Rediscovered! The original Lakeland cottage that inspired Withnail and I. And yes, you can stay there...

It's part of the long-established lore of Withnail and I that the writer/director Bruce Robinson took inspiration from the time he actually did go 'on holiday by mistake' to the Lake District with a friend. It was in the winter of 1970 that Bruce and fellow struggling actor Michael Feast headed north in a 'fucked old Jaguar', and found themselves staying in a farm cottage far up a stony track, a mile from the road. Remembering the trip in the book-length interview Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson, he didn't mince his words:

'The cottage depicted in the film was positively luxurious compared with what Mickey and I actually found when we arrived. It really was bucket by the bed with rain coming in and so cold you could hardly see.'

Burning furniture to keep warm, and killing a chicken to eat: both actually happened, according to Bruce. As did running outside with plastic bags on their feet to try to remedy the fuel and wood situation. Though he could remember the name of the (are you the?) farmer who owned the place — 'Parkin, which is where I got the name' — Bruce couldn't then recall the name of 'wherever it was — it wasn't called Crow Crag.'

In the film, Crow Crag was memorably played by Sleddale Hall in Wet Sleddale, near Shap. Much has been written about this wonderful place, and thousands upon thousands of photos have probably been taken of it by now, by the many Withnailers who have made the pilgrimage, not least those who attend the sold-out Picnic Cinema screenings of the film in the yard at the house every summer. (Though pilgrims should note that it is a private property, and not open to the public or available to rent... as yet.)

But where did Bruce actually stay on that fateful trip in 1970? Which house originally inspired Crow Crag?

Well, thanks to a detail tucked away in the marvellous new book Withnail and I: From Cult to Classic, we can now reveal exactly where it was that Bruce and Michael Feast ended up, and yes, it's still a holiday let, though now a very lovely one!

In the book — alongside interviews and memories from the cast, crew, and famous fans — there is all sorts of wonderful ephemera from Bruce's personal archive, including the first page of a letter he wrote to his then-girlfriend, the actress Lesley-Anne Down, about the 'holiday' he'd just had. He begins by describing the local area: 'In Pooley-Bridge, the nights are nightier — black is blacker, and cold is colder (I forgot — wet is wetter).' He goes on to describe getting to their accommodation, and there, in the letter, is this:

'Auterstone cottage sticks out like a boil on a troubled brow.'

A quick google reveals that Auterstone Cottage is part of Swarthbeck Farm, near Howtown. It overlooks Ullswater, and according to its website is, yes, up 'a long track which can be difficult in snow and ice.' But, it has 'wonderful views over the whole lake from the front.' Sounds lovely. To be fair, even Bruce conceded in his 1970 letter that 'the living room is a picture from a noddy book about cottages.' It appears that no one online has ever made the Withnail connection...

If you'd like to stay there yourself, you can find the details here. 

Why Bruce didn't suggest filming Withnail at the place that inspired it is an interesting question, which I'm not sure he's ever been asked. It's not as if Sleddale Hall is any easier to get to for a film crew, if anything, it's even further from a main road! Having said that, Sleddale Hall (which was found by Unit Production Manager Matthew Binns) was perfect for the film, and it's now hard to imagine Uncle Monty's being anywhere else. But! A film has been made at Auterstone, and a somewhat Withnailian one at that...

Paul is Dead is a short film about the Beatles, and rather than trying to sum it up, it's quicker if you just go and watch it. It's superb on every level, and I'm not just saying that because it was co-written and produced, not to mention production designed, by a friend of mine, Stuart Armstrong.

Here's the trailer:

... and you can watch the whole short here. It's now in development as a feature-length version at Polyrock Films.

The spooky thing is, Stu felt that the spirit of Withnail was with them from the start...

'As self-confessed Withnail and I superfans, Paul Is Dead writer/director George and I immediately drew inspiration from the film as soon as our co-writer Ben lit the flame of a comedy short based around the infamous Beatles conspiracy theory. It seemed like a perfect fit; not, that is, because George Harrison himself financed Withnail, but rather where else would one stage the death of Paul McCartney than on a 'musical retreat' in a remote cottage clung to the side of a Cumbrian fell. There was just something about our aim to create fictional versions of the well-loved Beatles through a flawed, ironic and pathetic lens which felt inherently Withnailian. Naturally, we arranged to recce the real life Crow Crag ASAP, and were soon shown around by the welcoming current owner Tim Ellis. However, we found the logistics of getting a film crew up to Sleddale Hall were just too inviable — and this was in 2018, so Christ knows how they managed it in the 1980s! It was at this point we naturally began discussing the making of Withnail, and found ourselves wondering where exactly Robinson took his fated, inspirational holiday — and I'm sure a passing 'wouldn’t it be cool if we ended up filming there' was thrown around. Next on our location scout list was Auterstone Cottage, on the other side of the far eastern Lakeland fells. 

Director George Moore adds, 'It immediately felt uncannily like we were living the full Withnail and I experience. The muddy trek up the mountainside was strikingly similar to the film’s impromptu bullring. A step out the door and you’re confronted with the huge, widescreen vista of the lake and fells below, just as Marwood is in the film.' 

Stu continues, 'We ended up shooting Paul at and around Auterstone, but not without running into a few issues, not least of which was a three-day snow-in thanks to the 'Beast from the East', during which we had to march our cast and crew on a six-mile round trip to Pooley Bridge to buy the last remaining potato, black pudding and fine wine on offer in the local post office. But we survived and made it, fittingly, back to London. The film then went on to enjoy great success on the festival circuit and, humbly, something of a cult status online — a privilege which can of course be attributed to the incumbent cultural real estate of the four lads from Liverpool, but one we’re glad to think is also a testament to the continued ability of Bruce Robinson’s masterpiece to inspire filmmakers such as ourselves. And how marvellous that we now have physical proof of the Withnailian heritage we had always hoped to imbue into Paul Is Dead.’

Yes Stu, it is marvellous! 

Auterstone Cottage: you now have your place assured in Withnail history... nay, British film history... nay British history. 

There should be a plaque, at the very least.

 

 

WITHNAIL BOOKS IS TEN YEARS OLD!

Ten years ago I opened a second hand bookshop by mistake in Penrith, which obviously had to be called Withnail Books. During that decade I’ve sold (certainly) thousands of books to (probably) thousands of people. Some of them said some pretty memorable things: sometimes to me, sometimes to others, or indeed to themselves, as I sat quietly earwigging.

I just type it down folks… and it's become a book...

"These books and that? Are they just for decoration?" Actual Customer Quotes from a Secondhand Bookshop only exists as a couple of hard copies I made for my own entertainment, BUT, anyone who wants one can have a PDF/ebook version FOR FREE! Just email me at withnailbooks@btinternet.com and I'll send you one.

Here's a small sample...

“I went out with a girl who smelled of coconut once. Put me off coconut for life.”

“I can quite accurately date books by their smell. There’s a certain era of American books which are really smelly.”

(He’s quite right.)

“It’s very hard to find knitted vegetables.”

“Oh, he was borderline genius. He could read barcodes without the numbers.”

To her companion, who remained silent: “I love old books. I love to look at old books. I like the look of them. I’ll not be buying one mind. You’re not impressed by books, are you? I like the look of them though. Looking at them.”

“My mate is the world’s leading authority on parasitic wasps.”

Over his shoulder on leaving, after our long conversation about book collecting:

“You and me, we’re both patients in the same clinic...”

As the tenth incarnation of someone I admire once said, “I love a little shop.” In these days of internet-shopping-from-your-sofa-while-tweeting-and-watching-TV, it’s a refreshing change, I think, to occasionally go outside and have a poke about in an actual shop. Perhaps not even looking for anything in particular, but just giving yourself the chance to spot something you might fancy. Something you never knew you wanted.

Withnail Books aims to be this kind of “little shop,” and I’m always very pleased when customers give me unbidden comments along the lines of “what a great shop,” or, “you have an interesting selection of books.”

I’d like to thank all the people who have helped Withnail Books over the last ten years: customers of course, but also friends, family (including my Brunswick Yard family) and supporters on t’internet; too many to list individually, but you know who you are. Thank you all.

Special thanks though to my wonderful wife Sharon Gosling, who has been there from the very beginning, when “Withnail Books” was just words stamped on a leather key fob she’d bought to inspire me, and which is still in my pocket as I type this…

Fix up the Jag... A unique Withnail Collectible!

To celebrate the screenings of a certain film up at Crow Crag this weekend and next, here's a little Withnail treat. A little while back I came across a very special, one-off customised Withnail model Jaguar being offered for sale online, and I had to have it. No burglary was involved, and within days it arrived at the Little Shop. Its creator, the very talented model maker Joe Nagle has this to say about it:

"It was originally the colour that is underneath the bonnet [red], I went for a matt finish to replicate the Jag in the film, the wheels were wire spoked on the model but I had to hide this, also weathering and rust was matched to the original by using screen grabs. The finishing touches of course were the removal of the driver's side windscreen wiper and the correct number plate, but perhaps the most iconic thing about the car is the removal of the left headlight which just completes that Withnail look."

Thanks Joe! It's brilliant work, and is now safely in a case and on display at Withnail Books. It is NOT FOR SALE.

Withnail Awakens...

Here's a Star Wars Force Awakens-style trailer for a certain film, which made me spit tea all over my keyboard when I first watched it. May the Fourth Be With You!

It Was 30 Years Ago Today... Withnail's Anniversary!

Exactly 30 years ago today, on August 3rd, 1986, a first time director, his crew and a few actors (not from London: one was and is a scouser, and the other grew up in Swaziland) gathered at Sleddale Hall near Shap in Cumbria, and rolled cameras for the first day's shooting of a little film called Withnail and I. The rest is history...

The Cumberland News, one of the local papers here in Penrith (Penrith!!) has done a great commemorative article, which you can read below...

Having been alerted to the anniversary, I checked in with REG himself to see if he had any plans. While he didn't reply as such (not as of this writing, at least) he did like my tweet, which in these parts is the equivalent of a benediction from the pope...

Withnail & Prints

Limited edition prints and 'alternative' posters inspired by cult films have become quite the in-thing in recent years. The quick-sellouts and crazy secondary market prices for pretty much anything Mondo puts out has encouraged lots of similar enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic.

This summer, Print Club London has produced a slew of film-related work by various artists, and Withnail & I is represented in this print by the artist RYCA. I'm not sure what's going on with Withnail's mouth in the image, but the overall effect is rather good, with shades of Warhol's Elvis (to my untrained artistic eye, at least).

The print is 500 x 700mm, and limited to 200 copies signed by the artist, at £50 each. Not cheap, but very much the lower end of the going rate for such things. You can order a copy here.

Here's another, even more limited edition print, which I wish you could still order a copy of, as I'd love to have one, but alas the 50 produced all sold out in seconds a few years back (though copies have popped up on eBay since...). It's a typically witty idea by Olly Moss, the British artist who's a bit of a superstar in the world of Mondo prints and their ilk, thanks to his rapidly-becoming-iconic Star Wars posters, among many others. His Withnail image is simple, but brilliant...

Olly's work is all over eBay, but be prepared to pay decent money for the real McCoy - beware the pirated prints and posters! A slightly more affordable way to enjoy his stuff is to buy a copy of his first (and to date, only) book, Silhouettes From Popular Culture which I think is brilliant, but then I would, as with my Book Editor hat on, I was involved in bringing it into print.

Whatever happened to Withnail's coat?

Back in 1999, there was a charity auction, at which Withnail's coat, the original one worn by Richard E. Grant in the film, was the star lot.

Chris Evans (the ginger one, not the Marvel one), at the height of his drunken naughty boy phase, won the coat with a bid of £5,000. Actually that's not a bad price for such an iconic piece of cinema history. He also reportedly bought Paul McGann's leather jacket from the film for a bargain basement £700! Here is he happily wearing Withnail's amazing garment... Evans, like Richard E, is 6' 2", so he could carry it off quite well...





Tragically, Evans is rumoured to have since destroyed, or at least badly mangled the coat in a quad bike accident. Idiot. I wonder if he's still got McGann's jacket...

Still, the film's original costume designer, Andrea Galer, will sell you a replica of the coat, though it will set you back the best part of a grand (even more if you want it tailored to your person).

You can order one here.

Also, here's a fun Withnail trivia quiz. The questions are quite hard...

Play it here.

Yes, the actor who played Withnail is in Game of Thrones, but did you know that the actor who *inspired* Withnail is in it too?

"Withnail is Coming" squealed the viral Photoshop collages, when it was announced that Richard E. Grant was going to feature in Game of Thrones.

It has been previously noted on this blog (here) that the GoT show runners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss must be Withnail fans: giving Diana Rigg a line which included the words "perfumed ponce" is proof if proof be need be.

So it was only a matter of time before REG (as he is known to his fans) appeared in the show. He duly made it to the screen in last week's episode, playing - what else - an actor. It was a cough and a spit of a role, so one hopes he'll be featured again...

Also in the episode, reprising his recurring role as Aeron Greyjoy, was this chap:

That's noted English stage and screen actor Michael Feast. Many years ago, he shared a flat with a few other aspiring young actors. He's the long-haired one sitting in in the middle of this photo...

... and yes, standing on the left is Bruce Robinson. While it's been well-documented that the character of Withnail was based largely on another of the flatmates, Vivian MacKerrell (who's standing at the back in the middle), Feast had a large part to play in the genesis of Robinson's script, not least because it was he and Robinson who actually went on holiday by mistake.

As Feast told journalist Jeff Dawson:

“That whole Lake District fiasco, all of that stuff happened. Getting into the field with the bull; the search for fuel; tying plastic bags round our feet; the chicken thing. The cottage was a tip. The farmer — who did have a plaster on his leg — was just looking to make a bit of extra cash from idiot southerners. It was freezing. We were burning bits of furniture. We slept with our coats on. Even ‘We want the finest wines available to humanity’ was coined up there. The first night we blew all our money on a slap-up meal in one of those very upmarket hotels.”

Is it a coincidence that the show runners cast Feast on Game of Thrones? Surely not. Sadly, given that REG is in Braavos and Feast is in the Iron Islands, it's unlikely they'll share a scene, but we can hope...