It's the middle of September so it must be time to start thinking about Christmas (please don't pelt me with things). Actually since I became an internationally selling publisher, I've come to realise how important Christmas is in the selling of books. Certainly summer is not great - for some reason it would seem there is some resistance to the idea of taking large format art/history books to the beach. I've still been getting a trickle of sales (just about to drop off the latest batch for posting) but I'm starting to think about how to raise awareness for the Christmas present buyers out there. Despite all the fantastic publicity and reviews, there are still a lot of people out there who have never heard of 'A Group Photograph'. I don't think I'm going to get many more of the traditional opportunities so I've decided it's time to go out into left field - I'm going to paint my bottom blue and sky-dive off the Shard trailing tinsel in the shape of Santa. Obviously there are some logistical difficulties to get over first (not least in finding enough blue paint), so in the meantime if anyone's got any better ideas (unlikely, I know), then I'd be glad to hear them. In any event, I hope that I've got enough books this time that I'm not in the position of organising a reprint in December again!
My plan earlier in the year was to get my next book (about the experience of doing this whole project) out there in time for Christmas. I've managed to get a long way with the writing but was just thinking it wouldn't do it justice to rush things just for the sake of a quick buck when I got distracted by preparations for a meeting about hosting my exhibition at the Forum in Norwich. The layout means that it won't be the same as it was in Ypres, but they have facilities there that make it possible to develop some of my ideas further and it's a fantastic opportunity to reach a different and wider audience (possibly even in terms of making it into a touring exhibition). We're talking about doing a taster in March 2017 (alongside an exhibition on making the most of old photographs for family & local history) and then a full exhibition in November 2018 for the Centenary of the Armistice.
The Forum has a very high-tech gallery space that will enable me to create something I wasn't able to do in Ypres - an animated photomontage of all the photographs I've got of these men (over 1200 of them) - something that takes that one moment in time in the original photograph and gives it depth and life. It's going to take a lot of work but will be extraordinary to look at when it's done. At the moment I'm going through cutting out and re-sizing and positioning and blending in each of the photographs - and this is what I'm going to be doing for some time yet.
I've got a few presentations coming up (1st October: Appledore Book Festival, Devon - 10th October: Herne Bay Historical Society, Kent - 13th October: The Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery, Newbury, Berkshire - see www.groupphoto.co.uk/presentations for further details) and I'm sorry I haven't followed up on other requests but I'm wanting to concentrate on creating artwork at the moment. I hadn't created anything new for a year and although what I'm doing is laborious, it is great to be so totally absorbed in something again. It seems to be a feature of so many forms of art that they force you to look at things more closely and in so doing you see things that you would not otherwise notice. Looking so concentratedly at old photographs is like a form of time travel. It is hard to imagine that the people pictured are not still alive - as I cut round a child's sandals I can imagine the wriggling as their mother helped to put them on, things that were habitual become special because the moment was captured - a cigarette smoking between fingers, a cup of coffee being drunk, a beer being poured - I can almost smell these things and hear the chatter around them - and when a pair of eyes look directly at me via someone-else's camera it is as if they are with me now. We can get so absorbed in the busyness of life that we miss the magic in the everyday.
A few things have helped me recently. Firstly there was this little video: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37308675 - and that has made me realise how lucky I have been - that though I've had a lot of people not take the time to notice that I've done something original, not everyone has said "No!" - that there are people who have said "Yes!" and given me fantastic opportunities and I must make the most of them. Secondly, a friend suggested I work out what my goals for my project are. This year I've been so bound up with selling books and the difficulties that go with that and that has led to me losing focus on what's important to me. I never did this to make money, yet the times that I have had to struggle with next to no money have sometimes risen too high up in my memory and led to worry which is not helpful. I want to open people's eyes to new ways of looking at life and the world around us and so I must concentrate on getting people to see what I've created. The book tells only part of the story - my artwork shows more. And thirdly another friend responded with such enthusiasm to my animated photomontage idea that when I expressed my worries about how I was going to make a living whilst doing it, he said, "Well, you've made it this far, just get on with it and it'll work out". So that's what I'm doing (though don't be surprised if something large, blue and tinselly is reported airborne near the Shard).
'A Group Photograph - Before, Now & In-Between' - News & Thoughts
Monday, 19 September 2016
Wednesday, 20 July 2016
Review in Summer Reading List for MPs
My Member of Parliament, the Rt Hon Keith Simpson MP, has just sent me the Summer Reading List he puts together for his fellow MPs (you can see it here). It includes a good mention of my book and not only that but it features on the same page as John Harris’ ‘Covenant with Death'. That really is quite something given that I rate that to be one of the best books about the First World War that I have read. It had an enormous impact on me when I read it in my teens (a very long time ago!), and was indirectly an inspiration for my project.
I've also just had the best review I could wish for from one of my customers on Amazon (though it's in the reviews section for my customer service rather than for my book):
I've also just had the best review I could wish for from one of my customers on Amazon (though it's in the reviews section for my customer service rather than for my book):
"Deeply moving accounts of each man given in such a way that the reader
recognises that the accounts speak for every man and his family involved with
war. A book, in my opinion, which should be studied by every child at some point
in their school life."
I hope that I find a way to make that happen - and in the meantime my book is available from www.groupphoto.co.uk/the-book (whether it's ordered there or on Amazon, I end up organising the dispatch - though it’s
cheaper to buy through my website and then I don’t end up losing such a chunk to
Amazon).
Sunday, 10 July 2016
Writing the next book
It amazes me that it's 2 months since my last blog post. A lot has happened in that time but I'm fully into writing my next book and so I'm going to try and keep this brief ("Fat chance!" I hear those of you familiar with my newsletters say!).
Well, the first news is that I've had a bit of a break. I was really feeling burnt out and, with things having quietened down a bit, I took the opportunity to go on a road-trip to see friends in Dresden. On the way back I stopped in at the Museum in Ypres and photographed all the items belonging to the Berlein brothers before they are returned to the family in South Africa. I'd seen most of the items before, but it was good to be able to take my time and have a better look at everything - and in the end I took 1707 photos in 2 days. Here are a couple of them:
A postcard sent from Charlie to his brother Leslie from Nuremberg in 1903:
I'd actually briefly visited Nuremberg on my road-trip (and whilst I remember, something I was lucky not to fall foul of is that, if you're driving in most German cities these days, you need to an environmental badge: see www.environmental-badge.co.uk/en/environmental-badge.html).
And this is the fold-away lantern that still has the soot and candle from the last time that one of the Berlein boys used it in 1915, when they were in the trenches facing the soldiers of the country of their father's birth:
On my return home, I turned to reading 'The Lost Tommies' by Ross Coulthart. I had been pointed to this by my Dad who sent me the book review from the Sunday Times with the suggestion that it might be a good idea to send my book to the reviewer. John Carey has been the chief book reviewer for the Sunday Times for over 30 years and this is part of what he wrote to me:
"Endlessly fascinating and profoundly moving. It brings the past to life with matchless vividness."
Quite a review, especially considering that he has a reputation for not saying things unless he truly means them. I get the impression that he doesn't get to choose which books he reviews for the Sunday Times so I'm not holding my breath for them to print anything - but still it is something to hold on to as I work on my next book.
Back to 'The Lost Tommies', and it shows the most amazing cache of 4000 glass plate negatives from the First World War that was found in the attic of a French barn a few years ago. They really are the most fabulous photographs - standing up in their own right as beautiful portraits even without the context in which they were taken - and you can get a flavour of them at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3LVxjjZghNQW2LJhx1SsX0t/the-lost-tommies. There was so much of the story of the search that chimed with my own research but the big difference is that none of the soldiers in the photographs are named and the only clues as to who most of them are just in the badges of their regiments - most of them will probably never be named. That said, I spotted some things I thought I might be able to help out with - and even though it seemed like it might be a bit of a red herring from what I was supposed to be doing, it appears to have been a very good thing to do. Firstly, it reminded me how much I enjoy doing this sort of research (something that I haven't really been doing since I started working everything up for the exhibition and then was consumed by the book-selling monster). I've managed to identify one of the men, am hopeful of identifying two more, and have got ideas about another which might lead to an interesting adventure when I next need a break. And secondly, the red herring has turned out to be nothing of the sort. In fact it has been a reminder that it's a good idea to follow where your nose leads you, as, in following up some leads, I ended up going to the National Archives in Kew for the first time in a couple of years. Whilst I was there I tried to give a copy of my book to a member of staff who has been there ever since I first started visiting Kew over 22 years ago. I say "tried" because I discovered that staff are not allowed to accept gifts, but she was appreciative of the gesture and the book ended up as a donation to the library. Discussions in National Archives bookshop also led them to not only take on my book for sale but has generated a great deal of interest in terms of my giving a presentation there or maybe even some form of exhibition. Watch this space.
Another great boost has been taking part in the Chalke Valley History Festival. I really wasn't sure what it was going to be like, and what sort of audience they were going to be able to generate for me given that I was one of the first people on on the day and they were charging £10.75 each for my talk and I'm not exactly as well-known as many of the speakers at the Festival. My fears were unfounded and I spoke to at least 100 people and had a fantastic response, not just in terms of the comments and questions when the microphone was passed round the audience at the end, but also at the book-signing in the Festival bookshop afterwards - and my book was joint top seller for the day with Andrew Roberts' new book on the Battle of the Somme, 'Elegy'. The atmosphere at the Festival was warm and interested in a way that the rain and the mud could not dampen, I particularly enjoyed the anachronisms that were apparent in every direction - ancient Britons walking between Second World War US Army trucks, not being allowed into the First World War trench because it was too dangerously authentic, having a lovely chat with a cook in her Tudor kitchen but not being able to taste her food because she didn't have a hygiene certificate. I went to some fantastic talks, and (let the name-dropping begin) I really enjoyed the opportunity to have lunch with Terry Waite, supper with Ian Hislop, Charlie Higson & Justin Pollard (writer on QI) amongst other people who were at the Festival to speak on an eclectic variety of interesting subjects. I also have the great honour to announce that I was able to point Alice Roberts to the nearest loo. The icing on the cake though was being able to shake Melvyn Bragg's hand and personally thank him for providing the ringing endorsement that saw me on my way when I was starting to promote my book.
I'm still in the incredible position of selling books most days (there have only been 5 days in the last 7 months when I haven't sold a book). There are a few bits of book promotion coming up (I've just heard that there is a glowing review that's just come out in 'Stand To!', the journal of the Western Front Association), and I'm setting up some presentations for October, but I'm aiming to spend the next 3 months writing. I enjoy meeting and talking to people at my presentations but it is such emotional material that it does take a lot out of me and I'm looking forward to having a quieter time.
Sales from my first book have enabled me to just make a significant donation to the International Tree Foundation's campaign to save the Kafuga Forest, an important buffer zone vital to the survival of one of only 2 colonies of mountain gorillas left in the world (see http://internationaltreefoundation.org/itf-projects/biodiversity-for-kafuga-pocket-forest/ and if you can make a donation via http://internationaltreefoundation.org/save-ugandas-kafuga-forest/ that would be greatly welcomed). It's not only about saving the forest, it's also about protecting the environment and livelihoods of over 18,000 people who live in that area. It’s good to have an positive incentive beyond just getting the message across of the effects of the First World War (but then, given the latest twists in politics, that’s pretty important too).
Well, the first news is that I've had a bit of a break. I was really feeling burnt out and, with things having quietened down a bit, I took the opportunity to go on a road-trip to see friends in Dresden. On the way back I stopped in at the Museum in Ypres and photographed all the items belonging to the Berlein brothers before they are returned to the family in South Africa. I'd seen most of the items before, but it was good to be able to take my time and have a better look at everything - and in the end I took 1707 photos in 2 days. Here are a couple of them:
A postcard sent from Charlie to his brother Leslie from Nuremberg in 1903:
I'd actually briefly visited Nuremberg on my road-trip (and whilst I remember, something I was lucky not to fall foul of is that, if you're driving in most German cities these days, you need to an environmental badge: see www.environmental-badge.co.uk/en/environmental-badge.html).
And this is the fold-away lantern that still has the soot and candle from the last time that one of the Berlein boys used it in 1915, when they were in the trenches facing the soldiers of the country of their father's birth:
On my return home, I turned to reading 'The Lost Tommies' by Ross Coulthart. I had been pointed to this by my Dad who sent me the book review from the Sunday Times with the suggestion that it might be a good idea to send my book to the reviewer. John Carey has been the chief book reviewer for the Sunday Times for over 30 years and this is part of what he wrote to me:
"Endlessly fascinating and profoundly moving. It brings the past to life with matchless vividness."
Quite a review, especially considering that he has a reputation for not saying things unless he truly means them. I get the impression that he doesn't get to choose which books he reviews for the Sunday Times so I'm not holding my breath for them to print anything - but still it is something to hold on to as I work on my next book.
Back to 'The Lost Tommies', and it shows the most amazing cache of 4000 glass plate negatives from the First World War that was found in the attic of a French barn a few years ago. They really are the most fabulous photographs - standing up in their own right as beautiful portraits even without the context in which they were taken - and you can get a flavour of them at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3LVxjjZghNQW2LJhx1SsX0t/the-lost-tommies. There was so much of the story of the search that chimed with my own research but the big difference is that none of the soldiers in the photographs are named and the only clues as to who most of them are just in the badges of their regiments - most of them will probably never be named. That said, I spotted some things I thought I might be able to help out with - and even though it seemed like it might be a bit of a red herring from what I was supposed to be doing, it appears to have been a very good thing to do. Firstly, it reminded me how much I enjoy doing this sort of research (something that I haven't really been doing since I started working everything up for the exhibition and then was consumed by the book-selling monster). I've managed to identify one of the men, am hopeful of identifying two more, and have got ideas about another which might lead to an interesting adventure when I next need a break. And secondly, the red herring has turned out to be nothing of the sort. In fact it has been a reminder that it's a good idea to follow where your nose leads you, as, in following up some leads, I ended up going to the National Archives in Kew for the first time in a couple of years. Whilst I was there I tried to give a copy of my book to a member of staff who has been there ever since I first started visiting Kew over 22 years ago. I say "tried" because I discovered that staff are not allowed to accept gifts, but she was appreciative of the gesture and the book ended up as a donation to the library. Discussions in National Archives bookshop also led them to not only take on my book for sale but has generated a great deal of interest in terms of my giving a presentation there or maybe even some form of exhibition. Watch this space.
Another great boost has been taking part in the Chalke Valley History Festival. I really wasn't sure what it was going to be like, and what sort of audience they were going to be able to generate for me given that I was one of the first people on on the day and they were charging £10.75 each for my talk and I'm not exactly as well-known as many of the speakers at the Festival. My fears were unfounded and I spoke to at least 100 people and had a fantastic response, not just in terms of the comments and questions when the microphone was passed round the audience at the end, but also at the book-signing in the Festival bookshop afterwards - and my book was joint top seller for the day with Andrew Roberts' new book on the Battle of the Somme, 'Elegy'. The atmosphere at the Festival was warm and interested in a way that the rain and the mud could not dampen, I particularly enjoyed the anachronisms that were apparent in every direction - ancient Britons walking between Second World War US Army trucks, not being allowed into the First World War trench because it was too dangerously authentic, having a lovely chat with a cook in her Tudor kitchen but not being able to taste her food because she didn't have a hygiene certificate. I went to some fantastic talks, and (let the name-dropping begin) I really enjoyed the opportunity to have lunch with Terry Waite, supper with Ian Hislop, Charlie Higson & Justin Pollard (writer on QI) amongst other people who were at the Festival to speak on an eclectic variety of interesting subjects. I also have the great honour to announce that I was able to point Alice Roberts to the nearest loo. The icing on the cake though was being able to shake Melvyn Bragg's hand and personally thank him for providing the ringing endorsement that saw me on my way when I was starting to promote my book.
I'm still in the incredible position of selling books most days (there have only been 5 days in the last 7 months when I haven't sold a book). There are a few bits of book promotion coming up (I've just heard that there is a glowing review that's just come out in 'Stand To!', the journal of the Western Front Association), and I'm setting up some presentations for October, but I'm aiming to spend the next 3 months writing. I enjoy meeting and talking to people at my presentations but it is such emotional material that it does take a lot out of me and I'm looking forward to having a quieter time.
Sales from my first book have enabled me to just make a significant donation to the International Tree Foundation's campaign to save the Kafuga Forest, an important buffer zone vital to the survival of one of only 2 colonies of mountain gorillas left in the world (see http://internationaltreefoundation.org/itf-projects/biodiversity-for-kafuga-pocket-forest/ and if you can make a donation via http://internationaltreefoundation.org/save-ugandas-kafuga-forest/ that would be greatly welcomed). It's not only about saving the forest, it's also about protecting the environment and livelihoods of over 18,000 people who live in that area. It’s good to have an positive incentive beyond just getting the message across of the effects of the First World War (but then, given the latest twists in politics, that’s pretty important too).
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Making the Centenary relevant
It amazes me that more is not being made of the Centenary of the First World War in relation to the world we are living in today. On 23rd June the UK is voting on a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. 8 days later will be the ceremonies to commemorate the Centenary of the disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme. When they were growing up, none of the participants in that battle can have imagined the horrors they would have to face, and after the War ended many imagined that no-one would choose the possibility of facing them again. But as has been shown time and again, human memory is often short and one-eyed, and we are not immune to catastrophe. It seems impossible as I look out of my window at the blue sky of a sunny day that anything bad can ever happen but that is no reason for complacency.
2016 is different in so many ways to 1916, but there are a lot of similarities. There are people for whom life is all about the pursuit of material gain. There are people who believe they are better than other people for all sorts of abstract reasons (where they were born, where they went to school, what their religion is). There are big organisations who have lost sight of individual human needs. There are large amounts of the media more interested in spectacle than progress. There are people who think that the solution to problems is separation and/or violence. And there are people who don't think.
The human problems don't go away and particularly not when we focus on the differences between us rather than the fundamental truths we have in common. We all arrive in the miracle of birth, we all live in a world of much unexplained mystery, and we all die (for the truth of that, see the list of memorials I've just put up for each man in my group photograph - see www.groupphoto.co.uk/background). That's what a lot of those who met up in the Christmas Truce saw when they met up in No Man's Land - not just someone classified as "the enemy" but people like them trying to survive in a world beyond their control.
So what to do in this world where so often it seems we are presented with Hobson's choice, a rock or a hard place, a frying pan or a fire, a Trump or a Clinton, an EU or a Brexit? As my fount of paternal wisdom says "We live in an imperfect world". In the end, you have to pick the option with the least lunatics - and there is a lot to be said for trying to bring about change from within an organisation. Believe me, I know from my own experience that it's awfully hard to get anywhere if you're on the outside. But oh, the waste. All this money and time and effort being spent on arguing. The phrase "fiddling whilst Rome burns" comes to mind. The biggest problem we face is how to share this world of limited resources when population continues to expand and use those resources. The current economic model is based on continuous expansion and consumption. Given that the World is finite, at some point that is going to break down. So if the big organisations aren't committed to addressing this problem, what can we as individuals do?
Well, something one can learn from the First World War is that Route One frontal assault on entrenched positions tends to be costly for everyone involved. Fighting against big organisations and focusing on what is wrong is a recipe for despair. I know I spend a lot of time in angry frustration. And that doesn't get anyone anywhere. So, it is time to think laterally. Most people in the Western world have more choice now than ever before, and yet we often don't exercise that choice - and there is so much we can do that shows we care, whether it be on a small or a large scale.
In my project I was inspired by the life of Donald Stileman and the tale of "The Man Who Planted Trees" - it is in my book and you can read it in the book extract on my website. His epitaph was "Greatly Loved - Man of the Trees". The beauty of the Internet is that I have discovered the story of a man who also served and was wounded three times in the First World War and then went on to found an organisation that has since led to the planting of an estimated 26 billion trees worldwide. His name was Richard St. Barbe Baker and the organisation he founded in 1922 was called 'Men of the Trees'. That organisation has since become the International Tree Foundation and not only do they plant trees but they are dedicated to finding ways of those trees supporting the communities in which they are planted, providing a balance of environmental and economic benefit. My talents do not lie in horticulture (as anyone who has seen my garden will attest) but I can earn money from what I do and I have decided that this is the cause I will support. In addition to donating the fee the Daily Mail paid me for my part in their article, I will donate 10% of the profits from my books. And I say "books" because I have started work on my next book telling of the experience of doing this project - of how I went from an unemployed Chemistry & Computer Science graduate to having an Art & History exhibition in a major museum.
I've recently been feeling rather bogged down in the re-telling of the First World War. It feels good to have a purpose other than reminding people of the awfulness.
2016 is different in so many ways to 1916, but there are a lot of similarities. There are people for whom life is all about the pursuit of material gain. There are people who believe they are better than other people for all sorts of abstract reasons (where they were born, where they went to school, what their religion is). There are big organisations who have lost sight of individual human needs. There are large amounts of the media more interested in spectacle than progress. There are people who think that the solution to problems is separation and/or violence. And there are people who don't think.
The human problems don't go away and particularly not when we focus on the differences between us rather than the fundamental truths we have in common. We all arrive in the miracle of birth, we all live in a world of much unexplained mystery, and we all die (for the truth of that, see the list of memorials I've just put up for each man in my group photograph - see www.groupphoto.co.uk/background). That's what a lot of those who met up in the Christmas Truce saw when they met up in No Man's Land - not just someone classified as "the enemy" but people like them trying to survive in a world beyond their control.
So what to do in this world where so often it seems we are presented with Hobson's choice, a rock or a hard place, a frying pan or a fire, a Trump or a Clinton, an EU or a Brexit? As my fount of paternal wisdom says "We live in an imperfect world". In the end, you have to pick the option with the least lunatics - and there is a lot to be said for trying to bring about change from within an organisation. Believe me, I know from my own experience that it's awfully hard to get anywhere if you're on the outside. But oh, the waste. All this money and time and effort being spent on arguing. The phrase "fiddling whilst Rome burns" comes to mind. The biggest problem we face is how to share this world of limited resources when population continues to expand and use those resources. The current economic model is based on continuous expansion and consumption. Given that the World is finite, at some point that is going to break down. So if the big organisations aren't committed to addressing this problem, what can we as individuals do?
Well, something one can learn from the First World War is that Route One frontal assault on entrenched positions tends to be costly for everyone involved. Fighting against big organisations and focusing on what is wrong is a recipe for despair. I know I spend a lot of time in angry frustration. And that doesn't get anyone anywhere. So, it is time to think laterally. Most people in the Western world have more choice now than ever before, and yet we often don't exercise that choice - and there is so much we can do that shows we care, whether it be on a small or a large scale.
In my project I was inspired by the life of Donald Stileman and the tale of "The Man Who Planted Trees" - it is in my book and you can read it in the book extract on my website. His epitaph was "Greatly Loved - Man of the Trees". The beauty of the Internet is that I have discovered the story of a man who also served and was wounded three times in the First World War and then went on to found an organisation that has since led to the planting of an estimated 26 billion trees worldwide. His name was Richard St. Barbe Baker and the organisation he founded in 1922 was called 'Men of the Trees'. That organisation has since become the International Tree Foundation and not only do they plant trees but they are dedicated to finding ways of those trees supporting the communities in which they are planted, providing a balance of environmental and economic benefit. My talents do not lie in horticulture (as anyone who has seen my garden will attest) but I can earn money from what I do and I have decided that this is the cause I will support. In addition to donating the fee the Daily Mail paid me for my part in their article, I will donate 10% of the profits from my books. And I say "books" because I have started work on my next book telling of the experience of doing this project - of how I went from an unemployed Chemistry & Computer Science graduate to having an Art & History exhibition in a major museum.
I've recently been feeling rather bogged down in the re-telling of the First World War. It feels good to have a purpose other than reminding people of the awfulness.
Monday, 18 April 2016
Upcoming events
- I'm at Dauntsey's School in Devizes this Tuesday evening, 19th April: see www.dauntseys.org/news/mercers-lecture-by-andrew-tatham for details.
- I've had confirmation that I'm giving a presentation at the Chalke Valley History Festival, and am honoured to be speaking at 2 p.m. on 1st July - the Centenary day of the opening of the Battle of the Somme.
- I have been booked to give a full presentation at the Appledore Book Festival on 1st October on the day that their patron Jeremy Vine will be visiting.
I'm planning to build tours of presentations around these last 2 events.
The WDYTYA? experience - and onwards
Well, I was pretty dead by the end of Who Do You Think You Are? Live - things were really full-on for 5 days and this last week has been about recovery and processing all that happened, some of which was difficult to handle. I know it's traditional these days to be relentlessly upbeat in these sorts of communications but I feel the need for a bit of honesty - there were positives (and I will come on to them) but it was also the case that certain issues I've had to deal with throughout my project have reared their heads and I feel that maybe talking about them will lead to someone getting back to me with an idea to sort them out.
Firstly I have to say Thank Goodness that Jacob was there along with me - not only for all the work he did, but also for the laughter that got us both through it. On Tuesday we picked up the van in Norwich then went to Ipswich to pick up a load of my books before heading off to our hotel in a quiet village just 10 minutes this side of the NEC. Trial One was going out to the hotel carpark on the Wednesday morning and discovering that one of the van's rear tyres was completely flat - we were then faced with the sort of Command Task which I have rarely been faced with since I stopped doing things with the Army - Ford have been very cunning in their space-saving and security-conscious stowage of spare wheel and tools and it took a couple of phone calls to the van office plus a lot of rolling around on the tarmac and much sweating to get everything swapped over and ready to go. We were exhausted before we'd even started (and at the end of the day I had to pay £114 for a new tyre given that a substantial nail had put paid to the old one).
We spent the rest of the day unloading and setting up the stand. I had a rough idea of the lay-out beforehand but had to think on the hoof to make adjustments given the actual practicalities that we were faced with - getting the power socket moved so that the cable didn't cross over where I was projecting onto and rigging up some kind of ceiling to stop odd shadows criss-crossing my projections on the back wall of the stand. With a few signs I printed out overnight, this is what we ended up with for the opening on Thursday morning:
It wasn't the most professional-looking stand, but there was a title board running around the outside of the stand to identify us, there were pages from the book on display left and right where people could read them if they wanted to have a look without committing to talking to anyone, and I thought the projections were different enough to arouse curiosity (one projection zoomed in and panned around the faces of the men in the group photograph and gave their names, and another scrolled through the panorama of all the tree drawings). I also knew that the 8-page feature was coming out in WDYTYA? magazine and I thought that would also lead people to want to seek us out.
One of my earliest visitors was a prominent genealogist who I'd met at one of my previous presentations. I thought we'd got on OK before so I was surprised to hear,“Oh, I see you’ve got your nice little book with
you” (whilst making no effort to actually have a look at it) and “I see
you’re showing your funny trees – it’ll be interesting to see what people make
of them”. I'm not quite sure what to make of that except that I have a feeling I'm not doing genealogy the proper way. It wasn't a great start but we were soon getting stuck into enticing people by smiles and hellos onto our stand - and that's when the hard work really began. OK, there were people who knew about me (including some who'd already bought my book and wanted to meet me and shake my hand), but there were a lot of people for whom it was all new and the most common thing we were asked, usually in mid-sentence as we were introducing the book, was "so what unit was this?" - and it was a constant effort to try and shift people from the idea that this was a standard history book about a specific unit. OK, the specific stories of these men and the 8th Royal Berkshires are important but for me this project has always been about taking those specific stories and turning them into something universal - looking at the long-term effects of the War on all of us, exploring what it means to be a human being, our place in history and our place in memory, and what we can learn from the past to make the future better. And I just haven't found a way of getting that instantly across before a lot of people have already made up their minds that this is standard military/family history - so some people don't bother really looking at the book, or don't come to my presentations - and often those people who do read or do come are surprised by what they find.
At the other end of the spectrum, when a lot of people see my animated film or my tree drawings without any introduction, it's not what they're used to and they can switch off without engaging with it. In the exhibition in Ypres, there were films in the different sections which introduced the new concepts (well done to Piet & Klaus & Manu for working out these films were the way to do it - they really held the whole exhibition together and made it work) - but on my stand at the NEC I couldn't show these (not only would the sound have interfered with what was going on on stands around me, but I would have needed a theatrical licence to show them). So it was a case of Jacob or I explaining things to everyone who came to the stand - and boy is that tiring - but given that I was not given a slot to give any sort of presentation, that was the way it seemed it had to be.
It was only really at the beginning and end of each day that we had significant quiet periods with no visitors, and in between there was a fairly constant and varied stream. There were some exceptionally rude people we had to deal with. One man cut me off to tell me that despite what I was saying actually my book was of very narrow interest (and this after he had only just set eyes on the cover) and when I asked him whether he thought Jeremy Vine would have so wholeheartedly recommended it if it was of such limited appeal, his mouth twitched as if he'd just chewed on a very bitter lemon (with perhaps an electrode and a wasp in it) and he flounced off without another word. A woman came onto our stand and both Jacob & I thought her shouted query was for where the "death stand" was - Jacob replied that he'd seen Deceased Online (a website with searchable cemetery registers) just around the corner and started to point her towards it when she shouted even louder "NO, THE DEAF STAND!" - and then stormed off still shouting, leaving her husband to chat apologetically with us even to the extent of making vague suggestions he might buy a book. We later found the stand for the British Deaf History Society nearby - sadly the British Rude Society has had to close due to customer service failures.
There were also a lot of people who were completely fixated on their own stories and their own research - some were very nice and had interesting stories to tell or showed me old photos which I'm always a sucker for and did my best to spot clues in, but some were just looking for an ear to bend and launched into a monologue that no doubt I didn't end up being the only audience for at the NEC. It reminded me of certain times working in the library. With all that said, I'm incredibly grateful that it was all leavened by some lovely conversations with interesting and interested people who had come to the NEC with open and enquiring minds. My great support from Family Tree magazine continued (see https://www.facebook.com/familytreemaguk/videos/10154100883309464/ for yet more promotional work they've done for me (I seemed to have improved at doing pieces to camera since the time I made the films with Klaus & Didier last year)). I also had good chats with folk from WDYTYA? magazine, the Imperial War Museum (including someone who was at university with a great-great nephew of Cyril Thorne from my group photograph), the Surrey History Centre, the Western Front Association, & the Ordnance Survey (whose representative was familiar with Donald Stileman's grandson who also works for them). I also enjoyed visits from members of the families of Alf Dobson, Douglas Tosetti, Henry Hewitt, & David Glen (the latter including 2 young ladies who volunteered to put their John Lewis experience of 35 years previously to use on my stand). Another visitor was David Allen Lambert who was over from the States and who obviously really made an effort to check out everything on display, including interviewing me for his show on Extreme Genes, a family history radio show that has tens of thousands of listeners.
One thing I observed about WDYTYA? Live was that most of the focus was on how to do the research or giving historical context to our families' stories, but there was very little that I could see that was about presenting what was found in new ways. My favourite memories of the show are of talking through my family tree drawings with interested listeners and almost seeing the lightbulb come on in their eyes as they got the concept and saw what I was trying to show with all the variety of human life and the magic that can grow from it - and hearing one man say that it was the best thing he'd seen at the show. I hope I can hold onto that because in material terms the exhibition was not a success for me - we managed to sell 56 books over the 3 days and overall I made a loss of over £500 (expenses included printing costs of the books, electricity & furniture hire for the stand, van hire & fuel & a new tyre, hotel & meals, pay for Jacob, and that's not including a credit card reader and paper bags & other stationery that I bought and which I now have for future events) - and that was with being given the stand for free - the fees for that stand would normally be nearly £4000 and that is something unaffordable for a miniature businessman like me.
So, what next? Well, having prepared very well, I now have thousands of books available for sale but all my recent "big" bits of publicity have not had a particularly dramatic impact and so I am left having to pay for their storage. I remain eternally grateful to Jeremy Vine who got the ball properly rolling and everything in terms of book sales has built from that. I'm still selling a few every day, and in fact there has been only one day since 8th December when I haven't sold a book. I'm still regularly receiving lovely emails from grateful buyers of the book, and all 17 Amazon reviews are 5 stars. The next things I need to do are:
- target bookshops and widen the distribution of my book
- organise presentations and get out on the road (news coming soon on that)
- find a UK venue for my exhibition.
Any ideas on how to break down the barriers and get potential venues to pay attention to what my exhibition is really about in terms of style and content will be gratefully received.
Monday, 4 April 2016
Events tickets
A couple of things coming up for which I have just got ticketing information:
- I have 7 complimentary day tickets left (normally £22 each) for the Who Do You Think You Are? Live Exhibition that is on at the NEC in Birmingham from 7th to 9th April (i.e. this Thursday to Saturday). If you would like any please email me today (Monday 4th April) on andrew@groupphoto.co.uk and I will post them out 1st class on a first-come-first-served basis.
- I am giving a presentation at Dauntsey's School www.dauntseys.org at 7.30 p.m. on 19th April - seats are free but please let them know if you are coming by email reception@dauntseys.org or telephone 01380 814500
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