The Baddest Band In The Whole Damn Land……The Hedgehog Diaries…..‘Let’s Do The Time-warp Again’….
by Bernie Bell - 09:13 on 09 November 2023
The Baddest Band In The Whole Damn Land….
Always were – always will be….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-67336495
It’s good to put a name to the character I always referred to as ’The old bloke with the sticks’.
A very small tuppenceworth – considering….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/07/10/c-d-s/
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From Hugh Warwick….
“The Hedgehog Diaries
Last year I was interviewed by Sarah Sands - she is a friend of a friend and was writing a book about hedgehogs. I have done many such interviews and am (nearly) always happy to oblige.
Sarah is actually rather formidable - a former editor of the London Evening Standard and BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. I might have been surprised that she was interested in hedgehogs - but have long since realised that they are really quite the most important creature out there and really the question has to be asked why some people are not fascinated by them!
We sat on my patio and chatted away and I thought little more of it until the book started to appear on my social media channels - The Hedgehog Diaries - A Story or Faith, Hope and Bristle, was not what I was expecting.
Far less a monograph on hedgehog ecology, physiology and behaviour, Sarah has actually written something beautifully lyrical - and while it is chock full of hedgehog facts, it is a story as much about the coming to terms with mortality and grief.
She has managed to get interviews with a wide range of fascinating people - central among whom is the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who gives this book quite a philosophical underpinning.
Obviously, the bits I was most interested in were about me - yes, my feeble ego needs stroking every now and then - but actually this was mainly because it is always fascinating to see what someone else makes of you!
Sarah, well, apart from one thing she got wrong (she describes meeting me at the Evening Standard offices and says that I ‘seemed nice enough’ going on to say that she did not realise she was talking to the ‘David Attenborough of the hedgehog world.’ … the only trouble is I have never been to those offices and the first time I met her was in my garden) was very generous and I think the following will make a fitting epitaph!
‘He looks slightly like a hobbit, friendly, muscular and stout with soft brown-grey facial hair.’
Interestingly my go-to fancy-dress outfit is that of Frodo Baggins! (Requires minimal effort it seems!)
It is always the case that when you are deeply embedded in a story you can always find the mistakes - and the few that are there are more a testament to my nerdiness than Sarah’s skills. For example, this petition is my work, not that of Hedgehog Street (who, of course, are amazing!). And I would like to amend the moment she says that I believe it is sometimes necessary to kill hedgehogs for the ‘greater good’ and goes on to talk about Orkney and the Hebrides … I was, in fact, deeply opposed to the cull in the Uists, and the only time I have seen a need is on New Zealand.
But it is brilliant that she has shone a light onto the world I know and love - meeting up with Chris Powles from the amazing Kirtlington project and then talking about Terry Pratchett before leaping into T.S. Elliot and bounding back to Brahms (though not noting that his favourite tavern was called The Red Hedgehog!)
This book is a delight - and as you will all have already bought all my hedgehog books (ahem!) you might think you have enough, well, nope, I really do think that this is a necessary addition to the collection for any hedgehog lover! It is available from all good book stores (and the tax dodgers too).
In other news - the lovely gang at Hedgehog Friendly Campus are fundraising and have just a few days left with the amazing chance of having your contributions TRIPLED by Aviva.
And as usual - you can find more of me on Twitter, Instagram - and toss coins into my hat here. “
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‘Let’s Do The Time-warp Again’….
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2023/11/08/lairo-update/
Rousay …has so much…..
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/05/18/bernie-bell-orkney-walks-with-stories-rousay/
https://www.swandro.co.uk/blog/categories/2023-swandro-dig
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/04/07/the-contradiction/
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