The best laid plans.... by Alex Marchant
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As Rabbie Burns said, ‘The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley’. Not that my schemes were particularly well laid.
Perhaps I should have stepped back and thought, ‘You’re going to Russia for the World Cup for ten days in June. Is it really wise to publish a book just three weeks before that and arrange events to attend all through the summer – including every remaining weekend in June and July?’ If I had, I might have come to the conclusion that it wasn’t all that wise. And then add into the mix the serious illness of a close family member...
I had been planning this blog post to be all
about my trip to Russia and my impressions of the country thirty-odd years
after my last one – when it was still part of the Soviet Union, albeit already
changing under glasnost and perestroika. And of course this time I
was going during the biggest party on the planet – in the country that had
inspired my love of football all those years ago....
Having to cancel the trip to Russia in order to be around to support my
family, while a great disappointment, at least allowed more breathing space for
planning the remaining events – even if I perhaps ended up watching more
football than if I’d been travelling back and forth on trains through southern
Russia between matches. But it has all still been rather busy.
First of all was the long drive south from my home in Yorkshire for the
Barnet Medieval Festival in early June, where as well as taking a stall to sell
my books, I’d been asked to give a short talk on King Richard III at the site
of what was his first battle.
It was my first taste of a battle too (or at least its re-enactment). The reading I chose to accompany my talk was from perhaps rather late on in my books (about three-quarters of the way through the second one, The King’s Man), but it seemed appropriate to accompany a day of fluttering pennons, firing cannon and clashing armies with a description of the morning before a battle.
Then there was a local launch of The King’s Man at a café on Main Street in Haworth, mainly intended for friends and family, but also promoted to local schools. One result has been an invitation to visit a local primary school to chat to a Year 5 class about being a writer. Another event to cram in to this busy July!
Next up, two more medieval festivals, one hard upon the other – the Middleham
Richard III Festival, in the castle that was his primary home in the north of
England, and Tewkesbury festival – site of Richard’s second battle. Middleham
was preceded by my first school visits – to present copies of my books at
primary schools in Barnard Castle, County Durham. Very generously a local
community group, the Northern Dales Richard III Group, had donated a copy of The Order of the White Boar for every
Year 6 pupil in the town to celebrate King Richard’s strong links with the
town. At Middleham itself, at an education day for local schools, further
copies were donated – and this time presented by His Grace the King himself.
Middleham acts as something of a magnet for Ricardians (supporters of
King Richard who believe he has been maligned over the centuries) – even, one
might say, as a place of pilgrimage. It was certainly a place where my books
received a very warm welcome – and not just from those children who were
receiving free copies. It’s a marvellous feeling as a newbie author to have
people – some of them already known from social media, some not –making a
beeline for your stall and telling you how much they’ve enjoyed your book(s)
and/or that they’ve come specially to buy them.
Tewkesbury is this coming weekend and, as the largest free festival of
its kind in the UK, will be a different experience again. I’m told the
beheadings behind the Abbey are not to be missed! Whether I’ll be able to spare
the time from stall and more readings to witness them I have yet to find out.
In another few weeks, it will be the turn of the re-enactment weekend at
Bosworth – King Richard’s final fateful battle – although this year, for the
first time, apparently there will be a re-enactment with an ‘alternative
ending’ in the morning. I’m all for alternative history –fiction based on ‘what
ifs’. I was sorely tempted to head in that direction in my own books as the
battle of Bosworth loomed closer – though soon reminded myself that the point
of my books was to stick as close as possible to the actual history to bring
that to young people who might otherwise only encounter Shakespeare’s twisted
version. It will be intriguing to see how the re-enactment pans out.
Philippa Langley, finder of King Richard III's grave, placing a white and a red rose at Bosworth to commemorate all those who fell in the battle. |
More school and library visits are lined up over the coming
months, but no more such major events, and not so close together. I think I’ll
need a breather after the intensity of this summer. And at some point I have to
start writing that third book – the one that readers keep asking me about – to
my delight and, if truth be told, terror!
Will I do the same round of events next year? Perhaps some
of them. People keep suggesting new ones too. Without a major football
tournament next summer, I could probably fill every weekend with medieval
festivals and similar events. And the following year? Well, my partner has
promised me that we will start planning a replacement rail trip round Russia
very soon...
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