Patrick George Callaghan

Lots of you enjoy reading ‘The Shriving of Miss Esme Stamp’ so thank you all, sit back and enjoy, and lets see where it takes us. Please remember: You can 'catch up' the missed episodes or 'latest episodes' a little earlier,  just google: patrickcallaghan.co.uk

Episode 31 ‘She is very weak, but still alive.’ The Doctor looked up over his horn rimmed glasses with an inquisitive stare. I’m pleased you brought her to me gentlemen. I doubt she would have survived the journey to Elmhurst General that’s at least a further ten miles. I’ve telephoned our local Constable, and you say, you both found her on Hinckley Common?.’ ‘Yes, she was just lying there on the ground.’ Replied the older man. ‘My son and me, well we were walking Patch, we often do on the Common.’ He nodded towards a large black and white dog that sat quietly by the surgery door. ‘Somebody’s had a go at her Doc, don’t you think?.’ ‘Well, it’s unlikely that she did those injuries to herself. But that’s a matter for the Police. Never the less, she has recieved a severe blow to her head, and yet strangely, there is no sign of a fracture to the skull according to the X-rays, which I would have expected and then there is heavy bruising to her neck suggesting strangulati...

Found in the basement cellar of a shop in Blackburn Lancashire England were over 800 short films of Edwardian life in the North of England. They were made by the partnership of Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon and the films they shot were of local people and events. It is a remarkable glimpse into history. They made the films to be shown at the Music Hall, Town Hall, or Fairgrounds. They were made for commercial reasons with the sole intention of putting ‘bums on seats’ after all, for people to see themselves on a projected screen was something new and quite wonderful! Between 1897 and 1913 Mitchell and Kenyon made hundreds of short films depicting the everyday lives of ordinary people, and when the business closed its doors in the nineteen twenties their original negative film stock was left hidden away in the basement of the shop. Here it lay for years simply collecting dust until 1994 when a building contractor f...

Episode 16 She would fuss and worry over him. The eggs must be soft! The toast must be light! The bacon must not be salty! She would pour hot green tea for him only, into an important blue and white china cup. One morning on entering the breakfast room, Esme thought she had heard the mention of ‘a photographer’… but it trailed away on the lips of Rose, hunched as she was, in her usual stance; over Edward, and his must be ‘perfect breakfast’. But the mention of a photographer had moistened arid seeds within Esme’s mind and later, when Edward had left the house, she sat for an hour in the upstairs room with the pale red curtain, and wept herself to normality. This particular morning she possessed a certain peace. A man required flaws in a woman for the benefit of his pride, she had told herself this… But had she flaws? She was not aware of any. Edward seemed to think that she had many! And would scold and abuse her in meridians of sexual indulgence! Some evenings he wou...

You need a long memory to remember the early days of ITV Television in the UK. Programme formats were quite different than the sleek productions of today. I can just remember actor Terry Thomas hosting a 15 minute magazine slot around our evening meal in which he endorsed varios products to the viewers. As I recall the programme was called Hold-A-Gap On Tees : a reference I think to the famous gap in his front teeth. Actor Jimmy Handley also had a similar slot in that he was a bartender in a small public bar and would bring out and demonstrate a number of household products to his drinking customers. Jimmy Handley appeared in a couple of early Will Hay films when in his youth and had a busy career as an actor later on. He is tops in the movie The Black Rider - a dvd from Renown Pictures. TV face Jenny Handley is his daughter.

There are many great classic films around that we all love and we each have our own favourites, for me, Rear Window released in 1954 does it. An enduring story told in only the way Hitchcock could tell it. With James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and an early appearance for Raymond Burr, its a plot with a simple logic and that holds the key to its impact. It’s a look into our lives and how some live on the dark side. The original was restored for Universal Pictures by Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz and released on DVD.

This has to be a classic shot – My Son and Daughter at the gates of Gainsborough Studios in 1995 before the building was modified. Gainsborough were based at Islington, North London until 1940 and produced many fine British films. They moved the studios to White City after fears that a German bomb could bring down the tall chimney of the one time power station.