Issue Two
Contents
Arthur House
Too Much Like Hard Work
When I was very young, the best footballer in the world – probably the best ever – played for my local team. My first set of colouring pencils bore his name; they were the only ones you could buy.… Read article
James Purdon
At the Aq
On October 24, 1875, the New York Times published a notice on behalf of the Royal Aquarium Society, announcing the birth of a grand project – and seeking American investors. The Royal Aquarium… Read article
Peter Scott
Chasing Shadows
Between the ideaAnd the realityBetween the motionAnd the act (‘The Hollow Men’, T.S. Eliot, 1925) Boxers are liars. They have to be, eventually. They lie about their condition, for promotion, … Read article
Thomas Marks
On Not Being Jewish
At school I was bullied for being Jewish. Sure, I didn’t have to put up with the animal noises that my father had to stomach at a minor boarding school in Hertfordshire in the 1960s. But ‘Jew’ o… Read article
Ed Wethered
The Red Headed League
‘Every shade of color they were - straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-colored tint.’ (‘The Red-Headed… Read article
Dan Stevens
Bloodlust on Safari
Funny the things one learns. I had always assumed that life in South Africa meant monkeys in the driveway and hippos in the pool, in the way that we, back in England, get squirrels on the fence and th… Read article
Badaude and Kelley Swain
Sestina: Frimaire
There’s a cloven-hooved print dried into the mud, and it’s not Pan. They’ve gone topsy-turvy, wrecked the garden. What if they insisted on staying? Would it be any better than fly-by-night … Read article
Hannah Rosefield
Galanthus
It takes a galanthophile to know the difference between Galanthus alpinus and Galanthus reginae-olegae, between Galanthus koeianus and Galanthus krasnovii. Galanthus, literally ‘milk flower’, is t… Read article
Kate Prentice
Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking You’re Thinking?
For this trick you will need: two children, aged three and four respectively; mini felt-tip pens; an empty tube of Smarties. Put the pens into the Smarties tube, close the lid, and find the four year-… Read article
Kat Sommers
What’s Hecuba to Him?
The trouble with telling if those mourners at Kim Jong-Il’s funeral were faking it is that real grief can look so damn fake. It is too sudden, too forced, too messy. There are not enough tears, too … Read article
Editor’s Note
List of Contributors
Badaude
Writer, illustrator, Francophile, part-time insomniac, Oulipo padawan, Victorianist, sharp dresser, associate member of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics, amateur of historical pornography. @badaude
Arthur House
Arthur House is a writer based in London. @arthur_house
Thomas Marks
Thomas Marks is a writer, editor, and recovering academic. @Tomwmarks
Kate Prentice
Kate Prentice spends her time between literature and psychology, London and Cambridge. She used to be an English teacher and is now doing a PhD in experimental psychology, looking at how the sound and rhythm of poetry may help children’s reading development.
James Purdon
James Purdon is a founding editor of The Junket. He teaches Modern and Contemporary literature at the University of St Andr @jamespurdonHannah Rosefield
Hannah Rosefield lives in London. Her interests include long walks, birds and Victorians. @henrosefield
Peter Scott
Peter Scott is a magazine publisher who lives in London. @PeteJRScott
Kat Sommers
Kat Sommers is a freelance producer and copywriter who lives in London. She writes about fans, celebrity and her continuing effort to finish a novel at katsommers.com. @dogwinters
Dan Stevens
Dan Stevens is an actor and writer living in New York. He was one of the judges of the Man Booker prize 2012. @thatdanstevens
Kelley Swain
Kelley Swain is a freelance writer, poet, and writer-in-residence at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge. Usually based in London, she has spent the winter writing a verse play in Les Adrets de l'Esterel, a tiny village in the Var in the South of France. @thenakedmuse
Ed Wethered
Ed Wethered lives in London and works in feature film development. @edwethered