Spotted something for Mediawatching? Email us at:
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W
E begin with an episode of Homeland, the hit US drama that sees CIA agent Carrie
Mathison, played by Clare Danes. The long-running series focuses on Carrie’s battles to prevent terrorist attacks, and in the most recent series, she is pitted against the Taliban.
But this is not what interests Mediawatching – [spoiler alert], Carrie is spotted wearing glasses for the first time ever in the penultimate episode of the final series. Regular readers will already know where this is leading. Yes that’s right, CIA agent Carrie Mathison was in disguise as a… librarian. Fake news is everywhere, including the pages of Mediawatching. However, while it might strike us a as a recent development, Andrew Shenton has been in touch to point out that it has been around for a long time, with BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Paul is Dead highlighting one particularly famous example. The programme looked at the rumours surrounding Paul McCartney’s bare- footed procession over Abbey Road’s now-famous Zebra crossing. The album cover led to elaborate theories that Paul had died and been replaced by a lookalike for the album cover. Andrew says: “We tend to think of ‘fake news’ as a modern phenomenon and one particularly associated with social media. By examining the story emerging in 1969 that Paul McCartney had been killed in a road accident and replaced in The Beatles by a lookalike orphan or changeling, the programme demonstrates that ‘fake news’ has long been with us. It showed how, even before the era of the internet, unsubstantiated rumours could spread like wildfire, and gain credibility when people start looking for evidence to fit a predetermined narrative, rather than allowing a narrative to emerge from the evidence.” You can listen to the
September 2021
programme on BBC Sounds at www.
bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04l0tvb. Sticking with the 60s and this time it is Phillip Larkin and a new book from John Sutherland, Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and me. The book looks at the relationship between Larkin, and Jones, an academic and English Literature lecturer at what was then University College, Leicester. In fact it was at the university that she met both Larkin, who became university librarian and Sutherland, who was an undergraduate. Alan Bulllimore has been in touch about the book, to say: “Considering his long career in libraries, this aspect of his career does not feature greatly in works about his life. John Sutherland’s Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and me does at least feature a 1960’s photo of Monica sitting on a desk in the college library. The index however contains more entries for Ringo Starr than Melvil Dewey.”
Moving on, or rather moving back and Kate Eggleston has been in touch about a 1943 book, Violet Methley Derry Down Under. The book is set in 1930s Australia and Kate highlighted the following passage: “A seaplane was used to travel on London to
Australia and a journey takes 10 days. There is a library to help pass time. Seaplanes fly silently, dark glasses need not be worn, and fountain pens should not be taken on board as they are liable to explode. One can hear oneself speak.”
And to complete our reverse chronological run through this month’s library-related media trivia, we head to the Rare Book Hub (www.
rarebookhub.com/articles/3046), thanks to Ian Johnson who emailed saying: “In case you hadn’t been sent this by others, take a look…”
The article explains that a parcel was sent to Sheffield Cathedral and “inside was a book. It was being returned to the cathedral library, which surprised Vice-Dean Canon Keith Farrow who opened the package. It surprised him because the Sheffield Cathedral library closed 200 years ago. That is quite late to be returning a book. A handwritten inscription said, ‘This Book belongs to ye Lending Library in Sheffield Church 1709’.” It was returned following the death of its most recent custodian, who left a request in her will. IP
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