Saturday October 8th:
Fighting Franco On Film.
The Spanish Earth by Ernest Hemingway and Joris Ivans shot during the Spanish Civil
War along the Jarama / Madrid front and Inside Fascist Spain by Jean Pages made during WWII alongside newsreels orchestrated by Tom Wintringham introduced by Phyll Smith.
October 6th St. James Centre, Grimsby.
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Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
October 13th St. James Centre, Grimsby.
Television
The Real Dads Army - ep.1 The Red Revolutionary
http://www.diverse.tv/programme.aspx?id=110
Dad's Revolutionary Army
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document·shtml
Books
Facing Both Ways - The ILP (1928)
War! And the way to fight against it (1932)
Air Raid Warning! Why the Royal Air Force is to be doubled (1934)
The Coming World War (1935)
Mutiny. Mutinies from Spartacus to Invergordon (1936)
English Captain (1939)
How to reform the army (1939)
Deadlock War (1940)
New Ways of War (1940)
Armies of Freemen (1940)
The Home Guard: can fight (1941)
Guerrilla Warfare (1941) (written with Bert "Yank" Levy)
Freedom is our Weapon (1941)
Politics of Victory (1941)
Peoples' War (1942)
Inside Fascist Spain (1943)
Weapons and Tactics from Troy to Stalingrad (1943)
Your M.P. (1944) (written as 'Gracchus')
We're Going On - Collected Poems (2006)
Tom Wintringham: War of Words's Details
Status:
Single
Zodiac Sign:
Libra
Tom Wintringham: War of Words is in your extended network view more
About me:
Tom Wintringham was born in Grimsby in 1898, he wrote poetry from the trenches of Vimy Ridge in 1917 and stories from the streets of Moscow in 1920, was jailed for seditious writing in 1925, founded the Daily Worker (Morning Star) newspaper in 1930, and the Left Review literary journal in 1934, at the forefront of bringing literature and politics to the masses along with projects such as Penguin Books, Mass Observation, the Left Book Club, and New Writing throughout the thirties. He founded the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and commanded the British Batallion, and inspired the Home Guard in WW2 running the Osterley Park training school, he became a household name, responsible for five wartime best-sellers, regular collumns for the Daily Mirror and Picture Post, radio broadcasts and newsreel films.
A friend of WH Auden, Stephen Spender, John Lehmann, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Harrisson, Allen Lane, J.B. Priestley, George Orwell, Roland Penrose, Tom Driberg and Victor Gollancz, he wrote poetry and journalism, politics and children's stories, philosophy and guerrilla manuals.
The exhibition tells the story of his life and times, illustrated by the things he wrote.
The exhibition will be held from 1st - 15th of October 2007 at the Muriel Barker Gallery, at the Fishing Heritage Centre, Great Grimsby. Entry to the Wintringham display is free and open to all, but does not include entry to the Fishing heritage centre's main exhibitions.
The Brigade, Books, and Bombs; Tom Wintringham - from Spain to the Home Guard'.
Stephen Cullen author of 'Home Guard Socialism: A Vision of a People's Army' and 'A Battalion of Christs: Christian themes and motifs in Great War Writing', discusses the inspiriation that Wintringham's drew upon in Spain to form his vision of a people's army, the Home Guard. Showing the influcence Wintringham's ideas had n the HomeGuard movement, and the influence the Home Guard had upon British politics, leading to Labour's landslide victory in 1945 and foundation of the welfare state.
Dr.Cullen writes on British history and literature for various journals including the Journal of Contemporary History, History, The Historian, and The English Review. He is Research Fellow in the Centre for Educational Development at Warwick University,
Friday 5th October, 7.30 at Grimsby Central Library (access by rear door on New Street).
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Lit.com with Meniscus Film present a short talk on Powell and Pressburger's struggle to make the film of Colonel Blim's rise to ead the Home Guard, and how the way they portrayed the conflict between Wintringham and Churchill's ideas for war led to the films banning.
October 13th St. James Centre, Grimsby.
Home Guard Living History
Pontefract Home Guard, came to Grimsby on October the 9th to demonstrate the Home Guard's methods and training, and to test how effiecent their operational procedures would have been, in Grimsby in 1940-44.
Last English Revolutionary:
Hugh Purcell author of Wintingham's biography The Last English Revolutionary, and the editor of We're Going On, Wintringham's collected poems, discusses Wintringhams life and writing.
He is a BAFTA winning television and radio producer, and the author 'The Spanish Civil War' (Book of the Year 1978), 'Revolutionary War', and last years aclaimed biography 'Lloyd George'. He is a Chevalier d'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Friday 12th October, 7.30 at Grimsby Central Library, (access by rear door on New Street).
Fighting Franco on Film
Meniscus Film present an discussion on the way film was used to to promote the republican cause by Wintringham and his friends, featuring newsreels from the Spanish Civil War, Ernest Hemingway's 1937 film The Spanish Earth, and Wintringham's 1943 anti-Franco film Inside Fascist Spain.
Spanish Civil War re-enactment group La Columna came down to the Heritage Centre on Saturday October 6th and gave a flavour of the 1930's to Grimsby town centre holding 'Aid for Spain' rallies through the town.
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The exhibition is part of the Lit.com festival of literature and comedy.
Who I'd like to meet: Here's a map of how to find the locations of events during the exhibition - a downloadable/e-mailable version can be found in pics.
Tom Wintringham: War of Words's Friend Space (Top 8)
Bare faced no nonsense thievery Going on under you nose A trillion dollars just to bail out the rich It’s gonna dig you deeper into your hole
The pretence of concern on their faces Turns to smiles behind the closed door They’ve just taken away your future And you won’t see that anymore
You just paid to decimate the poor You just sanctioned their next phase of war It was the only excuse they needed Your last piece of self respect conceded
Hey there buddy can you spare me a dime Can you offer some compassion to me? This dust bowl is choking my thought I used to think this was the land of the free How the hell did it come to this? Being slaves to money power and greed How did corporate killers and thieves Become the single self dominant creed
You just paid to decimate the poor You just sanctioned their next phase of war It was the only excuse they needed Your last chance to get off your knees conceded
So keep your love ones close And you debts to a minimum And God help the old folk Cos they’re rewriting the rule book Making new contingencies Of acceptable losses From future power obscenities
credit crunch fuel and food wars - it's time to get real people
When the lights go out
What you gonna do when the lights go out no one to listen to you scream and shout It’s coming/It’s here How you gonna feel when the lines go dead and your Third World life stretches out ahead
There’s only so much bio fuel to burn and maybe we’ve already used it There’s only so much Planet Earth can take and we’ve well and truly abused it There was always plenty of wealth to go round but never in the hands of the greedy few who possess it Only enough stuff left for 2 billion 6 billion plus gonna be around to contest it
Bullshit words and empty deeds feed the doubt and plant the seed New demand gives way to new war targeting resources where our enemies are Feed you till you’re fit to burst make you hunger make you thirst Expectation is the key keeps you thinking that you live free Faced with recession faced with loss it’s easier to ignore the cost More tacit consent more Third World horror keeps you feeling safe tomorrow But soon enough when the wind turns cold you’ll have to face the lie you’ve been told You’ll fuck your neighbours and fuck your friends and this is where your humanity ends
Kids are killing their friends and themselves in our wonderful western democracies - how the hell did this come to pass
Cold Dead Hands
He had murder in mind When he walked through the door Guitar case full of toys From a convenience store
If tomorrow's so bright Why is his head full of pain It's the American dream It's going to shoot your children down Again and again
He's a high school killer America's furture He's a high school killer From a child to a butcher You've got to take it From his cold dead hands
Well he was Rambo Stallone And Charlton Heston in black Terminator Schwarzenegger But he won't be coming back He will not be back
From Columbine Down to North Illinios Your country's murdering Your Pride and Joy The disllusionment and alienation The fear and pain in your fuck up nation
Season Greetings from statesofunrest They don’t know it’s Christmas It’s not Christmas in the Third World and they don’t care They’re too busy being raped by our capitalist nightmare A million fingers scrape about in the rubble So we can feel secure in our privileged bubble They don’t need a jolly Santa no Coca Cola lie Our fat celebration’s just a spit in their eye It’s not a happy Christmas it’s not peace and goodwill It’s just another year of death capital gain capital kill Rampant disease massive Aids culture World banks hover like blood lust vultures Centuries of depravity from civilisations Carving up the riches of innocent nations So stuff your belly fat let the drinks run free Cos Africa is dying under a Joshua tree Another freezing starry night another barren landscape Another fat hand grabbing at a Christmas cake They don’t know it’s Christmas don’t defend the lie Don’t pretend to feed the world while you watch them die There’s no baby in a cradle but there are thousands in graves Starved to death by the greed of the rich and depraved It’s not a happy Christmas it’s not peace and goodwill It’s just another year of death capital gain capital kill It’s not a happy Christmas it’s not peace and goodwill It’s just another year of death capital gain capital kill
Well Howard - first i was going to suggest coming into our library... but you're in Kentucky i see!...
English Captain was only published in two editions once by Faber in Hardback, and a nominally abridged version in paperback from Penguin. Though both editions sold very well and almost cetainly got some distribution in the US they're hard enough to find in the UK never mind over the pond. It's such a good book that it sits in collections and doesn't get resold, and it's highly sought after both by Spanish Civil War collectors and historians, and 1930's Literary and political academics.
I do know of a dealer with a copy for sale in the states at the moment, but it is very expensive indeed (it comes complete with dustwrapper - which is almost unheard of - indeed i wondered if the book was even issued with one for some time).
Because of it's immense literary and historical worth the academic microform people at Michigan issued it on microfilm which is held by various colleges etc. And because it's so expensive it is available as a print on demand reprint from a US company called Astrologos who print it from the Ann Arbour microfilm - at i think around £80 or $150. This amounts to little more than a nicely bound photocopy of the book, but it's better than nothing.
There are copes in libraries in the US - the nearest ones to you i know of are: Bowling Green State University Library (penguin ed) Wesleyan Library, Delaware (faber) Indiana University, New Albany (faber) (they have a lot of UK only Wintringham titles here) Southern Illinois Uni Library, Carbondale (Faber ed) details of other libraries holding this and other titles can be found on our library website here: ..http://195.195.236.158/uhtbin/cgisirsi/1lF9Svheot/GRIMSBY/200680013/55/1105/X
Failing that - if there are specific details that you are researching, i could look them up for you, and even scan short passages for you.
