John Higgs's Octannual Manual

In a little under two weeks, this handsome fella will be released… To celebrate, I’ll be doing a few David Lynch talks. The first will be in Whitby on 6 November, where I’ll be talking to David Barnett. Then I’ll be talking to Tom Huddleston - author of David Lynch: His Work, His World - at Stoke Newington Bookshop on 18 November. There will be news of more Lynch events soon.

It’s that time again - the reveal of the cover of my next book. Here you go, look at this beauty: I know! Would that not look handsome on your shelves? It’s been a lot of fun writing this one, as you can imagine. I’ve always been fascinated by the evolution of fictional characters, and the Doctor has an ability to adapt to changing times unlike any other.

Immediately after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump – and the release of that fist-pumping photo with the American flag and the bloodied ear - two contradictory viewpoints emerged. The first came from political journalists, who saw this image as being historic and of profound political significance. The other viewpoint came from the very-online contingent, who argued that we’ll have all forgotten about it in a couple of weeks. In a way, they were both right.

One of my great joys this year was working with Ian Broudie on his autobiography, which has now landed in a book shop near you: Ian’s story goes from playing guitar in Ken Campbell’s Illuminatus! play when he was a kid, to producing bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Fall, making the glorious uplifting psychedelic pop of the Lightning Seeds and, of course, writing the only song to go to number one four times.

JAMIE REID 1947-2023 After sending these newsletters, I sometimes received an email from the artist Jamie Reid. It might be enthusing about an idea he found in here, or he might be spitting fire and abuse at someone I mentioned favourably, but who he viewed as a villain. It was great getting those emails. They were quite a ride. I will miss them now he is no longer with us.

When the invites to Charles’ coronation were revealed, there was a minor kerfuffle about the amount of magical, supernatural or pagan imagery involved - especially the figure commonly known as the Green Man. The fuss reminded me of that scene in Casablanca, when Captain Renault closed down Rick’s bar. “I am shocked, shocked, to find that gambling has been going on in here!”, he explained, just before being handed his winnings.

It’s been ten years since the paperback of my KLF book was published - and 2023 is a very KLF year - so here comes… It’s the 10th anniversary edition of The KLF - and it will arrive in UK bookshops in July. The ‘new material’ mentioned on the cover is a 13,000 word author’s commentary, which takes the form of footnotes spread throughout the book. In these new footnotes I look back on the text after ten years to see what I make of it now.

In my book Watling Street, I talked about words for which there are no direct equivalent in the English language. One example of this is the German word mahnmal, which is their word for a monument to national shame. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, for example, is known in Germany as the Holocaust-Mahnmal. Not having a word for something like this does have an effect. As I wrote in Watling Street: We may not have the word mahnmal, but could we build a British mahnmal anyway?

A COMEDY OF ERAS History is a right mess. It’s a chaotic and incomprehensible mountain of stuff which should send anyone trying to grapple with it quite mad. It’s no wonder that we avoid seeing it in those terms, and instead attempt to project order onto it. We do this by dividing it up into eras - nice, comprehensible, heavily-fudged eras. Here in Britain historians often define those eras by the passing of monarchs. Journalists like to use the passing of prime ministers.

Here we go - LOVE AND LET DIE: BOND, THE BEATLES AND THE BRITISH PSYCHE is now available in hardback, ebook and a special audiobook, read as always by me, which includes an exclusive edition of I Am The Eggpod. You can find it in your local bookshop or order it online. If you want a signed copy - and you like supporting independent bookshops - get in touch with City Books in Hove. They will sort you out.