Half Life: The Divided Life of Bruno Pontecorvo - Physicist or Spy?

On the eve of the publication of his new book, 'Half Life: The Divided Life of Bruno Pontecorvo - Physicist or Spy?', Professor Frank Close will reveal his discoveries about the atomic scientist Bruno Pontecorvo.

Pontecorvo was an Italian physicist who worked on the British atomic bomb project at Harwell, and his son, Gil, was about to start his second year at Abingdon School. However, on August 31, 1950, in the middle of a holiday in Italy, he abruptly left Rome for Stockholm with his wife and three sons without informing friends or relatives. The next day he was helped by Soviet agents to enter the Soviet Union from Finland.

World-renowned scientist and writer Frank Close reveals the full story of Pontecorvo, bound up in the murky world of scientific research as the Second World War turned into The Cold War. What nuclear secrets did Pontecorvo take with him? Who was the M15 mole at the School? What role did Kim Philby play?

Close has had unprecedented access to archives, letters, family members and other scientists in telling Pontecorvo’s story. Pontecorvo worked on the Anglo-Canadian arm of the Manhatten Project and was privy to many secrets. He uncovered a way to find the uranium so coveted by nuclear powers.

Close is professor of physics at the University of Oxford and a former head of the theoretical physics division at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He is author of bestselling books including Lucifer’s Legacy and Antimatter and has twice won the Association of British Science Writers award.

Frank will be speaking at the Amey Theatre, Abingdon School on Wednesday, March 4 at 7pm. Copies of his book will be on sale on the night, which Frank will be delighted to sign. This is a free event, and will be unticketed, but please email us to register your interest and let us and the school know that you will be attending.

(And take a look at this special BBC 'On This Day' news report from 1950)

In Conversation...An Evening with David Mitchell

Mark Thornton of Mostly Books will be interviewing comedian, actor, journalist and author David Mitchell about his new book “Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: and Other Lessons from Modern Life” on Thursday, 13 November 2014, 7pm.

Please note: this event is now sold out but you can pre-order copies of David's book which he will sign on the evening.

David Mitchell is one of the UK’s best-known comedians. He’s also an actor and writer. A former pupil of Abingdon School, he came to prominence as one half of ‘Mitchell and Webb’ and has since won BAFTAs for ‘Peep Show’ and ‘That Mitchell and Webb Look’. He has also starred in ‘Jam and Jerusalem’, ‘The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff’ and ‘Ambassadors’. He writes for the Observer, chairs ‘The Unbelievable Truth’, is a team captain on ‘Would I Lie To You’? and has appeared regularly on almost all of our most popular panel shows, including ‘QI’, ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘Mock The Week’. In 2012 he published his memoir ‘Back Story’.

David will be in conversation about his latest book ‘Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: And Other Lessons from Modern Life’, a collection of essays in which David considers the problems of everything from chocolate toothpaste to Ryanair, Poundland to ‘whether anything can be done about the Internet’. It’s funny, profound and provocative – and shot through with a surprising amount of common sense.

The event takes place at The Amey Theatre, Abingdon School, Oxfordshire OX14 1DE. David will be signing copies of his book immediately after the event.

Tickets are £12 and are available from Mostly Books. They can be reserved by calling the shop or emailing them on books@mostly-books.co.uk. Seating is unreserved, and doors open at 6:15pm for refreshments.

You can also pre-purchase advance copies of the book at a special discounted pre-order price of £15 (RRP £18.99 hardback) when purchasing your ticket. All advance purchased books will be collected on the night, and David will sign following the event. Pre-ordered books can be signed by David prior to the event at your request.

(Books can also be purchased on the night for £1.99 off the retail price, or £17).

We have an allocation of tickets for Mostly Books customers that will sell out shortly, so please let us know as soon as you can if you would like tickets. All tickets will be sold in advance – not on the door – and all sales are non-refundable; no discounts or concessions on tickets.

A Really, Really Big Event: Five Questions with Anne-Marie Conway and the Oxfordshire Book Awards 2013

The Oxfordshire Book Awards is one of the highlights of our year - in terms of the sheer exhuberance of everyone that attends, there really isn't another event like it. It's a fantastic mash-up of authors and illustrators, readers and book lovers - and there's a whole heap of passion and excitement in the air...

So what exactly are the key elements make it such a success?

How about authors signing and meeting children? Check.

Richard Byrne

Opportunities for photographs with favourite authors? Check.

The winning books made out of cake? Check, check, check...

 

Crack bookselling team and extremely long book stall? Defo check.

All you need now is to let loose approximately 360 children and a critical number of librarians in the hall, and the result is intense, frantic - and rather wonderful.

This year's winners included Richard Byrne for The Really, Really Big Dinosaur. We'd obviously sold out of that book early on in proceedings (ug), but here he poses with his latest book The Great Moon Confusion. Given my love of space-themed books, this is already a favourite (I mean, the racoon is called Aldrin...how cool is that?)

There were special guests as well - Piers Ibbotson, son of the late Eva Ibbotson, talked about his mother's last book 'The Abominables' (published posthumously), and there was also a guest appearances by author Jo Cotterill.

Jo Cotterill

As well as 'Wonder' by RJ Palacio, the other winner was the brilliant Anne-Marie Conway, with her story of relationships and secrets set in a tiny English village, Butterfly Summer.


In between mouthfuls of cake, we asked a Anne-Marie a few questions about how she writes...

Five Questions with...Anne Marie Conway's Writing Life

1.    What are you working on at the moment?

It's a book called 'Purple Ribbon' due on next May. It's almost finished!

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?

Never send your work our early, by which I mean - when it isn't the best it can be. I know you need to set deadlines, but you sometimes only get one chance to impress a publisher or agent, and it needs to be the very best it can be.

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?

I get very nervous about public speaking, so speaking to a large group isn't something I enjoy. I much prefer, at events like this, to talk individually to children. And that's the best thing about being a child's writer - talking one-to-one with children who've read and enjoyed your book!

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing of snack essential before you can start work?

I have a collection of stones from Brighton Beach which are on my desk. Sometimes I write the names of characters on them in pencil - but then rub them off! I hope that doesn't sound too weird...

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?

I was shortlisted for the Times / Chicken House award. Up until then I really hadn't had a great deal of success, but afterwards publishers started asking me for my work.

(Thanks so much to the organisers for our invitation, and to sterling support from Julia, Sally and Jo on the bookstall. I promise I'll get some cake for you soon. For some other takes on the award ceremony, see Jo Cotterill's write-up here, and OUP also covered the event here)

On the Blood Red Road to writing stardom - five questions with Moira Young

It could all have been so different. A career as a dancer, opera singer - and possibly one part of a sketch-writing partnership. But for a horrific injury falling off a bus (which resulted in two broken wrists) Moira Young may never have decided to write for young adults. But we're extremely glad she did...

Moira Young visited Abingdon School yesterday, and captivated the male audience as she explained her (sometimes painful) route to writing success with her book Blood Red Road, this year's winner of the Costa Children's Book Award. As well as a trailer of the book, Moira played a snippet of 'The Wizard of Oz' to the boys (which I reckon must be a first) to illustrate the importance of change which influences the characters in her book.

Blood Red Road fits perfectly into the current hunger (no pun intended) for dystopian future novels, but what makes Moira's book stand out from the crowd is the voice of the main character Saba, which has a rhythm and cadence crucial to the success of the book (and which, it must be said, has divided some critics). Despite the grim future depicted in the book, Saba is someone who you would very much want on your side if faced with a similar scenario...Moira was bombarded with questions from the boys, shared plenty of writing secrets (and a few secrets about her family and writing influences) and we were delighted when she agreed to sit down and answer a few questions after the signing... 

Five questions with...Moira Young’s Writing Life

1.    What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently working on a sequel to Blood Red Road, due out in August. In fact, I really should be working on it now! I’m into final editorial revisions, so after the weekend [she was appearing at the Oxford Literary Festival the next day], Monday morning, I'll sit down at my desk – and bang!

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?

The best tip I was given – and I can’t remember where this came from – is ‘sit at your desk every day and write something'...even if you end up never using those words. You need to write regularly, every day. Whether or not you are lucky enough to be a professional writer, this is your job. You need to focus on the process.

3.    What’s the best thing and worst thing about being a children’s author?

The best thing is meeting the kids. The worst thing: certain authors, in certain ‘literary circles’, look down on children’s writers, and can be quite nasty. But children’s authors are nice people! Also, children are a tough audience, much tougher than adults. Children won’t give you fifty pages to get into a story, they don’t have the patience, and they need to be hooked immediately or you’ve lost them. Oh, and children expect the next book quickly, so deadlines – particularly for series books – are tough!

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential before you can start work?

I need absolute quiet. I work with earplugs in! I cannot have any distractions, in fact I rent a room (in Bath, where I live) in the back of a hairdressers. It’s my little white box, just a desk and nothing else!

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?

Blood Red Road and the Costa [Children’s Award] has changed everything. I got huge interest from the press, and has put me on their radar whenever they want a quote or comment on dystopian fiction. It has raised my profile enormously, and of course sales of the book!

(Signed copies of Blood Red Road are currently available at Mostly Books)

A master class in dealing with the undead

If you ever felt you needed to be much better informed in how to deal with an unexpected rising from the undead, you could've been in no better place than Abingdon School on Wednesday September 14, in the company of children’s author, Charlie Higson.

There is a suspicion that all the children who are avid readers of his books were already several steps ahead and knew that zombies don’t like sunlight and in a tight spot the bit to go for is the brain.

In a whistle-stop tour of despatching the undead, Charlie gave enthusiastic demonstrations of beheading, and stakes through the heart (good against vampires), before describing how popular entertainment in the Victorian era involved electricity and trying to revive recently demised corpses. Vampires were also the stars of the Victorian stage as people flocked to pay to be terrified.

Charlie led an enthralled audience in two sessions to 600 pupils from 12 schools across Oxfordshire, through the long tradition of stories to scare yourself stupid – weaving strands that can be traced back to the romantic poets.

What might have been new to the audience is that scare-the-hell-out-of-you stories are now considered classics when originally all they were out to do was to shock you. He advised everyone to go and read Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’.

Charlie’s talk was also a romp through the origins of some classic literature – for example, did you know that the image of a modern vampire is very much based on ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ poet Lord Byron?

Now it all makes sense that they are beautiful, charismatic and swish about in capes and lordly robes.

Zombies are, however, a different matter. Zombies are dirty, smelly, shuffling about and grunting. Charlie writes about zombies, so zombies were very much the subject of the day – as was how you manage to get the correct level of terror, gore, body bits and flesh eating when your audience is children.

The premise of his horror action stories is that a disease has struck the planet and has killed everyone over the age of 14 – and those not killed outright have been turned into zombies. So all the children must fight for their survival while also trying not to get eaten.

Charlie Higson relishes the fact that with his ‘The Enemy’ series, he is taking on the sky-high challenge of making reading as compelling as watching television or playing computer games.

When he set out to write a new series for kids he went right back to the stories that really gripped him as a boy – setting himself the challenge to make a story that packed enough punch that children would remember it for life. And here are some suitable exercised fans from John Mason School:

His starting point was that if it’s not giving your children nightmares it’s not working, so there was much sympathy in the room for Charlie’s ten-year-old son. We heard of his sweat-drenched night terrors (although it was possibly his own fault for night after night telling his horror-writing father ‘oh that’s not scary’).

His son’s sacrifices are, however, benefiting legions of teenage boys and girls who are now craving their next fix of Higson-induced zombie terror. The latest – ‘The Fear’, is out today (Sep 15):

So should you be recommending all this horror to your children?

Charlie Higson is probably still best-known to adults for his comedy writing. His long apprenticeship as a writer, including writing for television, plus some early (really nasty) adult horror means his books are very well written.

He told the audience he had written six full-length novels as a teenage boy, long before he was to make his living as a writer. He takes a whole year to write one of his children’s books – from initial draft to polishing, looking at the plot, the action and meticulously upping the body count, or deleting a character. The result is a roller-coaster thriller, full of strong character (including strong girl characters) and a seamless, gripping story, full of unexpected jolts and great moments.

Remember – if they do mean your children have nightmares you can be reassured they are in the long tradition of classic storytelling.

Of course if you’ve got a younger one, or a more sensitive one, Charlie Higson made his name as a children’s writer with his ‘Young Bond’ series – all about James Bond at school. Again, suitable from age nine upwards, it is the quality of the writing which means these will certainly become classics and they are readable for children right through their teens.

We hope Charlie Higson won’t have to resort to rising from his grave to grab a little piece of immortality.

We have signed copies in stock – while they last!

Charlie performed heroically over the course of six hours, and a huge thank you to him and Abingdon School for hosting the event so well. Charlie also very generously conducted a number of interviews - Gaskella has a fantastic write-up of the event over on her book blog - but we also were able to get a glimpse into the writing life of Charlie Higson...

Five questions with . . . Charlie Higson's writing life
Charlie Higson is the author of the ‘Young Bond’ series and now into the third of ‘The Enemy’ trilogy about a world where everyone over the age of 14 has either been wiped out by a plague. Those adults who weren’t killed outright were turned into zombies and are now after all the children as a source of fresh food.

1.    What are you working on at the moment?
I am about one-third of the way through the follow up to ‘The Fear’. Originally it was going to be three books and then my publisher, Puffin, said make it five and now we’re up to it being seven.

Writing an ongoing series means that even when you think you’ve finished a book and you might think it’s time to break open the champagne or book a long holiday, in fact the next day you have to start on the next one. You have to keep the momentum up, because kids finish a book and they want to get on with the next one and they grow up quickly.

2.    What is the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
My father said when I was a teenager ‘get yourself a proper job you can always do your writing in evenings and weekends’. Of course, as I was a teenager I completely ignored him. In fact I’ve never had a proper job. I make a living writing – although technically I suppose I have followed his advice because I treat it like going to work and keep the words coming. So I suppose I must have taken something on board.

3.    What’s the best thing and the worst thing about being a children’s writer?
The best thing is the feedback. Only yesterday I met a boy having his book signed who was about 14 and said ‘The Enemy’ was the first book he had ever finished. When you get feedback from parents, librarians, teachers saying how much kids want to read them and through reading them they then find out what fun reading is – that’s the best thing.

The worst thing is that I sort of always have to think about behaving myself and think I had better not say this or do that and that’s probably not my natural behaviour. When Anthony Horowitz started writing for children (when nobody paid very much attention to children’s writers) he often followed around Roald Dahl on school visits. Roald Dahl had a reputation of saying very inappropriate things and probably didn’t even like children very much. My adult novels are full of sex and violence, but as a children’s writer you have to be an ambassador. And news papers being what they are I know that if my trousers accidentally fell down it would be the end of my career.

4.    Do you have a writer’s survival kit, eg a place, thing or snack essential before you can start work?
I try not to be superstitious about it. If you say to yourself you can only write with a certain pen it can become a bit of an albatross. I would probably find it difficult to write without a computer – it does make life easier, but I can write almost anywhere, although it is easier at home.

5.    What was your biggest breakthrough?
The success of ‘Loadsmoney’ on Saturday Live, which I wrote with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, meant we were accepted as established comedy writers. People asked us to do stuff. It opened lots of doors and meant publishers were more interested as well. Publishers want a writer they can market – it’s a business and they want to sell books. And I saw the possibility that I could make a living as a writer.

Buried Thunder: The Very Dangerous Tim Bowler

Tim Bowler gives the impression of being a very dangerous individual. His books - often masterful psychological thrillers aimed squarely at teenagers - are frequently dark, menacing and subversive, the opposite of a safe read. Multi-layered with troubled characters, wild and remote settings, he plays with words like a poet to inject plenty of raw emotions, and hints of darker forces floating just below the surface.

So I was expecting someone a bit more menacing when we welcomed Tim to Abingdon for two school events today, but he was quite the opposite. Friendly, generous and utterly passionate about writing - I defy anyone to spend five minutes in his company and not come away wanting to start to write.

But Tim is in no way 'safe'; he is definitely a very dangerous and frightening individual. That much passion and energy, barely contained, frequently seems to charge up and fly off like an electrical spark, challenging you to throw caution to the wind and write. He was throwing plenty of advice (and even the off Ernest Hemingway quote) about, and - at the first event of the day at Abingdon School - had 13 year olds reading their creative endeavours out in front of their mates. Casting my mind back to school days, that's the kind of activity which would have scared most of us witless:



The workshop he ran - short, intense and very effective - elicited some cracking prose from the boys, and Tim used the start of his new book, Buried Thunder, as a starting point for the exercise.



Having finished the book last weekend, I found Buried Thunder a simply brilliant and utterly compelling book. It opens with a very unsettling (and gruesome) start and then - a few pages in - there's a genuinely scary supernatural twist that makes the hairs on your arm stand up - and there you are, hooked right through to the race-against-time climax. In terms of the unsettling mood created, I was reminded of Alan Garner's The Owl Service (a book I read when I was about 14, and one that I remember vividly at the time in terms of the way it made me feel)



After signing some copies for the boys, we were able to have a relaxing lunch (at the wonderful Wells Stores) - although the subject matter stayed scary (eBooks and the future of the High Street). We then headed over to Larkmead School, for a daunting talk in front of about 90 year eights...


Cue a range of questions, ranging from 'why are your book titles often oxymorons', to 'do you feel for trees that are cut down to make your books'...



And then more signing, and some impromptu advice for students looking to get started on their own stories:



All in all, a busy but thoroughly enjoyable day spent in the company of a true great of English children's writing (learn more on Tim's website). As time goes on, I increasingly feel that the best children's writing is subversive, and after today I may add 'dangerous' to that as well...

Operation Macintyre

We had a tremendous evening on Thursday, with Times journalist - and author of the acclaimed Agent ZigZag - at Abingdon School to talk about his latest book Operation Mincemeat, currently hovering around the top of the bestseller charts since it's publication back in January. Ben talks as well as he writes, and he took us on a whistle-stop tour through the story of this incredible wartime deception, focusing (as the book does) on the cast of unlikely characters who helped make it happen. Many of them have fabulous-sounding typically British names such as Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced 'chumly'), Bentley Purchase and Sir Bernard Spilsbury. Operation Mincemeat was a deception played for the highest stakes, and it's success influenced the outcome of key battles on both the Eastern and Western front in Europe during WWII. What at times seems an outlandish, almost comical, series of events had deadly serious repercussions, and Ben's triumph with the book is to take such a complex and murky subject, and turn it into a book as gripping as any crime thriller, as well as - with the help of recently declassified documents - set it firmly in the historical context of that crucial part of the conflict. Ben is an old boy of the school, and we took advantage of their splendid hospitality suite at the top of the new sports centre. It was pretty much a full house as well. My thanks to the school - and in particular Jan Glover who organised everything from their side - and of course to Ben for making it such a great event. The chap behind us on the big TV screen by the way is one of the architects of Operation Mincemeat, old Charles Cholmondeley himself, sporting a splendid RAF moustache. A character from a bygone age, he - and many other brave individuals - deserve to be better known, and Ben's book my just do that...