Beneath the Surface: Peter Greenaway on Drowning by Numbers

On holiday in Southwold years ago, I wondered why the town seemed oddly familiar. Then I realised it's because Peter Greenaway's film Drowning by Numbers was shot there.

Greenaway had a vogue in the 1980s but seems rather forgotten today. I think that's a shame. Here he talks about Drowning by Numbers and about his approach to making films more generally.

From Southwold to Dunwich via Walberswick

Another walk with John Rogers. This one follows in the footsteps of W.G. Sebald and his book The Rings of Saturn, taking us from Southwold to the lost city of Dunwich via Walberswick.

It is a walk I have done myself, thinking of Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers and Malcolm Saville's Sea Witch Comes Home.

What really did for Dunwich, incidentally, is that its river changed course. If it had faced solely a problem of coastal erosion the city could have been rebuilt further inland.

On the track of the old Southwold Railway

It's been a Suffolkrailwaytastic day as I have discovered Twitter account for the people dreaming of reopening the branches to both Southwold and Aldeburgh.

This video follow the route of the former from Southwold to Walberswick - I have a feeling I once walked it.

And if the water towers at the start look familiar, they featured in Peter Greenaway's film Drowning by Numbers.

More information on the Southwold Railway Trust website.

Tynemouth Watch House

This is Tynemouth Watch House, headquarters of the town's volunteer life brigade since it was built in 1887. It was designed by Joseph F. Gomoszynski.

It is like a New England rendering of the sort of late Victorian house you find on Leicester's London Road.

Today the Watch House is home to a museum, though it was locked when I was there last week. It is also due for a major refurbishment.

It forms part of a distinctive group of buildings that stand between the sea and the Collingwood Monument. There is something of Southwold about them.

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Mark Valladares, writing on Liberal Democrat Voice, is critical of the Lib Dems' English Party: "From defining the time allowed to deal with disciplinary cases, to establishing a framework for the recognition of council groups, from mandatory tithing to restricting the rights of candidates to campaign in selections, the English Liberal Democrats have been hard at work, often producing guidance that would be difficult to absorb by well-organised, enthusiastic Local Parties with lots of volunteers to share the load, but are an appalling burden to small, struggling ones."

Caroline Woodbridge is aghast at plans to ban buses from the centre of Southwold.

Happier transport news from Cambridgeshire, where Meldreth and Shepdreth (two of my favourite station names) are celebrating their 160th birthday and Foxton its 163rd: "Free ice cream will be served at all three stations by Gocold, a business situated at Meldreth Sidings," reports Focus on Bar Hill.

Alex Foster at Niles's Blog risks expulsion from Nottingham by admitting that he has never read Alan Sillitoe.

Andy Boddington at 24dash.com introduces us to the reality of living with bad neighbours: "The rowdiness began last October when the tenant upstairs invited her boyfriend to stay. I knocked on their door and complained about the noise and complained the next day, time and time again. But he simply squared up to me saying he could make as much noise as “he” wants up to eleven in the evening—if only it stopped at eleven rather than 4am or as today 7am! This not simply Saturday night noise. The level of anti-social behaviour is never related to the day of the week, only I suspect to the availability of money for booze and drugs."

NitrateVille pays tribute to Sgt John Sweet, American star of A Canterbury Tale.

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Duncan Borrowman catches Esther Rantzen taking down Liberal Democrat posters in Luton. What he fails to add was that she was later caught persuading old age pensioners to show their knickers and threatening people with suggestively shaped vegetables. We phoned the Gas Board. "It's nothing to do with us," they said.

Despite having Rantzen to contend with, Qurban Hussain’s campaign in Luton South has been praised as “an impressive effort” by Michael Crick, says Strange Thoughts.

Caron's Musings directs us to the Making Your Mind Up video from Total Politics.

Rising from its sick bed for a moment, Love and Liberty identifies three politicians who simply aren't up to it.

Beer Street will take you to CAMRA's dissection of the various manifestos as they affect pubs and beer drinkers. Oh, and Adnams are opening a distillery in Southwold.

Finally, the Market Harborough counterfeit fish story has reached New Zealand at The Fundy Post and been commented on by a Booker Prize winner. I have reason to believe that Keri H is Keri Hulme, who won it with The Bone People in 1985.

Gordon Brown in Southwold: "Drowning by Numbers"

Our prime minister is certainly doing his bit for the Union by spending his summer holiday in Southwold. As the town's website says, "Southwold is a quintessentially English resort town".

It is also "charming", as that website claims. By contrast, Aldeburgh, just down the coast, is rather a bleak place and would not be such a tourist destination were it not for the Festival and the Britten connection in general.

But, in line with the view of Englishness held by this blog, Southwold has its sinister side too. This was brilliantly brought out by Peter Greenaway in his film Drowning by Numbers. As a website dedicated to his work says:

This is a picture that offers so much to the viewer. It is beautiful, but also, at times, grotesque. It is intriguing and complex, and covers a cornucopia of subjects. The film has an elegant Englishness about it. It is a film that always requires your attention and one that you will want to return to.

The story is about three women, all with the same name, Cissie Colpitts, each from different age groups, who have something in common, they each murder their husbands by drowning them. escape punishment from this by consenting to the needs of an amorous coroner, Madgett. Madgett's young son, Smut, tells us about different games, each of them rather odd. The film has a wonderful surreal feel to it.

Mr Brown should be careful in Southwold. As Smut says: "A great many things are dying very violently all the time."

Back from Suffolk

After a couple of days in Southwold I realised where I had seen its lighthouse and sinister water tower before. Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers was filmed there.

I also recommend the lost town of Dunwich and Snape Maltings. Aldeburgh itself grew on me, but is probably not at its best over a bank holiday weekend. Let's hear it for Benjamin Britten anyway.