Review: The Real Inspector Hound

 Gabe Joseph

“A rattling good evening out. I was held.”

The average school play is an exercise in emotional range. Coming out of a production, I once heard ‘it was interesting to see that side of the pupils’. Whilst that is true, the 6th form production of The Real Inspector Hound was not full of emotional monologues or the exploration of some hero’s tortured psychology, in fact, it was a farce and a piece of meta-theatre. 

Arnav as Magnus Muldoon

Book of the Week

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Max Clapham

Stephen King’s 11/22/63, a novel about a man who attempts to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy, by entering 1958 America through a portal in the back of a burger restaurant, is as far removed from reality as any other time-travel story. Despite being mainly a science-fiction novel, however, the story can also be viewed as part historical fiction and part alternate history, bringing with it some fascinating insights into the nature of historical memory. 

And the SPS Predict the Booker Prize 2024 goes to ...

Yesterday evening, the Kayton Library hosted our annual 'Predict the Booker Prize' event: five Pauline readers bravely volunteered to tackle this year's shortlist and persuade a live and online audience that their book should (or shouldn't) win. But did they get it right? 

Fred, Ishan, Freddie, Alex and Tom with their books

Our history so far is dismal: for six successive years, we have consistently failed to correctly predict the winner - a track record of complete, utter and abysmal failure. But this year - for the first time ever - we were holding the event on the very same night as the Booker Prize itself. Would such synchronicity make a difference? Would there be another first - our first ever correct prediction? Read on and find out …

Booker of the Week

Tonight sees the announcement of this year's winner of the Booker Prize for fiction: you can find out more about the shortlist here as well as interviews with the authors here.  And you can watch the announcment on follow the Booker livestream here. 

Even more excitingly, for the first time ever, we've managed to schedule our annual 'Predict the Booker Prize' event for the very same evening as the real thing. For those of you unfamiliar with 'Predict the Booker', it's a bit like a balloon debate. But with books. Six books, six readers, five minutes each: our Pauline readers present each of the shortlisted nominations before the audience votes for the one that the SPS community thinks should win this year's prestigious Booker Prize.  

Will the serendipitous synchronicity of this year's event affect our five year track record of getting it absolutely, 100% wrong, we hear you ask? Quite probably not. But if you'd like to find out, you can register to join virtually here or book an in person place here.   

We'll be reporting on that event later in the week, but meanwhile, today's post.  After Donald Trump's first election victory in 2016, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four rocketed up the best-seller charts, especially after Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase 'alternative facts' to defend false claims the Trump administration made about the supposedly high turnout for Trump's first inauguration.  Last week, the phenomenon was repeated, with a 250% increase in the novel's sales since last week, although this time round, Orwell's dystopia has been eclipsed by Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, sales of which increased by a 'whopping 6,886%' according to CNN.  But is it right to connect contemporary events to this particular label? Noah Kasolowsky considers how popular usage can redefine a legacy.  

Creative Writing

It's the 450th anniversary of the death of John Milton (OP), and we're using this as an opportunity to publish some of the work of contemporary Pauline creative writers, all of whom took a creative writing EPQ.  Today's post features a short story by Finn Johnsson, whose project focussed on creating a series of short stories, each from a different character's perspective, narrating the events leading up to a murder, and drew on the influence of writers including Agatha Christie, Joan Lindsay and Donna Tartt.  'To ashes' is the first story in the collection, with themes of passion and revenge in the world of art forgery.  The story's illustrations include Finn's sketches of some of the different characters.  

'To ashes'

Finn Johnsson

That painting. It was just an ordinary, f***ing painting. He had never understood his father's obsession, but lately, in the back of his mind, it loomed. Frozen in delicate brush strokes, her visage stared off into the distance. He could hear the horse's panicked scream, the thrill of battle, the blood pounding against his ears. He spent his dreams frantically chasing her across the canvas, and the scene flashed across his eyes when he was awake. His jaw clenched in a silent scream before he slumped back against the seat in resignation.

Creative Writing

This week, SPS is celebrating the work of John Milton, who died 450 years ago this coming Friday.  Here at the blog, we're using the occasion to shine a spotlight on some contemporary Pauline writers, all of whom took a creative writing EPQ. Today, we have 'Pianoman', a short story by Sanil Ganguly, and an extract from an epic poem by Max Swinnerton.