Literary Mentions 

Sherlock Holmes

 

Sherlock Holmes: Lunch in Swindon

You would, of course, expect the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, to know all about Swindon.

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth certainly knew his railway timetable, as he demonstrated in The Boscombe Valley Mystery: 
 

"No, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be there in twenty minutes."

 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

 

Whitbread Winner: Adventures in Swindon

Set in Swindon, the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2003 is written by prize-winning author Mark Haddon.

 

It is a moving crossover book narrated by a 15-year-old with autism who sets out to solve the mysterious death of a neighbour's dog in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes.

 

Along the way he encounters the mystery of other people and his adventures in Swindon town centre and railway station turn his whole world upside down.

 

 

 

 

Thursday Next

 

Literary Detective: Set in Swindon

Thursday Next? Who is that, we hear you ask?

For the hundreds of thousands who have already enjoyed the books by author, Jasper Fforde, she is a cult hero in literary circles where each new instalmant in her adventures is more eagerly awaited than Harry Potter. For those who haven't, she is a literary detective set in Swindon in a parallel universe where books are more popular than football, history is not as we know it, reconstituted dodos roam the parks, mammoths ruin your flower beds, and where Thursday Next has to save the world.

 

> Jasper Fforde - articles and video interviews

 

Private Eye

 

Communication cock-ups: > Swindon entries

Swindon gets more than the odd mention in the satircal magazine Private Eye - the last major one being in 'Pseuds Corner', where South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove brown-nosed (sorry, defended) John Prescott over his extra-marital activities, two Jags and four homes.

 

But our best connection has to be through the Eye's brilliant compilation of gaffes and goofs perpetrated by sports commentators and personalities - the hilarious 'Colemanballs'.
When it comes to verbal slip up and horrendous mixed metaphors, our boys, past and present, at Swindon Town football club just keep coming up with some absolute gems. Keep 'em coming lads!

 

> Did they say that? Yes, they did! - Colemanballs Swindon-style

 

 

Yesterday In The Back Lane

 

Booker Prize winning author Bernice Rubens mentions Swindon in her novel Yesterday In The Back Lane, which is set in Cardiff. The heroine is assaulted but kills her assailant. Later, determined to hold on to her virginity, she ditches her groom on the morning of her wedding and runs away from Cardiff. She jumps on the first bus to leave:

I was glad to see the conductor making his ticket-

collecting way to the back of the bus. It would give me

something else to think about.

When he reached my place, he asked if I had a ticket. I

shook my head. 'Where does this bus go?' I said. He

looked at me with a certain pity.

 

'Swindon,' he said.

I'd no idea where Swindon was, but it was a place with a name that was not Cardiff.

 

'That'll do,' I said. 'How much?'

 

'Single or return?'

 

Single. Most certainly. I had no intention of ever going back. 'Four pounds two and sixpence,' he said, and I wondered whether Swindon was in Wales.