SUNSET RIDE FOR BROKEN TRAILS

Today someone hacked into Broken Trails and commented on just about everything in gibberish.
I've had to put a comment moderator on - something that I did not want to do as I wanted people to feel free to comment as they liked. Not sit at my computer and censor comments. Gives people the impression that if they say something that I don't agree with that I won't publish it.
Broken Trails wasn't built that way.
Broken Trails - in my wife's words - is like a magazine. That was the original intention - to write about all sorts of things and, sometimes, use a theme or a trail if you like.
At the moment I am not sure whether to continue with this blog - I don't know what damage this hacker has done - or whether to start afresh or what.
For the time being there will be no more posts until I have thought things through.
In the meantime - Thank You to everyone who has followed or read my blogs.

WILD WEST MONDAY 3 - Petition

Go to the link at The Tainted Archive and sign the online petition - momentum is growing towards Wild West Monday on the 1st June. Be part of it and sign the petition and e-mail publishers.

WHERE'S JACK? 1969

This is the real Jack Sheppard (1702 - 1724)

WHERE'S JACK? the 1969 movie is a good mix of fact and fiction that stars Tommy Steele as Jack Sheppard and Stanley Baker as Jonathan Wild.

Set in the London of the 1720s the movie, directed by James Clavell, tells the story of an apprentice locksmith who takes up housebreaking to prevent his brother, Tom, from hanging.

Against him is Jonathan Wild, the thief taker and a man who's testimony can prevent Tom Sheppard from the gallows.

It soon becomes clear that Wild is not all on the side of law and order but as big a thief as anyone he turns in. It is not long before Wild realises that Jack Sheppard is not only a rival but a threat to his position.

Jack Sheppard is arrested and locked up in Newgate Prison - but not for long as he escapes. Jack Sheppard becomes the reason for a wager amongst the aristocracy that results in The Lord Chancellor losing his sumptious London home to Lady Darlington. Once again, Jack Sheppard winds up in chains in Newgate Prison - and escapes.

King George the First now wagers that Jack Sheppard could steal his Lord Chancellor's chain of office. Jack Sheppard takes up the challenge but falls into a trap laid by Jonathan Wild. Back to Newgate but no chance to escape this time except by the hangman's noose.

The final scenes are reminiscent of George Cruikshanks' illustrations to the novel 'Jack Sheppard' by William Harrison Ainsworth.

Tommy Steele gives an excellent performance as Jack Sheppard. With his cockney accent and the humour in both his face and lines he really does bring Jack Sheppard to life. As an antagonist Stanley Baker makes Jonathan Wild a fearsome character.

I have a feeling that this film never made it to VHS and there is not a DVD available.

The background to this story began in 1720 with the bursting of The South Sea Bubble which brought about a financial meltdown. The banks made heavy losses, firms went out of business, unemployment rose sharply and the Government of the time was found to be full of corrupt politicians. (Does this scenario sound familiar? History repeating itself).

Thieving became the main occupation and something had to be done about it.

Enter Jonathan Wild who had been born in Wolverhampton in 1683. He had done time in the Debtor's Prison and re-paid his debts by dubious means and was an expert thief. Who better to 'police' London? Jonathan Wild set himself up as the Thief Taker General of London and was paid £40 a head for every thief that he brought to justice. This bounty eventually rose to £140 a head mainly at his instigation - a good price to pay seeing as Wild was making a name for himself and taking the attention away from the current Government problems.

Wild was a thief - he bought from thieves and returned stolen goods to their owners for reward.

Jonathan Wild was the most feared man in London.

The real Jack Sheppard was born in 1702 in Spitalfields in London's East End. Son of a carpenter, he was apprenticed to be one too. London even in the best times was a hard place to live and it was not long before he was making easy money by thieving. He also found himself a 'wife' Elizabeth Lyon known as Edgworth Bess and a partner in Joseph 'Blueskin' Blake.

Yet Jack Sheppard did not make his name as a thief but for his exploits. When first captured he was imprisoned in St. Giles from where he escaped. When he was recaptured both he and Edgworth Bess were imprisoned and, because they were husband and wife, shared the same cell from which they escaped. This had to have taken some doing for Jack Sheppard was only 5'4" and slim build while his wife made two of him and taller. A few more robberies later and Jack was in Newgate and out again to commit further crimes that put him back into Newgate and out again to go on a holiday with Bess.

Quiet days in the country were not for Jack Sheppard for within a couple of weeks he was back causing havoc.

The thing is that Jack Sheppard was becoming something of a legend that was not doing much good for the feared theif taker, Jonathan Wild's, reputation. Jack's antics were an embarassment to Wild.

Jack Sheppard was taken back to Newgate and placed in an open cell and chained with a 24 hour watch. The next time he left Newgate, Jack Sheppard went straight to Tyburn and hanged. He hung for 15 minutes before he was cut down. Hanging in those days was a straight slow strangulation - not the kind where the knot was strategicly placed so that the neck snapped causing almost instant death.

When Sheppard was cut down the crowd took control of the body intending to save him and passing the body to where it was hoped that surgeons would revive him. A riot broke out as troops tried to move the crowd. When the streets cleared all that were left were the unrecognisable, mutilated remains of Jack Sheppard who's body was buried at St. Martin's in the Field. Or was it?

Is the end of the film 'Where's Jack?' fact - or fantasy.

In 1725 Jonathan Wild was hanged for theft and the evidence against him came from two men that he had hanged. One was Joseph 'Blueskin' Blake and the other - Jack Sheppard.

The life of Jack Sheppard was chronicled in The Newgate Calendar and books by Daniel Defoe and William Harrison Ainsworth - the latter, when serialised, upset Charles Dickens who saw interest in his serialised 'Oliver Twist' wane as readers sought out the adventures of Jack Sheppard.

Defoe also wrote about Jonathan Wild as did Henry Fielding author of 'Tom Jones'.

Jack Sheppard even gets a mention in Bram Stroker's 'Dracula'.

Tom Sheppard, Jack's brother, was sent for transportation to Virginia in the USA.

It is interesting that when the outlaws Frank and Jesse James wrote to the 'Kansas City newspaper they signed their letters 'Jack Sheppard'. While two of the original members of the James-Younger gang were George and Oliver Sheppard.

Sandra and I went to St. Martin's In The Fields to see if we could find Jack Sheppard's last resting place only to be told 'it is not his remains that were buried here.'

So - where's Jack?

WILD WEST MONDAY 3 - Penguin Books part 2

Just so that everybody knows - this is the e-mail that I sent to Penguin Books today - if anyone else wants to follow suit address your e-mail to Customer Services as it seems that Penguin Books have a typo error in their FAQs for International Sales.
So in support of Wild West Monday or just for the sake of putting westerns out there on to bookstore and supermarket shelves let us inundate Customer Services at Penguin Books. Let us make sure that this problem does not go away.

Subject:
Books

Date:
Wed, May 27, 2009 11:09 am
To:
internationalsales@penguin.co.uk
Cc:
customer.service@penguin.co.uk

Hi,
So I'm standing on Exeter station just like Alan Lane back in 1935 - I
want something to read on my way home to London.
I fancy a piece of 'pure escapism...the best that the genre has to
offer' (your publicity).
OK I fancy a western - maybe, Mike Jameson or Lyle Brandt. Or Peter
Brandvold or one of Jon Sharpe's 'The Trailsman' series.
Well I should be able to find one of these books on the shelves because
they are published by Penguin books and they publish 'pure escapism
...the best that the genre has to offer'.
Well, maybe, if I was standing on the station at Exeter, New Hamphire, USA
I would find what I was looking for - but not Exeter, Devon, UK. In fact
not anywhere in the UK.
Well, I could buy on line for books that 'there are no demand for'.
That wouldn't have been much good to Alan Lane in 1935 anymore than it
is to me in 2009. Not when you are standing on Exeter station looking
for something to read on the train to London.
Now, by my reckoning, Penguin Books publish a large volume of western
output. The list comprises of a number of well known names and include
Jon Sharpe's 'The Trailsman' series; the 'Longarm' series; 'The
Gunsmith' series and Jake Logan's 'Slocum' series - along with authors
like Marcus Galloway, Peter Brandvold well you know that this list goes
on - authors and series that are collected by western readers in the UK
- but at a price.
All these books cost about the price 'of a packet of cigarettes' -
unless you buy on line then you are looking at the price of two packets
of cigarettes and deny the proposed purchaser the opportunity to
browse.
So my proposal is simple - you follow the same principles that Alan Lane
saw back in 1935. You put the Westerns into supermarkets and bookstores.
That way I and many like me can browse and buy - you in turn make lots of
money and everybody is happy. Simple economics.
Ray Foster

WILD WEST MONDAY 3 - Penguin Books

Has anyone read the 'mission statement' by Penguin Books?
In a nutshell it begins: " He just wanted a decent book to read . . . " Alan Lane a director of Bodley Head publishers was standing on Exeter station back in 1935 looking for something to read on his journey back to London but there was nothing there - just magazines and poor-quality paperbacks.
But Alan Lane knew that there was a vast reading public who could not afford hardbacks so he staked everything on a new company - Penguin Books.
Alan Lane's vision was that paperbacks should be just not sold in bookshops but chainstores and tobacconists and cost no more than the price of a packet of cigarettes.
Times have changed both the price of cigarettes and paperback books have gone up.
"So wherever you see the little bird (Penguin) - whether it is on a piece of prize winning literary fiction or a celebrity autobiography, political tour-de-force or historical masterpiece, a serial killer thriller, reference book, world classic or a piece of pure escapism - you can bet that it represents the very best that the genre has to offer."

That final quote is from the Penguin piece of publicity.
However, Penguin Books do not publish all their pieces of pure escapism in the UK. Penguin books publish Westerns in the USA but NOT the UK. They might say that Westerns can be bought on-line but that is not the point. If Alan Lane was around today, standing on Exeter station he would find his choice limited, especially if he fancied a western, he would not be able to stand there and browse - which is what most people want to do. He could not indulge in a piece of pure Western escapism that represented the best that the genre has to offer.
Penguin Books publish: Jon Sharpe's 'The Trailsman' series - Tabor Evans 'Longarm' series - Jake Logan's 'Slocum' series - J.R.Roberts 'The Gunsmith' series.
Other western authors include: J. Lee Butts, Lyle Brandt, Peter Brandvold, Robert B. Parker,
Dusty Richards, Mike Jameson, Gary Franklin, Jory Sherman, Marcus Galloway, Luke Cypher, Frank Roderus, Johnny D. Boggs, Charles G. West, Wolf McKenna, Jack Ballas and Ralph Compton.
Some of these authors I have heard of - some I haven't for the simple reason that Penguin have not put these books on the UK bookshelves. I, like many others, have not had the opportunity to browse through these books.
And to quote from 'the Dominic Fox scene' blog: " If those books are only published in America what about the American authors? I mean if their books aren't sold in the UK then they are losing out on royalties - aren't they? Maybe they should be asking their publishers why (they aren't sold in the UK) as well" The bit in brackets was added by me.
So - how can westerns get into the stores and be put on bookshelves when the paperback publishers are not making those books available in the first place?

TOMMY STEELE

This week all my blogs will rotate around Tommy Steele.

He was born as Thomas William Hicks in 1936 in South London's Bermondsey.

Tommy Steele rose to fame in the rock 'n' roll era and played from time to time with Wally Whyton's skiffle group The Vipers.

While serving in the merchant navy he stopped over in America and heard the rock music that was growing over there with the likes of Buddy Holly.

Fronting a group Tommy Steele and The Steelmen he charted in the 1956 UK charts with 'Rock With The Cavemen' but it was his number one 'Singin' The Blues' that made his name. The previous week Guy Mitchell had reached the same position with the same song - but it is Tommy Steele's version that is remembered.

Tommy Steele showed his versitality by becoming an actor - playing himself in 'The Tommy Steele Story' and then such movies as 'The Duke Wore Jeans', 'Tommy The Toreador' and the musical 'Half a Sixpence'.

Songs from these films are included on the above CD along with some of the humourous songs like 'What A Mouth (What A North And South).

Singing is how most people remember Tommy Steele but this was a man who could turn his hand to anything. In the 1980s he wrote a novel called 'The Final Run' about the events leading up to Dunkirk. In Liverpool there is a sculpture of Eleanor Rigby - the sculptor was Tommy Steele.

He seems to have done a lot in his, currently, 72 years of life.

Coming up this week: A look at his movie 'Where's Jack?' and his autobiography 'Bermondsey Boy'.

BEAT TO A PULP #25

Tee up to the latest short story at Beat To A Pulp by David Cranmer 'Vengeance At The 18th'.