The Shakespeare Code

 

A TRIXIE SPECIAL

It was a night to remember indeed!

Your Cat was among the throng of literary glitteratti who hot-footed it last night down to the Conway Hall in Holborn……

….to toast the eightieth birthday of Shakespeare Code Fellow….

….the poet Eddie Linden….

……at a party hosted by the fabulously generous Peter McGraith.

The room was PACKED with poets, and friends of poets, many from the Celtic fringes….

People like Shaun Traynor….

….celebrated for his stunning poem about the last days of Shakespeare….

Shakespeare’s Last Drink

http://www.shakespeareslastdrink.co.uk/

People like  Stephen Stokes….

….who runs Stokes Books in Dublin….

….where the literary greats of Ireland network…..

….(perhaps, he admits, because his shop is near to the fabulous Grogan’s Pub)

Here he is seen here with bubbly Karen Little………

……a great Patroness of The Shakespeare Code…..

People like Pam Hardyment who, with Jay Landesman, published Eddie’s first collection of verse….

…..the renowned City of Razors…..

People like Charlie Walsh…..

…..who describes himself as the greatest unpublished poet in the world!!!

(Though, in truth there were many in the room who could well lay claim to that honour.)

The wine and wit flowed fast and free as Jim Campbell….

…..of Times Literary Supplement fame…..

…..captured essence of Eddie in a wry, perceptive and loving tribute….

He claimed that Bell had invented the telephone solely with Eddie in mind….

….and described ‘THE’ phone calls that would be received at the T. L. S. from from ‘Sir’ Eddie Linden…..

They would often began mid-paragraph……

…..and were concerned with seven main topics,  viz:

(1) The Roman Catholic Church

(2) The Tory Government

(3) The Roman Catholic Church

(4)  The late  poet, John Heath Stubbs

(5) The Governors of the Poetry Society in London

(6) The latest funeral of someone or other….

(7) The Roman Catholic Church

He described how Eddie would complain about things written about him that were….

…unjust, unfair or untrue….

….and ask Jim what he should do about it.

Jim’s advice to Eddie was to let it be….

He was the hero of his own book……

…..a work of fantasy fiction.

Sebastian Barker,  who wrote the biography of Eddie….

….Who is Eddie Linden…

(which Pam Hardyment edited)

….sadly died last year and his widow gave a moving tribute to Eddie…..

….describing how he had given so many chances to so many young poets by publishing them in his poetry magazine Aquarius….

….and an extraordinary list of the world-renowned poets who wrote for Eddie as well.

Then fellow-Scotsman John Cooney read extracts from his new biography of Eddie which will be published next year….

So Eddie will have TWO biographies!!!

To have ONE biography……

But to have TWO….

•

Eddie then read his great poem, City of Razors…..

•

The wine was still flowing freely as I rushed back to West London to file my copy.

The Code’s Chief Agent, Stewart Trotter, was still up, working hard on his next dazzling Post…..

Why did Shakespeare write the King Henry plays?

He looked through Your Cat’s piccies…..

…..then he gave a startled cry!

‘My God’ he said, ‘It’s Charlie Walsh – the greatest unpublished poet in the world…..’

Stewart then told me a fantastic story.

‘I was in the French House in Soho, as a very young man……

…..and got talking to Charlie whom I had never met before….

The two of us got on, railing against Margaret Thatcher’s England, as we bought each other drinks.

Charlie, who as well as a poet, was a highly skilled backer of horses, had just enjoyed a big win.

Would you like some champagne

…..he asked me.

That’s very kind of you…

… I replied….

….at which point Charlie ordered a bottle of the French House’s very best…..

……and plonked it down in front of me on the bar….

Nice to meet you. I’m off….

……he said…..

And off he was, leaving me with a whole bottle of champagne.

It was one of the kindest, most spontaneously generous, things that has ever happened to me….

And now we can celebrate it in The Code…..’

So, Brothers and Sisters, always remember this:

What goes round, comes round…..

Bye now,

P.S. If you would like to read Your Cat’s NOW CLASSIC interview with Eddie on becoming a Fellow of The Shakespeare Code, please click: HERE!

And if you would like to read my review of Eddie’s SCINTILLATING newish collection of poems,….

A Thorn in the Flesh…..

…….then please click: HERE!

STOP PRESS!!!STOP PRESS!!!STOP PRESS!!!

Evidence from an IMPECCABLE SOURCE has reached The Shakespeare Code that….

……CHARLIE WALSH IS A FRAUD!!!

He has been posing as ‘the greatest unpublished poet in the world’.

It is the DUTY of The Shakespeare Code expose this LIE….

……by publishing this DAMNING PHOTOGRAPH….

….FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD…

‘CHARLES’ WALSH HAS BEEN PUBLISHED AFTER ALL!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moonmen-Butterflies-Selected-Charles-Walsh/dp/0907155332