老虎机稳赢方法

Here's a thread ready for our January and February 2014 group read of....




The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant

I first read these in 2012 and was surprised by how good they were. Especially The West Pier and Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse. They are far better than many would have you believe and there is much to enjoy.

All the the books give the reader a wonderful insight into England in the 1920s and 1930s, in particular the highly delineated class structure. It is class-based assumptions that enable the books' anti-hero Ernest Ralph Gorse to successfully hoodwink those he encounters.

The best book of the three is 'Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse' (1955). Mrs Plumleigh-Bruce and her Reading-based companions are wonderful - and wonderfully funny.

I wish Hamilton could have lived long enough to write more Gorse novels. He hints at what is to come but alas we will never know exactly how it all ended for our anti-hero.

I hope that this is sufficient to convince you to read, or re-read, these books. I will be re-reading them sometime in January 2014. See you then.

Here's to a great discussion.

The county library has one copy of each of the first two books separately and two copies of the trilogy, so I should be able to join you. There must be a few more Patrick Hamilton fans out there, as both copies of the trilogy are out on loan (which makes a change, they usually have to dig the last copy of anything I request out of the county store).

Great news Val. The final book is by far the weakest of the three - but still worth a read though.

I read a library copy first time round but, this very day, decided to invest in my own copy. It should arrive tomorrow.

I bought the trilogy on its re-publication around 2006. I agree that the final book is the weakest. I thought that its Brighton setting and the hoodwinking of the impressionable girl (sorry, it's too long ago to recall exact details!) made it vaguely reminiscent of Brighton Rock.

There's so much I want to read and as much again that I want to re-read.

Thanks David. Yes, some resemblence to Brighton Rock, but without the violence (though perhaps some mental violence rather than physical)

David wrote: "There's so much I want to read and as much again that I want to re-read. "

I know that feeling.

Yes, I think that's the impression I got.

One of my offspring bought me the 2010 remake of the film of Brighton Rock, set amid the Mod/Rocker scraps in 63. Although the links with that youth culture seemed crowbarred in a bit clumsily, the film had a great atmosphere.

Phil Davis has a leading gang leader role. Coincidentally, he was also in Quadrophenia which, of course, celebrated Mod culture (but didn't do Pete's marvellous 73 album justice, in my opinion) and, bringing us to a Hamilton connection, was outstanding as Ernest Eccles in the filmed adaptation of Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky.

He endeared himself to me further by playing Smallweed to perfection in the splendid BBC serialisation of Bleak House in 2005.

I've seen the Brighton Rock remake. I was quite excited about it when it came out and saw it in the cinema. It's watchable and the cast is superb, but it can't hold a candle to the Boulting Brothers' 1947 version. Richard Attenborough *is* Pinkie. I did enjoy the update to the 1960s though.

Like you, I'm always happy to be watching Phil Davies, who I also first remember from Quadrophenia.



"He endeared himself to me further by playing Smallweed to perfection in the splendid BBC serialisation of Bleak House in 2005."

I missed that one, but can confirm he played a brilliantly sinister taxi driver in an episode of Sherlock, and does another good turn in Vera Drake. He pops up all over the place.

"...bringing us to a Patrick Hamilton connection, he was outstanding as Ernest Eccles in the BBC adaptation of Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky."

Wasn't he just. Completely nailed it. Sally Hawkins was great too.

Back to The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant, my copy arrived yesterday. I am really looking forward to rereading it,

I came across this article, by Eoin Colfer about Patrick Hamilton that focusses on Eoin's love of The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant and realised not only would it would be appropriate to post it here, but that it might also inspire a few more people to join in the group read.



by Eoin Colfer

The character who, in a flash, changed the course of my work is Patrick Hamilton's enthralling conman Ernest Ralph Gorse. Gorse is a base, selfish creature who preys on the greedy and foolish, manipulating their foibles and ambition to part them from money they can ill afford to lose. At the time of publication in the 50s, the dark and pessimistic Gorse Trilogy was not well received, though Graham Greene said that book one, The West Pier, was the finest book about Brighton ever written, and the second volume, Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse, is now generally acknowledged as a masterpiece of black comedy.

I read The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant in my early teens and was taken with the idea that such a loathsome villain could also be magnetic. Up to that point, my understanding of the novel could be called traditional: there was a hero, a villain, some adverse circumstance and ultimately a triumph. The book I read before The West Pier was Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, which is a very fine novel of legerdemain, but the reader is never in any doubt as to the roles of the various characters. Patrick Hamilton turned my understanding of what a novel could be on its head. There was no hero, and the victims were not appealing. It was possible to sustain a story that did not feature any appealing characters or pure motivations. My teenage self realised, with a shock, that Patrick Hamilton was relying on the reader's contempt for his characters. He saw our own base nature and used it to keep us reading.

Patrick Hamilton showed me the power of literature to shape opinions and reveal our true natures, and for these disturbing reasons, he is my hero.

Splendid stuff eh? It's really whet my appetite for a re-read of The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant.

I am really looking forward to our discussion in January and February 2014.

Nigeyb wrote:Splendid stuff eh?

Indeed it is. I didn't know Greene rated Gorse so highly. For him to put The West Pier above Brighton Rock is a remarkable statement.

There was no hero, and the victims were not appealing. It was possible to sustain a story that did not feature any appealing characters or pure motivations. My teenage self realised, with a shock, that Patrick Hamilton was relying on the reader's contempt for his characters. He saw our own base nature and used it to keep us reading.

That's a wonderful summation of Hamilton's skill and I must admit that I'd never thought of character depiction in that way. Then again, I'm a long way from my early teens!

Thanks for sharing this.

David wrote: "I didn't know Greene rated Gorse so highly"

Indeed. It is quite surprising, and self-effacing, given how good Brighton Rock is.

When I heard Nigel Jones, one of Patrick's biographers, speaking, he mentioned in passing that anti-hero Ernest Ralph Gorse was actually based on the real life Neville Heath who was hanged in 1946. Heath, Gorse... geddit?

David wrote: "That's a wonderful summation of Hamilton's skill and I must admit that I'd never thought of character depiction in that way."

I'm glad you appreciated it David. I was similarly struck by it.

...


Welcome back, Patrick Hamilton

The long-neglected author of some of mid-century English fiction's most striking fiction, is finally coming back into favour - and print.

I've been trying to banish the cheesy image of Nigel Havers from my head since being given a preview copy of the soon-to-be-reissued Gorse trilogy by Patrick Hamilton.

The first two of the three books - West Pier (1952), Mr Stimson and Mr Gorse (1953) and Unknown Assailant (1955) - were screened by ITV in 1987 as The Charmer, which many may remember Havers in full "Alan of all trades" sports casual mode cast as the villainous seducer of wealthy spinsters sent to the gallows (Havers seems to follow bad literary adaptations around - see what he did to Henry Miller's Quiet Days in Clichy).

Yet we cannot afford to scoff too much. Graham Greene, who we can all agree might be considered something of an expert on the seaside resort's underbelly, hailed West Pier as "the best book written about Brighton" (if only he'd lived to read Sugar Rush). The Black Spring Press edition brings the three books together in one volume and the cover image of the choppy waters on the seafront and the peeling paint of iron railings more than hints at the malevolence, perversion and avarice contained within.

The reissue of the Gorse trilogy - the last set of novels from Hamilton's estimable pen before his drink-induced death in 1962 - marks the completion of the recently rediscovered author's back catalogue in print. Secondhand copies of the Penguin 20th Century Classics edition of Slaves of Solitude still sell on Amazon for upwards of 拢100, even though it was only published in 1999 (there's probably several in Oxfam shops around the country whose staff are unaware of its worth), before Constable and Robinson put those without wads of cash to spare out of their misery last year by reissuing it.

The Hamilton back catalogue forms an odd assortment, with Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky (recently adapted for BBC4) out in Vintage Classics and Hangover Square still doing well as a Penguin Modern Classic, while Impromptu in Moribundia, his most explicitly political work as a declared Marxist, can also be found on a small press.

Ignore Nick Hornby's banal comment about Hamilton being the missing piece of motorway between Dickens and Martin Amis, Hamilton's worth is proven by the devoted legions of fans among younger authors such as Dan Rhodes and Niven Govinden and those who pack out rooms above pubs in Soho at nights organised by the Sohemian Society.

While the Gorse trilogy is not exactly Hamilton's magnum opus (especially the drink-soaked Unknown Assailant), it does demonstrate his handy knack for both literature and drama and we can all raise a glass to its reissue, something I fear the man "who needed whisky like a car needed petrol" and died of multiple organ failure would approve no doubt.

I'm really looking forward to re-reading The Gorse Trilogy.

I haven't started my re-read of The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant yet. I found a good review of The West Pier, the first book in the trilogy, on a reader's blog called "White Whale".

I have also added her thoughts to this thread as I think she makes some interesting points about The West Pier and about Patrick Hamilton, and ultimately did not enjoy the book. Here's the review...

The West Pier is the first in a trilogy of novels based on a real life confidence man,Neville Heath. It begins by telling of his time at school, and his love of 'mischief' 鈥� for example, he always carries a long pin about with him, so he can make punctures in the wheels of any bicycles he finds unattended. He attends a rather posh public (or private, depending on the country you're reading this in) school, and is generally sheilded from the consequences of his actions. The story then catches up with him as a young man just after the First World War, and tells how he manages to defraud a working class girl of her life savings (拢68; a great deal to her, and not very much to him) simply for the thrill of it.

Much that appealed about Hangover Square also appeals about The West Pier. There a sort of coldly comic edge to it which is often hilarious. Like this bit of schoolboy conversation in a changing room:

"You'd better not accuse me, you know鈥� said Kerr, now anxious to be accused, and endeavouring to create the allusion that this had already happened. 鈥淏ecause I'll jolly well punch your nose.鈥�

鈥淎nd you'd better not accuse me either,鈥� said another boy named Roberts, perceving and rushing with all his belongings towards the glorious Yukon of quarreling with Kerr had discovered. 鈥淥r I'll jolly well punch your nose too.鈥�

For some reason, I just love that about the Yukon. Or this, about these same boys as young men in their early twenties:

All these boys were, of course, in what is deceptively called the 'morning' of life 鈥� deceptive because the vigorous word 'morning' does not at all suggest the clouded, oppressive, mysterious, disquieted, inhibited condition through which the vast majority have to pass at this age.

I don't know if that's so much funny as it is sadly true. And this is I think the reason I can't really say I enjoyed this book. It's written with great clarity, truly remarkable insight into human behaviour, and with painfully accurate analysis of how people act in social situations; but it's all rather sad. The con man is a clever, cunning, and unpleasant man. His victims are greedy, vain, and rather credulous. These people are drawn clearly and intelligently, but I wasn't sure to what effect. The bad man tricked the stupid people. That was basically it.

Perhaps I'm being rather Victorian about it all, but I didn't really get the point. It was all rather sad and defeated, and no one emerged well or was any the wiser from their experiences.

I believe poor Mr Hamilton ended his life an alcoholic, and I think I would drink too if I found the world so very full of evil and idiocy. In fact, I might just go have a drink right now. I'm not sure how else I'll get through the rest of The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant.

You can find it, and many other book reviews, here:

Just mulling over White Whale's comments (see post above) and I was reflecting on her comment about not really getting the point of The West Pier.

I think The West Pier is a good book, both in terms of setting up the Gorse character, and by giving the reader a wonderful insight into England in the 1920s and 1930s, in particular the highly delineated class structure. It is class-based assumptions that enable the books' anti-hero Ernest Ralph Gorse to successfully hoodwink those he encounters. And, as a Hove-based reader, I particularly enjoyed the local detail (the The West Pier is set in Brighton and Hove, with a focus on Hove).

If you only have the time to read one book then go straight to Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse, this is the best of the three, and is a five star read. Mrs Plumleigh-Bruce and her Reading-based companions are wonderful - and it's very funny, with snobbery and class-based assumptions at the root of the humour and the sting.

The final book, 'Unknown Assailant' (1955), is far less successful but it still has its moments.

Overall though, when I first read The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant, and having heard that Patrick Hamilton's powers were in steep decline when he wrote them, I was surprised by how good they were. Especially Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse. The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant is far better than many would have you believe and there is much to enjoy.

"White Whale" (see above) also read and reviewed the rest of The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant, specifically the second book, Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse, and the final part of the trilogy, Unknown Assailant. I've taken out her fairly detailed summary of the plots for anyone keen to avoid spoilers. Here we go..

Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse, and Unknown Assailant, follow our anti-hero, Ralph Ernest Gorse, as he continues to con women out of their money.

One very striking aspect of Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse is how much of it takes place in drinking establishments. Everyone is constantly either drinking or drunk. Patrick Hamilton clearly spent an ungodly amount of time in bars, as I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever read such detail or accuracy about pub culture, pub conversation, drunken dalliances, the taste of brandy, the effect of 鈥楪in and It,鈥� Monday morning hangovers, etc etc etc. It kind of made me want to have a drink.

Welcome to our world White Whale!

Unknown Assailant. The title made me very worried that here Ralph Ernest Gorse would finally mature from conman to serial killer. The atmosphere of these books is strangely suspenseful 鈥� or stressful might be a better term 鈥� and I was kind of worried this might be where it was going. However, bizarrely, this was the most cheerful of the books, and included, incredibly, a character who was not irredeemably bad! Amazing. Of course, we are immediately told that he is to die senselessly in the early days of the WWII, so fear not, this is still vintage Patrick Hamilton.

The last two books in The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant continue to be bleakly funny:

Chelsea proper is, as is well known, despite its countless normal inhabitants, the favourite London resort of those who are obvious failures or of those who are obviously going to be failures before long. The failure is nearly always of an 鈥榓rtistic鈥� kind.

I enjoyed The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant, but I am glad they are finished. I am not surprised that they were Patrick Hamilton's last novels before he drank himself to death. The man who wrote the Introduction called these end-of-the-tether novels, and while I don鈥檛 know exactly what he means, I know exactly what he means.

You can find the review above, and many other book reviews, here:

I had no idea that The Charmer was based on The Gorse Trilogy (old drama with Nigel Havers, I think, anyone remember it?). However, I just started "Through a Glass Darkly" and it is mentioned in the introduction.

^ Yes that's right Susan.

I vaguely remember The Charmer. It might be interesting to rewatch it having read the books. Apparently, in addition to Nigel Havers, who doesn't conform to my mental image of Gorse, there's Rosemary Leach Mrs Joan Plumleigh Bruce and Bernard Hepton playing estate agent Donald Stimpson.

One review on Amazon UK states the story bears little relation to the books, despite using the same character names.

No, that is so annoying. I probably enjoyed it at the time as I wasn't aware of the book.

I've got tickets for Patrick Hamilton's The West Pier - Cocktails & Crime: A literary salon


This is how its described...

Literary Salon at the Sussex County cricket ground exploring this classic Brighton crime novel and the life and times of its author.
Conman Ernest Ralph Gorse has the beautiful Esther Downes and her cash in his sights.

His weapons of choice: the Gin and It cocktail, his boyish charm and the mighty West Pier. How can she resist?

Scenes from the new stage version by Matt Thompson mingled with a panel discussion on Patrick Hamilton and his work, hypnotic jazz from Edana Minghella and her band and strong liquor.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Here's a funding video...

This book was also collected from the library this morning. There is only one copy in the county and someone else has been reading it for the last six weeks or more.

^ Great news Val. I hope it will be worth the wait.

I read The West Pier back in March, then had to return the book to the library. I managed to borrow the book again and read Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse and "Unknown Assailant" in May and June.
The first story is my favourite of the three The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant, it has plenty of the well observed conversational detail which is Patrick Hamilton's trademark and an evocative depiction of Brighton.
The second book does have some moments of dark comedy, but Gorse's victim is an unpleasant woman rather than merely a silly one and I found myself wishing he had 'taken' her for more than the 拢500 he extracted.

^ Thanks for posting your thoughts Val.


I marginally prefer Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse to The West Pier but think both are very good.

Sadly by Unknown Assailant the reputed three bottles of whiskey a day had taken their toll and he he dictated this book (phoned it in too). Apparently the Gorse saga would have ended with the hangman's noose if Patrick's lifestyle issues hadn't got in the way of him finishing it as originally conceived.

Back to The West Pier, I couldn't agree more about the great period detail. Very evocative as you say. I posted elsewhere about a theatrical adaptation. I saw the first hour or so, which covers about half of the book, and it worked really well. I hope it gets finished and gets a decent run.

According to a Waterstone's contact, this has just gone out of print. I'm hoping this is only temporary and due to the Monday Morning inspired reissuing of the entire Hamilton catalogue!

FYI, they have just reissued the Gorse Trilogy for Kindle as well!

Thanks Livinginthecastle - handy for those that don't want to lug about a chunky paperback.

A thread about Gorse and Brighton seemed like the best place to draw attention to Mark Steel鈥檚 fabulous new 鈥淚n Town鈥� series, a socially-distanced recording from the pebble beach. And three years since the last entry seems a bit neglectful.

You're the second person to recommend it


Thanks David

I'll make a trip to BBC Sounds and cop an ear

David wrote:



"The word on the street is that Rewind TV is about to launch on Sky (no chance) for now, with Freesat, and Freeview (hooray) to follow.

Being trailed, as one of several entire series being re-heated, is The Charmer, based on Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse (1955). I have no memory of this at all having taken little interest in TV for a considerable time during the drinking and hormonal years, although I understand its having been adapted from the gaffer鈥檚 Brighton trilogy"

Thanks again David


I now realise that Rewind is going to be a copy of TalkingPictures and those other channels that just show old stuff

There are full episodes of The Charmer on YouTube possibly the entire series which was in six parts

Here's a little taster....






Nigel Havers, an actor known for his charm, here plays against type as an unscrupulous conman, a thoroughly evil character, in a six-part series

Thanks for placing my contribution on the correct shelf, Nigey.

I still have trouble finding a way to contribute to threads on PH鈥檚 works individually from the opening page. I thought clicking on the link to individual works would do the trick, but they just lead me to the 老虎机稳赢方法 summary/reviews.

Is there a specific heading that I can鈥檛 see? I had this issue before when adding a bit of info about Gaslight.

I do it by going to the group home page, then I click on discussions, then Hamilton book by book, and then scroll through the headings until I find the appropriate book.


The other way is to use the search function on the group home page鈥�.

/group/show/...

Right you are, guv. I assume it works with the still-Collier-esque app?

I鈥檒l remember that for about 20 minutes.

What a drag it is getting old.

I鈥檓 not sure David. I鈥檝e ditched the app 馃

I use it 99% of the time as my laptop鈥檚 in an upstairs cubbyhole, and I note that it missed 鈥渕inutes鈥� off my last message. Who knew that Norman Collier was the beast in the machine?

I鈥檓 sure there were only three headings shown when I posted about Gorse earlier on, with the book-by-book one not showing.

What larks, eh Pip?

What larks indeed


That app is very poor