Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller
I have just finished reading this novel. It is set in North London, and you may or may not find it difficult to understand. I am glad that my partner was sitting across the room for most of the time that I was reading it. Afterwards I listened to Radio Four in the kitchen and thought about an Ian Drury song.
'There aint half been some clever bastards'
Ian Dury/There ain't half been some clever bastards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPvRsLWlDXw
Ian Dury And The Blockheads - There Ain't Half Been Some Clever ...
Ian Dury And The Blockheads LYRICS,There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards ,Ian Dury And The Blockheads There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards Lyrics ...
www.lyricsdownload.com/ian-dury-and-the-blockheads-there-ain-t-half-been-some-clever-bastards-lyrics.html - Cached - Similar
I don't know if it does them any good?
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.
#
On Now
18:15-19:00 Pick of the Week Liz Barclay introduces her selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio.
http://www.bbc.net.uk/radio/
I am now going to watch the film, this time on my own.
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Directed by Richard Eyre. With Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Tom Georgeson. A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an ...
www.imdb.com/title/tt0465551/ - Cached - Similar
http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/notes_on_a_scandal/
Synopsis: Dame Judi Dench and Kate Blanchett face off with searing performances in this riveting tale of obsession and desire. Based on the novel by Zoe Heller, NOTES ON A SCANDAL is the story of Barbara...
Dame Judi Dench and Kate Blanchett face off with searing performances in this riveting tale of obsession and desire. Based on the novel by Zoe Heller, NOTES ON A SCANDAL is the story of Barbara Covett (Dench), a hard-nosed spinster schoolteacher, and her poisonous friendship with fellow teacher Sheba Hart (Blanchett).
The book was in the bargain bin of W.H. Smith £3, and the DVD has been discounted by Tesco £4.
So, I am not sure that it has made them a lot of money.
Sad stuff
Notes On A Scandal - Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AruRpjQquQQ
I read the book. it's good. I downloaded the movie for free but haven't watched it. it's about a married female teacher who had an affair with her 11 year old student.
it made me wonder if female teachers generally get sexually attracted to cute young boys. because my female teacher used to be so over-friendly to me in the past. she was new in school. and she was hot too.
.
.
The general message of the book and the film is that it is disastrous for teachers to get too involved with pupils. While I was on holiday, a teacher attempted to murder one of his pupils. A lot of people had a great deal of sympathy for the teacher.
The book is better than the film. Basically I did not like Kate Blanchett in the film and I am not particularly keen on Dame Judi Dench. The book is funny but the images that stay come from the film.
I never saw the film "Notes on a Scandal" but I'm aware of the storyline pretty much.....I usually make an effort to see any Dame Judi Dench film but I think this one was made quite a few years ago now when I was still at uni I think.
I like the sound of Dame Judi's voice, it is quite unmistakeable with a slight huskiness to it, and her style of spoken English is impeccable, but there again she was well groomed into the wonderful world of the theatre one which I adore. Like Guy Fawkes many years before she was born in York, which I visited loads of times while I was at uni in nearby Leeds, and ultimately trained for the stage, musical as well as straight, and her London debut was at the famous Old Vic Theatre, close to Waterloo.
She was brilliant playing the part of Laura Henderson, the lady who, on a pure whim, bought an old run down theatre close to Piccadilly Circus, London, in 1932.
With the help of the impresario London born Vivian Van Damm turned it into a highly successful venture known as the Windmill Theatre, specialising in non stop musical revues featuring loads of pretty girls, dancing and singing, and with the approach of war in 1939 she managed to persuade the Lord Chamberlain of the time to permit nude displays by the girls on stage as long as they remained motionless throughout. Laura Henderson thought that this would give added enjoyment to all the military personnel filling London once WW2 had actually broken out when they sought relaxation in the only theatre in London which refused to close down no matter how severe the bombing raids were in what became known as The Blitz.
Laura Henderson herself attended many of these performances even when death and destruction rained down from the skies on London during all the blitzes, and the girls themselves tried their level best to remain motionless and "in position" on stage throughout the inferno outside and only flinched or moved or even temporarily fell to the stage when the entire building was rocked by a near miss by an HE, while at the same time the largely male audience cowered on the floor between the rows of seats while plaster and sundry fittings and goodness knows what fell down from the ceiling on top of them. They only got up once it was clear the whole building wasn't going to come down on top of them all. They all stood up and applauded the brave girls (and a few boys) on stage and the show went on as if nothing had happened....it was all more or less routine. The theatre then universally became famous for its slogan "We Never Closed" - widely interpreted as "We Never Clothed" as a double meaning.
Jude Dench - as Laura Henderon - seen sitting impassively in her "box" during such a scene in the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqYFmkbssBI&feature=related