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The Enfield Haunting

5/18/2015

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I was so looking forward to this mini-series as I have heard a lot about the true story on which it was based. In fact, I remember at a young age, seeing the photo of Janet seemingly levitating in a book about ghosts in one of my friends’ houses. Since then, it has always stayed with me. So when I saw the trailer for the series I couldn’t wait to watch it.

Based in the late 1970’s, it centres around the Hodgson family, mainly the 11 year old daughter Janet. The first episode sees Janet playing hide and seek in a cemetery where she sees an old man watching her. After that, strange occurrences begin happening in her home and she believes the old man to be a ghost who followed her home. When the happenings start to increase, the local media are called in, who capture photographic evidence and who then decide to contact the Society for Psychical Research.
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The first thing I will say is that I thought the acting was incredible. I watched the ‘Behind the Scenes’ episode too and the difference in the actors to their characters showed how well performed it was. Timothy Spall who played Maurice Gross and Juliet Stevenson who played his wife Betty, were particularly impressive during the more heart-wrenching scenes. Eleanor Worthington-Cox who played Janet was just wonderful in her role and she was very convincing as a confused, frightened little girl. A small (very small) thing I disliked about it though, was the music in the background in particular parts. When the marbles and lego were being thrown around the room, the music seemed to belittle what was happening and make it seem like a bit of a joke. I’m not sure if this was the intentions of the producers or not, but if it was then I don’t know why they would do that when other parts were so serious.

What was most interesting about the series is that it left it open to interpretation. Yes, it showed things that were inexplicable, but it also steered clear of labelling it one way or another – honouring the opposing views from people regarding the true story. I think that was rather refreshing, as it gave me the chance to reflect on whether I believed it was real or not. I must say, I am still doubtful to its origin either way. Part of me wants to think it was real, and with such a variety of people, including professionals, witnessing the phenomena, it is quite easy to believe that something did happen that was otherworldly.

However, there are people, again, professionals, who think it was all a hoax, be it intentional or not. Now, I am not sure where I stand on the belief that a young girl can make noises and move objects just because she is of pubescent age, although I do agree there could be many other factors involved including group hysteria where they all believe they saw or heard the same thing. That brings me to the voice of the old man. I would say it was Janet putting it on, pretending it was the ghost talking through her – that is until you see Maurice fill her mouth with water and tape it up and the voice still speaks. It is documented that the same experiment happened in the true story, with the same results. That makes it a lot more difficult to explain. There are a lot of conflicting opinions surrounding telekinesis and while I believe the mind is very powerful, I don’t believe it can move objects through will alone.

So, where does that leave me? Undecided. I enjoyed The Enfield Haunting and I watched ‘Interview with a Poltergeist’ which spoke to the real-life people involved, but there are too many conflicting sides for me to settle on one belief. I would have to say that, yes, I believe the family were haunted by a poltergeist, but that I also believe a lot of it was either them playing pranks or their imagination. Either way, I am not sure we will ever know the truth behind the story, but The Enfield Haunting makes a very enjoyable and interesting watch and I would recommend it for anyone, whether a believer or a sceptic, as it covers both aspects nicely.

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Sports Autobiographies: Part Two

5/11/2015

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Welcome back. Last week I talked about footballing autobiographies. This week I want to focus on another of my loves – wrestling.
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So, off the topic of football and onto wrestling. WWE to be precise (or WWF as they were known at the time I read the books.) Mick Foley’s ‘Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks’ is a fun and captivating insight into the glitz and glory of professional wrestling through the eyes of a family man and one of the craziest people in the world (my opinion only). Mick is well known for his hardcore wrestling style and his willingness to take ridiculous bumps (remember when his tooth came out of his nose after being choke slammed off a stupidly high steel cage, courtesy of The Undertaker?) and this book reveals the background behind his alter-egos ‘Cactus Jack’, ‘Dude Love’ and ‘Mankind’. It is a heart-warming and insane look into the real life of someone who set the boundaries and raised the bar for every professional wrestler to come after him. Well worth a read.

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Another extremely insightful wrestling book and one of my favourites is Eric Bischoff ‘Controversy Creates Cash’. Bischoff is hated by a great many wrestling fans and is blamed for single-handedly causing the demise of WCW but surely, even the people who dislike him have to admit the man is an absolute genius. I have never read a book like this and the shrewdness of his mind is clear to see in the pages as he describes his time in WCW and his plan to beat WWE in the Monday Night Wars. He is a businessman like you would expect a businessman to be. He does what is best for the company and screw anyone who doesn’t like it! He doesn’t care he is hated, hence the name of his book, and in his eyes any publicity is good publicity. The way his mind works is pure brilliance and I would love to see him involved in the wrestling business again. As a huge TNA fan I loved his stint at the company and I think he is too good to not be involved in the wrestling business somehow. Like him or loathe him, this book is a must-read for any wrestling fan.

There are so many other books I could have spoken about but in the interest of not going on too long I will just mention the ones worth reading here – ‘A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex’ by Chris Jericho, ‘The Rock Says’ by (yep, you guessed it) The Rock, ‘Hitman’ by Bret Hart,’ ‘Cheating Death, Stealing Life’ by the wonderfully talented and sadly missed Eddie Guerrero, ‘The Stone Cold Truth’ by Stone Cold Steve Austin and finally ‘Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker than Wrestling’ by Mick Foley.

Just on an end note, there are some wrestlers who I would love to see write an autobiography about their lives. The first one is Samoa Joe. An incredible wrestler, he is a man who speaks his mind and isn’t afraid to do so. I think a book by him would give the reader an in-depth look into the world of indie wrestling and the bigger stage of TNA. I would definitely buy it! Another I would like to see write a book is someone who tells it how it is; former WWE and TNA colour commentator Taz - as he has had years of experience and must have so many stories from ECW and the other promotions he has worked for, not to mention the wrestlers he has had the opportunity to work with. If C.M Punk were to write a biography I would certainly buy that one. Someone who I think would have brilliant stories to tell is TNA president Dixie Carter. She is a very intelligent woman who cares a great deal for her wrestlers and her fans (why else would she allow Bully Ray to power-bomb her through a table?!) and I would thoroughly enjoy reading about her life so far.

Well, that’s it for this week. I could have gone on and on and on but I had to call it a day at some point. I have a feeling that my wrestling chit-chat is not over for good though so stay tuned :)
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Sports Autobiographies: Part One.

5/4/2015

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Firstly I would like to touch briefly on some recent news. I was saddened to hear of Rio Ferdinand’s wife Rebecca Ellison losing her battle with cancer over the weekend. It is always sad to hear of anyone losing their lives but when they are so young and leave behind young children it is even more of a terrible tragedy. My thoughts are with Rio and his family at this sad time.

Another piece of sad news was the passing of Ruth Rendell, an inspiration for many and a house-hold name in literature who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Her books will leave a lasting legacy.

As always, where there is bad there is good and the news of the newest addition to the royal family was lovely to hear. William and Kate made very proud looking parents as they took their baby daughter home and I am sure George will adore his little sister.



Sports autobiographies: part one.

Now to the subject of this blog – sports autobiographies. I will be doing this in two parts as I have a lot I want to talk about, so this is part one. I haven’t read as many of them as I would like to – I’m working on that – but the ones I have read have all given me a great insight into the people behind them, some of who I love nothing better than watching on a Saturday afternoon.

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Jeff Stelling ‘Jelleyman’s Thrown A Wobbly: Saturday Afternoons in Front of the Telly’ is an absolute gem. Jeff is one of the previously mentioned people who I love to watch on Soccer Saturday. His enthusiasm is infectious and I find him hilarious. The knowledge he has about all things football quite frankly amazes me and in his book he talks about his ritual for getting all of his information (yep, he does all the research himself) for the upcoming matches. A die hard Hartlepool United fan, he is very open to his teams ups and downs (more downs that ups, unfortunately) and he is just an all-round funny guy who I could sit and watch for hours (in fact, the Saturday just gone I actually did sit and watch him for hours as he was on for an amazing 7 hours covering the last day of the season for the Championship). His friendship with the others on the Soccer Saturday panel is lovely and he talks about them all in his book with some rather comical tales. I would urge any football fan to read this book. Fab!

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Sticking with the Soccer Saturday theme I have also read (and loved) ‘How Not to be a Professional Footballer’ By Paul Merson. I love Paul Merson, both as a footballer and as a person. He very often gets tongue-tied on Soccer Saturday and it leads to mistakes that have me in hysterics and his book is full of funny anecdotes too as well as a much more serious and often sad narrative about his demon’s he has had – and overcome – in the past. There is much more to Paul than an absolutely awesome footballer and in his book he comes across as a genuinely ‘normal’ and warm guy who has had some troubles but who can now look back on them and laugh. A great read for any football fan.

There are a lot of footballing books I am aiming to read as soon as I can and here are a few of them – ‘Mr Unbelievable’ by Chris Kamara. He is another one who I find ridiculously funny and who ‘works like a beaver’ – ah, see what I did there??? – and I need to read his book! ‘Always Managing: My Autobiography’ by Harry Redknapp is one on my ‘to read’ list (I do hope he talks about when he was Paul Merson’s manager and he told him he was ill but really went on holiday!). I admire him very much and I think he is a fantastic manager and was very sad to see him leave QPR as I think he had an awful lot to offer them. Personally I’d love to see him in another manager’s role before retiring; fingers crossed! ‘Farewell but not Goodbye: My Autobiography’ by Sir Bobby Robson. Sir Bobby was a great manager and I imagine his story of his life and career to be nothing short of magnificent.

Well, I think that’s it for this blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and I hope I have maybe given you some ideas for your next read. As always, I’d love to hear what your favourite sports autobiographies are and if you have any recommendations for me then please let me know. ‘Sports autobiographies part two’ will be here next Monday, so be sure to check back in.
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