”.
Thanks, in part, to the lovely newswires,
“The Bookseller’s legendary diarist” could
be seen among the pages of the Times of
India and the China Post last week.
The early front-runners for the prize of the
oddest title of the past 30 years are Derek
Willan’s Greek Rural Postmen and Their
Cancellation Numbers, Gary Leon Hill’s
investigation
of People Who
Don’t Know
They’re Dead
and Julian
Montague’s
helpful fieldidentification
guide, The Stray
Shopping Carts
of Eastern North
America.
I’m overjoyed
to report that
public fascination with titles of
a vulgar nature has thus far not
materialised. I’m very proud of all
of you—except the 7% who have
been voting for Big Boom’s If You
Want Closure in Your Relationship,
Start With Your Legs. I’ve logged
your ISPs. One fear is that there’s
a select few hundred people
out there who take great joy in
infuriating me.
Horace Bent
bent@bookseller.co.uk
Choose the oddest title
of the past 30 years by
voting for the Diagram of
Diagrams prize online at
www.thebookseller.com/
diagramprize. The winner
will be announced on 5th
September.
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