Lord Orsam's Blog

[Caroline Brown]

Love is blind. Very blind. Just ask Melania.

Anyway, it was Alan's theory, not mine. Can you blame me for kicking the tires?

I blame you for the uncomfortable image of Anne nipping round to give a housebound Tony some rejuvenating how's yer father, in between Mike popping in with bottles of Bristol Cream and Tales From Liverpool for his invalid pal.

Bottom line: someone in Goldie Street went shopping for blank Victorian paper. Of that we are certain. Only a very limited number of scenarios can explain why. If Anne had paid the bill on-time I'd be more confident about her complicity; that there was a long delay suggests she didn't want to be involved.

The evidence is that it was Mike who made the initial enquiry. And who can claim to know the mysteries of a mind like his - apart perhaps from his wife, who'd have been certifiably insane to get herself involved in a forgery project with such a man.

The long delay would be explained by Anne's total ignorance of Mike's enquiry - until it had produced a tiny Victorian appointments diary for 1891 and a bill for £25 which Mike failed to pay, marking him down - Mike, not Anne - as a late payer. He finally asked her for a cheque [I'm not sure Mike yet had a bank account in his own name], which she was not happy about. She signed one and threw it across the room for him to fill in the details.

I suspect you are right about her not wanting to be involved. But she gave herself little choice if she was committed to this crazy diary scheme to implicate Mike, despite her lover's fatal heart attack, no doubt brought on by too much of the other.

Love,

Caroline
X

[Paul Butler]

Thank you, I did. We played scrabble over cocktails - I won both games, unusually, with scores of 350 and 380 - and then we had spare ribs with red wine, while watching the final episode of Dennis Potter's masterpiece, The Singing Detective.

Love,

Caz
X

I've still got the soundtrack CD of The singing Detective from the first time around. Pure magic.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

[Caroline Brown]

Hi Paul,

I had the soundtrack on CD and also the DVD, but we recently treated ourselves to a record player, so Mr Brown of Sidmouth treated me to the soundtrack on vinyl.

One of the best.

Am I right, or am I right?

Love,

Caz
X

[Caroline Brown]

If you dont believe Barrett was involved in the creating of the diary, how can you explain away the first affidavit in which he in great details states he was ?

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Invented details more like, Trev. Only one accurate, provable detail was needed to put his involvement beyond reasonable doubt. He should have been able to describe scores of 'em. But there is nothing that demonstrates an awareness of the creative process as it happened. In a previous affidavit, he swore he was given the diary in good faith by Tony Devereux. How can you explain away that one, if you don't believe Mike would have lied in a sworn statement? They can't both be true, so call me cynical, but I prefer not to rely on the word of a confirmed and self-confessed liar, in whatever form it took.

I'm quite surprised that you can be so easily satisfied, as a former copper.

Love,

Caz
X

[Trevor Marriott]

Invented details more like, Trev. Only one accurate, provable detail was needed to put his involvement beyond reasonable doubt. He should have been able to describe scores of 'em. But there is nothing that demonstrates an awareness of the creative process as it happened. In a previous affidavit, he swore he was given the diary in good faith by Tony Devereux. How can you explain away that one, if you don't believe Mike would have lied in a sworn statement? They can't both be true, so call me cynical, but I prefer not to rely on the word of a confirmed and self-confessed liar, in whatever form it took.

I'm quite surprised that you can be so easily satisfied, as a former copper.

Love,

Caz
X

I am not easily satisfied but
A sworn affidavit in great detail has to carry some weight and more than an element of truth within.

What would he gain nothing, and it would have been a useful addition to the police investigation !

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[R. J. Palmer]

Hi Caz,

Thank you, I did. We played scrabble over cocktails - I won both games, unusually, with scores of 350 and 380 - and then we had spare ribs with red wine, while watching the final episode of Dennis Potter's masterpiece, The Singing Detective.

It sounds very civilized. Me? I ran four miles in pitch blackness, then went home and ruined what health benefit I may have accrued from this ordeal by sucking down three pints of I.P.A. while watching Westway to the World, a documentary about The Clash. That set me off into a downward spiral that ended with blasting reggae until midnight. My head hurts, but that doesn’t mean I won’t revisit Kingston tonight.

I'm dense, so you may need to explain how Anne's documented behavior (accompanying Mike to London, signing the book deal, meeting with Feldman in the Moat House, coming up with the new provenance story, going on Radio Merseyside, etc) is somehow less crazy and more consistent with Barrett having appropriated the Diary from Dodd, as opposed to Barrett having simply created it? There may be a difference, but its subtly eludes me.

Only one accurate, provable detail was needed to put his involvement beyond reasonable doubt. He should have been able to describe scores of 'em. But there is nothing that demonstrates an awareness of the creative process as it happened.

But I don't quite know what you mean by the 'creative process as it happened.' Well, I sort of do, but this wasn't Dostoyevsky discussing the creative backdrop to the Brothers K, was it? This was a paranoid Barrett lodging a private document with his solicitor in case he was bumped off by Paul Feldman. Laugh if you want, but Barrett alludes to threats and unexpected visits, etc. and his fear is directly stated in the affidavit. He is now fully engaged in derailing Feldman's locomotive, and wants something down on paper in case he ends up bobbing the Mersey. That's how I read it. And the statement wasn't meant for public consumption, or as a substitute for a more detailed confession, was it? Barrett and Gray had some strange notion of selling the full story. We’ve discussed this many times. (Which, now that I mention it, I saw an old post of yours, announcing your mother’s 100th birthday. My father’s side of the family lives to be in their late 90s. We both have strong genes, so do me a favor. If we are still discussing this 30 years from now, feel free to hunt me down and strangle me).

As for Kane, perhaps I'll post more later, but I certainly don't insist on it being the correct answer. I’m like Keith; I have no pony in the race, I just have preferred theories. Except that all my preferred theories date to 1992. I can see the strength of Lord O's focus on Goldie Street. Ockham's Razor, and all that. The simplest and most direct answer is often the correct one.

I find it impossible to believe that someone of Anne's undoubted intelligence, who knew her husband better than anyone else on earth, would ever have countenanced the idea of enabling someone like Mike...

I do sympathize, but--unfortunately for both of our misgivings--we are faced with the sad reality that courtrooms are filled with cases involving spouses who got roped into the foolish and/or criminal schemes of their significant others. The "ties that bind" have pulled them into the mire. I’ve known some world class enablers, and I’m not sure intelligence has much to do with it.

[Gary Barnett]

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

So, this time round we've had nothing but silence from Jonathan Menges and Gary Barnett in response to the last 'Lord Orsam Says...'.

I don't need to say much about Gary Barnett other than it's strange, what with him being one of the two great seekers of truth, along with Paul Begg, according to Paul Begg, that he doesn't even feel able to ask Begg if he (and Keith Skinner) made a mistake in 'The Scotland Yard Files' regarding the resignation of Monro.* I suppose it's only mistakes by Hallie Rubenhold that he feels it important to correct whereas those by Paul Begg can remain unchallenged and unmentioned.


Where to start with this nonsense from Mr Multiple Personality?

Apparently:

I didn’t respond to his claim that Paul Begg and Keith Skinner made some kind of a mistake about ‘Monro’ in ‘The Scotland Yard Files’. In fact I did respond to that very point on this very website some weeks ago. Please pay attention - all three (or is it one?) of you!

According to his Lordship, Paul Begg considers me to be one of ‘the two great seekers after truth’. Wow! Please point me in the direction of that quote - I’ll run a copy off and have it framed.

I only correct mistakes by Hallie R. None by his Lordship himself? Drew Grey? Richard Patterson? How about Tom Wescott? I could go on... Surely his Lordship must recall my issue with a particular detail in Ripper Confidential that he (his Lordship) latched onto and about which he trolled Tom ad naseum shortly before his Lordly presence was deemed too much of a good thing by the scrupulously fair Casebook admin folk.

In one small paragraph his Multipersonalityship makes three points, all of which are bollocks. Why would anyone buy a used ‘one-off’ from this genius?

[Paul]

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

So, this time round we've had nothing but silence from Jonathan Menges and Gary Barnett in response to the last 'Lord Orsam Says...'.

I don't need to say much about Gary Barnett other than it's strange, what with him being one of the two great seekers of truth, along with Paul Begg, according to Paul Begg, that he doesn't even feel able to ask Begg if he (and Keith Skinner) made a mistake in 'The Scotland Yard Files' regarding the resignation of Monro.* I suppose it's only mistakes by Hallie Rubenhold that he feels it important to correct whereas those by Paul Begg can remain unchallenged and unmentioned.


Where to start with this nonsense from Mr Multiple Personality?

Apparently:

I didn’t respond to his claim that Paul Begg and Keith Skinner made some kind of a mistake about ‘Monro’ in ‘The Scotland Yard Files’. In fact I did respond to that very point on this very website some weeks ago. Please pay attention - all three (or is it one?) of you!

According to his Lordship, Paul Begg considers me to be one of ‘the two great seekers after truth’. Wow! Please point me in the direction of that quote - I’ll run a copy off and have it framed.

I only correct mistakes by Hallie R. None by his Lordship himself? Drew Grey? Richard Patterson? How about Tom Wescott? I could go on... Surely his Lordship must recall my issue with a particular detail in Ripper Confidential that he (his Lordship) latched onto and about which he trolled Tom ad naseum shortly before his Lordly presence was deemed too much of a good thing by the scrupulously fair Casebook admin folk.

In one small paragraph his Multipersonalityship makes three points, all of which are bollocks. Why would anyone buy a used ‘one-off’ from this genius?

Oh, great seeker after truth, I'm not sure why you are dignifying these ramblings with a reply. Go out, buy a tin of Dulux, paint something, and watch it dry. You'll find it more fulfilling in the long run. And a better use of your time.

[Gary Barnett]

Oh, great seeker after truth, I'm not sure why you are dignifying these ramblings with a reply. Go out, buy a tin of Dulux, paint something, and watch it dry. You'll find it more fulfilling in the long run. And a better use of your time.

That was my intention, but under the influence of a glass or two of Chateaux Thames Embankment I weakened.

If I send you my copy of the New A-Z (when I get it) with a postage paid return envelope, would you be kind enough to sign it with a dedication to ‘the other great seeker after truth.’?

[Paul]

That was my intention, but under the influence of a glass or two of Chateaux Thames Embankment I weakened.

If I send you my copy of the New A-Z (when I get it) with a postage paid return envelope, would you be kind enough to sign it with a dedication to ‘the other great seeker after truth.’?

Of course. I'd be honoured.

[Scott Nelson]

I'd better be in it this time. And I'd like a complimentary copy, please.

[Robert Linford]

Incredible to think that this is 2020 and Scott still hasn't got his Lifetime Achievement Award. This really should be attended to.

[R. J. Palmer]

I'm half expecting Orsam Books to come out with a new title soon, The Collected Journalism of Michael Barrett. The Michael Caine photo was a nice touch.

[Howard Brown]

March 5, 2020

https://www.orsam.co.uk/news.htm

The latest.......

[Simon Wood]

My goodness, it's like being savaged by a dead sheep.