David Simpkin

@simplerdave.bsky.social

1293 Followers 2581 Following

Fine words butter no parsnips. Once and future bookseller, currently based in deepest Nottinghamshire. @Simplerdave on all decent social media - find me here, there and almost everywhere...

Part of the title sequence of the 1975 BBC series Trinity Tales - Alan Plater's brilliant retelling of (some of) Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which a small cast told (and acted out) stories told while on a bus journey to London.
A box set of BBC Maigret DVDs in my hand, with a couple of model buses in the background.
The cover of the book version of Postgate and Firmin's Sagas of Noggin the Nog, beautifully done.
The great Humphrey Bogart wearing a snap-brimmed fedora in 1940
Poster for the 1960 film The Criminal directed by Joseph Losey and starring Stanley Baker. The poster is an illustration (not a photo, very 1960) of Baker standing tall, and in the background, illustrations of several scenes from the film.
Question over a medieval engraving of a battle against Death: What are the four core character classes? Wrong answers only.
1950s/60s Austin Princess limousine.
Jacques Tati in M Hulot's Holiday (1953). In the gif attached, Tati is sitting with his back to the camera and is listening to a record while smoking a distinctive looking pipe.
Image of Joe 90, nine-year-old hero of a string puppet TV adventure series of the late 1960s (Gerry Anderson/ITC). The small blond child is wearing black-rimmed glasses that transmit the brain patterns of whoever he was being that week. (No, really)
Ornate hymn board showing numbers totalling 1184. Location is St Peter and St Paul's Church, part of the Belton House Estate (NT), Lincolnshire, UK
The Complete Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace, a fat paperback book containing four novels and two books of short stories written between 1905 and 1928. Drinks coaster showing Winchester's Round Table included for scale.
An album of film and other music by the late great Lalo Schifrin, brilliantly titled There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On.
Hawkeye, Yelena and - sorry, this is your actual New Avengers from 70s TV, Gambit, Purdey and the peerless John Steed.
A colourised version of a still from the cinematic masterpiece Jour de Fete (1949). In the still, Jacques Tati, playing a postman, seems to be talking into a telephone mounted on the front of his bike, while two American Military Policemen stare at him with suspicion.
Ghostsign on a house near a lock on the Trent in Nottinghamshire. Mostly illegible, but the bottom line clearly says 'Mineral Water'
Live at the Angel Microbrewery, Nottingham, the band Danny and the Champions of the World, with their support act Annie Dressner on backing vocals and tambourine.
Screengrab from the Doctor Who episode The End of Time (2010). Jessica Hynes is doing a book signing in a large modern bookshop. The Routledge Classics spinner is very much seen front right.
National Trust warning sign saying 'Naturists may be seen beyond this point' on Studland Bay, Dorset, UK. There are no Naturists to be seen beyond this point, or, indeed, anybody else.
The top shelf of my nearest bookcase with several scale model cars in front of a variety of books about film, television, drama, pantomime, and some absolutely gorgeous graphic novels...
A poster for the film Twilight (no, still not that one, 1998). The poster includes the faces of the film's stars Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, and Paul Newman looking suitably moody, with the shadow of a hand holding a gun below and behind them. It's a great little film - go seek it out
A photo of a penguin I took in South Africa about twenty years ago. The penguin is looking away from the camera and appears to be shrugging in a "Do the what now?" kind of a way.
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in the cinematic masterpiece A Shot In The Dark (1964), cutting a fine dash in a belted raincoat and a soft felt trilby.
An LP of songs from the TV's The Goodies (1975)
Revd Lisa Coupland of TV's The Traitors
Some humour books from the charity bookshop I run in Nottinghamshire UK, including a Giles Annual (topical cartoons from 50s to 70s), an American classic, and several of Joel's Ladybirds.
Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in the cinematic masterpiece Oh Mr Porter (1937)
A picture of a delightful library with a comfy chair and a coffee table. Superimposed on this picture are the words "It's not hoarding if it's books". Picture sourced from web, artist (so far) unknown.
A boxed set of the Complete Maigret (BBC, 1960 - 1963) from the much missed Network Media. In the background, tastefully out of focus, two model buses and some framed pictures.
Your actual Joan Collins looking all sudsy in the 70s
A Christmas tree made entirely out of second-hand/used books for a local church festival.
A glass etching designed to show people where an Abbey used to be, in Winchester, UK
The front cover of a book called The Complete Mission Impossible Dossier, an episode and behind-the-scenes guide to the original 1960s TV show.
The front cover of Herge's graphic novel The Secret of the Unicorn (1959). The Unicorn itself, featured on the cover, is a three-masted sailing ship.
Vengeance Unlimited, a US series from the late 90s shown over here as late-night filler. It was unexpectedly great, based on the very simple premise: What if Mr Blue was the Equalizer?
A small blue, grey and yellow bird - a Great Tit, to be absolutely precise, centrally framed by a tangle of branches. Southwell, Nottinghamshire, a couple of days ago.
Your actual Alan Rickman in the film Dogma (1999)
Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo in the immaculate spy spoof OSS117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006). Highly recommended.
The late actor Dan Blocker of TV's Bonanza
The view of the Thames from London Blackfriers Station, with Tower Bridge visible on the horizon.
Peter Cook, giving a knowing look to camera in the final shot of the cinematic masterpiece The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970).
Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee in the 1966 Avengers episode 'A Touch of Brimstone'. Diana Rigg is wearing a short leather outfit cut high at the leg and thigh boots because of course she is.
Play School presenter and comedy actor Julie Stevens, probably photographed in 1970s. Be still, my beating heart.
A pint of Cornish Ale and half a pint of Tribute, photographed in a pub in Coverack, Cornwall UK, a few weeks ago.
A sign, photographed in Winchester, UK, a couple of years ago, that reads: Anyone Committing A Nuisance In This Passage Will Be Prosecuted, By Order.
George Sanders, Peter Sellers, Douglas Wilmer and Graham Stark in A Shot in the Dark (Blake Edwards, 1964)
Me at a distance, a few weeks ago, having successfully reached the centre of the hedge maze in Glendurgan Garden (National Trust)
Me at Chapman College, California USA in 1982. I am eating a burrito from Naugles, possibly for the first time, and wearing a bomber jacket with the sleeves pushed up. How much more 1982 could this be? None. None more 1982...
Yes, it's a polling station in the back room of a pub, with a lovely beer garden outside. Nottinghamshire UK, on election day.
A pub garden with a Polling Station in the pub's back room, Nottinghamshire UK
Jacques Tati as M. Hulot, peering out of the attic window of his seaside hotel
My former cat Layla, in my old back garden in Winchester, UK, up to her usual tricks of investigating my food and drink - in this case, an orange-flavoured beer in an American-branded glass
The front cover of the book Travels with Cole Porter by Jean Howard, showing the great Cole Porter in a faraway city
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and Graham Stark as his assistant Hercule in the magnificent A Shot In The Dark (1964)
The six candidates for East Midlands mayor: top row: Reform, Labour, Green; bottom row: Conservative, Lib Dem, Independent