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Not for the first time, I absolutely and completely disagree with every word you wrote there, Steve.
At his melancholy best, there is no other writer working in the field of Horse Racing who can accurately express the collective and emotional magnitude of an event, without resorting to hysteria or mawkishness.
Many writers have drunk to excess to quell feelings of inadequacy because, essentially, the difference between the finest writer who has ever lived and the lone fantasist typing out his memoirs in some seafront hotel over a freezing winter, has a variance of about ten degrees.
Down is a poor writer who’s insistence on using 30 words to say what could be better said in 10 is self-indulgence rather than eloquence or "poetry".
And I suppose Constable should have drawn his landscapes in pencil, huh?;)
Max
Writing is pretty much a matter of individual taste. Some people prefer a lavish, colourful fruity cocktail; others prefer a straight shot of vodka, no ice, no lemon. Each to their own.
<br>The Charge of the Light Brigade (by Stevedvg)
"Six hundred men on horseback carried out a pointless charge towards Russian guns and were slaughtered."
<br>Well I suppose that would have been easier to memorise at school, but I don’t think it would have inspired a lifelong interest in military history as Lord Alfred Tennyson did for me.
As Sal said, it’s all a matter of taste.
AP
<br>
Quote: from apracing on 11:46 am on Feb. 7, 2007[br]<br>The Charge of the Light Brigade (by Stevedvg)
"Six hundred men on horseback carried out a pointless charge towards Russian guns and were slaughtered."
<br>Well I suppose that would have been easier to memorise at school, but I don’t think it would have inspired a lifelong interest in military history as  Lord Alfred Tennyson did for me.
As Sal said, it’s all a matter of taste.
AP
Thanks AP – saves me reading that now!
Mr Down as Lord Alfred Tennyson …..
…..so would that be the cheap version of  <br>Alfred, Lord Tennyson ?
cruel, AP  ;)
best regards
wit
While I’ve never warmed to AD on the television, I have from time to time enjoyed his writing – unlike steve I’m a fan of the waffly, romantic, juiced up style of writing when it’s appropriate.
I wish him the best of luck with his battle against the drink. It doesn’t sound too pleasant. I remember seeing him at York last year smoking like a train…hopefully he might cut that down too for the best results!
Someone on the betfair forums was coming up with possible titles for Alistair’s autobiography.
I particuarly liked
"The Lost Weekender"
<br>but in the end would go with
"Down Your Neck".
unlike steve I’m a fan of the waffly, romantic, juiced up style of writing when it’s appropriate
Woah!
I don’t think it would have inspired a lifelong interest in military history as Lord Alfred Tennyson did for me.
Woah!
And I suppose Constable should have drawn his landscapes in pencil, huh
And woah, again!
Please re-read the comment:
"Down is a poor writer who’s insistence on using 30 words to say what could be better said in 10 is self-indulgence rather than eloquence or "poetry"."
This doesn’t mean I don’t respect or enjoy moving and poetic writing. Or that such writing is inherently self-indulgent.
It means I don’t believe that Mr Down has the chops to pull it off.
And, to compare his "talents" to Tennyson or Constable … now c’mon …
Steve
Yes he uses 30 words where he could have used ten but I get more pleasure from his 30 than someone elses 10……..if that makes sense!
Very much with stevedvg on this. Some of Alastair Down’s prose over recent years has been excruciatingly bad: the kind of stuff he would be thrown off an English course for writing.
At least he’s revealed that there’s been an excuse for it, I suppose.
(Edited by Prufrock at 10:03 pm on Feb. 7, 2007)
James Willoughby could be the next Alistair Down.
I read a wonderful piece of his the other week, a work of beauty – and there was not a mention of sectional times to be found amongst the elaborately constructed 100 word sentences.
Does he have wider aspirations to escape the sectional time/speedratings ghetto he popularised? Largely literary aspirations? I think we should be told.
And there was a word in there, a magnificent and highly superfluous word – probably a mad invention of his – which appears in no dictionary I could find.
Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten what it was.
Quote: from Maxilon 5 essentially, the difference between the finest writer who has ever lived and the lone fantasist typing out his memoirs in some seafront hotel over a freezing winter, has a variance of about ten degrees
I have to thank you mad max for your masterful elopquence, as this brought back fond memories of Graham Greene, and I’ve seen the llittle bay window that was almost a hotel where he grimaced through similar heavy lidded eyes of Down as his pen traced black waves of beauty on white paper. To depressives the flickering reflection of sun on waved water can be an irritant as well as a challenge of mood. Of course Greene wrote some of his finest prose battling the blackness of the sea he spied from his seafront window, possibly through an eye-corner on a bad day, and one wonders if prose needs an accompanying devil in whatever shape, even glassed, to force out its finery.
I have missed a lot of Down as my post these days are the odd letter, but Prufrock’s words worry me as I take him as no mean barometer. I like the florid though as much as the simplistic. Of course these poor guys on the racing pages have had the bar raised since the internet gave every little amateur his own little twelve inch window on the world, and some of the stuff you read has the beauty and novelty of litttle boundary and no mawkish editor waving his horned rims.
I admire the talent of Zorro for mixing it with the hard crowd and challenge Down to do the same and let his hundred rub real shouders, both rounded and hard torsos – his real readership. I will be judged by him …..misery
COME ON DOWN :wink:
The snow is thawing rapidly outside and really offers me little excuse to leg it and get out and on with the boredom of what is the dreariness of my day outside. I like the light brigade but will leave you with a little bit of improvised Lear which I hope cheers up the cannon in you.
:old:
There was an old man with a beard<br> who saw it just as he feared<br> Two Down owls and a hen <br> four larks and ten sons<br> had built their nest <br> in his beard
flatcapgamble…they dined on mince and slices of squints
;)
James Willoughby could be the next Alistair Down
did u see him fall down some stairs or something ?? :o
Clive, just a little succession planning for the future. ;)
Of course these poor guys on the racing pages have had the bar raised since the internet gave every little amateur his own little twelve inch window on the world, and some of the stuff you read has the beauty and novelty of litttle boundary and no mawkish editor waving his horned rims.
Bang on, Mr Gamble! The Internet has created more writers- and a wider awareness of writing – than any number of books, English teachers and creative writing courses. Allied, of course, with the word processor. Hard work, the typewriter.:biggrin:
:old: typewriter
Yes, yass, Mad,<br> and thanks for the quote. Have to admit the internet has really shaken the world of expressivensss from a slobbering sorbet into a tango of deliciously intermingled fizz:bounce:. ZZ Top needed a hairdresser an agent and some marketeers to get their beards recognised. Today a tramp with a flithy laptop in box city can re-create his ramshackle in a jiffy bag,and that same evening can be stroking Madonna’s mane and watching the twinklers on the strip as his limo screeches to max,<br>opens a window to let out a whiff …and let in the nubile nailed screams of slit heads as his notoriety passes 77 and goes global.
Slightly exaggerated but you get the drift
Down’s words are not all he has to offer as<br> his strong personality, similar to likely ladded James Bolan,<br> is woven into the fabric of his writing<br> and if a vowel challenges him his id will rise itself up<br> with a sickle laugh and tuck it into sorted
Come on Down<br> I do personally wish you well<br> and like the style, but<br> get yourself into the threatre<br> of dangerously wet boot filled dreams.<br> A first row seat assured<br> but only<br> right at the beginning of the performance.:biggrin:
flatcapgamble… oh the misery and joy of words !
Our mother was the pussycat our father the downy Owl<br>Ans so we’re partly little beasts and partly little fowl
self editing allowed
(Edited by gamble at 12:13 pm on Feb. 8, 2007)
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