Last week I was out with my muse and we attended Neil Oliver’s lecture tour in which he talks about his new book The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places. (Smiley face)
Apart from the fact that he’s a historian, and a top bloke to boot, what was interesting was that he starts his book in Happisburgh in Norfolk (that I visited on day 7) and ends his book at Dungeness in Kent (that I visited on Day 37). He also talks about a few other places that I visited. (My trip was only 39 days end to end so Dungeness was my third last stop.) Neil’s book is, thankfully, not a travelogue or I might be thinking he’d stolen my idea. (Slightly disturbed wonky mouth face)
In his rather excellent book he tells how, in 2013, archaeologists visited Happisburgh to examine prehistoric footprints in the sediment uncovered by the eroding cliff. I now believe that I was in the Hill House Inn at the time on May 7th when I overheard two or three guys talking about the erosion and made plans to examine the cliffs further the following day.
What is also interesting is that I’m sure I detected similar themes to those I explore in In SatNav We Trust. I don’t want to put words into his mouth, after all I’ve not finished his book yet as I have other things to be getting on with, crowdfunding my own book for a start. However, he seems to be interested in the way people looked at the world, and I suppose that’s what history is, but he’s not hung up on the science of understanding the objects and places. (When I’ve read his book I’ll post a proper review of it on my main website.) I can’t help thinking that there are parallels to my interest in the exploration of rationalism and (so called) irrational perspectives and a search for meaning between the two. People in bygone ages were no less intelligent than us, they simply had different information to go on and, so, came up with different ways of looking at the world.
At the end of the evening I managed to have a chat with him, telling him about In SatNav We Trust, suggesting there might be parallels between the two books. In the process I managed to slip him a business card with In SatNav We Trust scribbled on it.
Find out more here: https://jack-barrow.com/travelogue-in-satnav-we-trust/
I’m just nipping out to buy a felt pen. (Smiley face)
