So I last gave an update last month, but I seemed to have left a few things out.
I told you about The Red House by Mark Haddon. Brilliant book, fantastic. Luckily I can say the same about two other new novels I have read. Rachel Joyce is an actress and playwright, who has had a lot of plays performed on Radio 4. She is about to launch a first novel that is a fantastic book. It's called The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I hope you all love it. My good mate Sadie Jones also has a new novel out in a couple of weeks. It's called An Uninvited Guest. I have only read about half of it but I am loving it too. She has created a wonderful world. What a lucky reader I am!
I know I mentioned The Proxy, and that is out this Thursday, on Youtube. Weird but true.
And the MARSDEN MARCH is this Sunday. By the way there seems to be a problem with my daughter's justgiving page. I will be in touch with them as soon as poss. I have my family walking with me this weekend, so donations welcome. Neither Anna nor Angel wanted to set up an individual page, so please send donations through my page. PLEASE DONATE!
Nearly a full diary, but not yet. This Friday I am playing Polo with, or against, the English team, and a couple of other charity eejots (idiots). It's gonna be filmed and replayed at the Gaucho Exhibition Polo Tournament at the O2 on March 21st. Exciting and possibly very foolish. I have to say, I pity the poor polo pony. Then, a little further in the future, I have another equine engagement. I am planning to ride in a race. OK, so it's only a charity race, but HEY ITS A RACE. An ambition realised. I am doing it for the racing charity Racing Welfare. I have probably already raved about this charity. It is an all-encompassing charity that deals with the vagaries of life within the industry. It has proved an enormous help to those who have needed it, both financially and emotionally. If any of you ever go racing please don't forget to donate please. The race is also going to help raise money for Help for Heroes. No need to say anything about that. It's a no-brainer. Again PITY THE HORSE!
As for projects, I did a day's filming on something a couple of weeks back, that I really have to mention. It's a BBC Education programme about Charles Dickens written by my good mate Jeff Rawle. One of the wittier men on the planet, (or at least that's what he told me to say). And produced by Louise Brealey, who I have had the honour of working with before in Bleak House. She is extraordinarily talented in so many diverse ways. This is a thing she's doing aimed really at nine-year-olds, and the scene was an attempt to highlight to that age group, the revolution that happened in the world of medicine by the work of John Lister. He brought cleanliness to the table, literally. And the patients and more importantly the doctors and their habits. The day was one of the most fun days I have ever had on set. We laughed so much. Metin Huseyin directed it. Other scenes have Rupert Graves and Neil Dudgeon in them. I don't know first hand their accounts of working on this but I have rarely had so much fun in such a short time. Perhaps it was the writing, or the crew, or the passion to get it across, whatever. It was probably all of that and more. BRILLIANT.
I do have another project to talk about soon. Can't yet. Fingers crossed. And look everyone, I know I often mention my charities and sometimes ask you to donate. I don't mean to be pushy, because we all know how hard it is to find money to give away, but I really do appreciate your generosity and following.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH
NAT XXXXXX