- yesterday
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Short filmTranscript
00:00You?
00:04You?
00:30You?
01:00You?
01:05He's on the ground.
01:06He's late.
01:30I don't get any lighter!
02:00You?
02:03You?
02:26Bit lost, love?
02:29Uh, 158.
02:32Just there, sweetheart.
02:35Ta.
02:59Hold that, would you?
03:15What do you make of it?
03:18Looks old.
03:19It is.
03:20Barely indifferent Jacobean poetry,
03:22calfskin binding worth a couple of bob.
03:25What are these browse spots on the pages?
03:27It goes straight to the heart of the matter, Mr, um...
03:31Jack.
03:32It's just Jack.
03:34That's called foxing.
03:36Jack, just Jack.
03:37It's what time does to books.
03:39To all of us.
03:41In the profession, we say it's slightly foxed.
03:43Interested?
03:46You know, there's a mistake.
03:48A mistake?
03:50Well, isn't there?
03:52Above the door, a sign.
03:54What about it?
03:55Well, it's wrong, isn't it?
03:58There's no apostrophe in books.
04:00There is.
04:01No, there isn't.
04:01There is.
04:02There isn't.
04:02There is.
04:03There isn't.
04:03There is it.
04:04Your name is Book and you own the shop,
04:05which it is and I do.
04:06My name's Book.
04:07Books, books.
04:09Confusing, I know.
04:10Or is it handy?
04:11I can never decide.
04:12Anyway, I'm Book and I run a bookshop.
04:14This one, obviously.
04:15You must be here about the job.
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:17Tea?
04:19Tea?
04:21Tea?
04:21Tea?
04:21Tea?
04:22Tea?
04:23Tea?
04:23Tea?
04:24Tea?
04:34Not quite there yet.
04:38I've tried to make ginger snaps.
04:41Uh, how much?
04:43Where were you dragged up?
04:44One for each person and one for the pot.
04:46Now, where have we got to, Jack, just Jack?
04:55Uh, this is dog, book, dog, job.
04:59I have a little hobby on the side and I find it's taking me away from the shop more and more.
05:05So, I require assistance.
05:07Oh, God.
05:08Oh, that's better.
05:12I must have tea.
05:14Without tea I am merely unreconstituted dust.
05:19Look, this isn't really my sort of gaff.
05:20I mean, I thought they'd maybe send me to a factory or something.
05:28They?
05:29Well, you know where I've come from, don't you?
05:30You know where I've come from, don't you?
05:35You know that I was...
05:36No need to mention it again.
05:37What are you hoping for now you got the job, Jack, Just Jack?
05:39I just want to keep my head down, you know, try and get back to norm...
06:07Oh, Trotty, this is Jack. Just Jack. Jack, this is Trotty, my wife.
06:14Hello.
06:16Hello. Well, what is it?
06:18The bomb site. The man carrying the bomb site. You know where Inkelman Street used to be?
06:21Oh, yes, that one. What of it?
06:23Well, they found something. In suspicious circumstances.
06:29My favourite kind of circumstances.
06:37Oh, yes, that one.
07:07Oh, yes, that one.
07:37Oh, yes, that one.
07:39Oh, yes, that one.
07:41Oh, yes, that one.
07:45Oh, yes, that one.
07:49Oh, yes, that one.
07:51Oh, yes, that one.
07:57Oh, yes, that one.
08:01I was wondering if we'd be seeing you.
08:03Like a bad penny, Sergeant.
08:05Yeah, well, you know my feelings.
08:07I made them exquisitely plain.
08:08But as you know, I do have a special letter from Churchill.
08:11Yeah.
08:12It's good to cover them up.
08:15Oh, yes, that one.
08:17All right.
08:18All right.
08:19Oh, yes, that one.
08:21Oh, yes, that one.
08:22Oh, yes.
08:23Oh, yes, that one.
08:24Oh, yes, that one.
08:25Oh, yes, that one.
08:26Oh, yes.
08:27Oh, yes, that one.
08:28Oh, yes, that one.
08:29It's vaguely scandalous.
08:30Bit of a puzzle.
08:31Mr. Baseheart here was starting to clear away the rubble from missile bombsight the other
08:34day.
08:35Inkemin Street caught it in 44, didn't it?
08:37Yes, sir.
08:38Terrible pounding.
08:39Do you remember that raid, sir?
08:41How could I forget?
08:42Trotty and I ended up cheek-by-jowl in the Anderson Shelter with the man from the Prudential
08:46Insurance Company.
08:47He had lovely fingernails.
08:49Terrible halitosis.
08:50Those shelters weren't built for sharing.
08:53War's over, Mr. Baseheart.
08:55Quite so, sir, but I still like to patrol my route.
08:58For old times' sake.
09:00And to keep an eye on old Brenda there.
09:03My trusty searchlight.
09:05Well, here he was, trying to clear away the rubble,
09:07and lo, what does he find?
09:09Lo, what?
09:10Ah.
09:19Heavens to Betsy.
09:22Tossed together like a skeletal salad.
09:24How many?
09:24It's hard to tell, because they're all jumbled up.
09:26Ten or twelve, I'd say.
09:28Quite why Mr. Basehart didn't tell the authorities
09:29about his discovery forthwith is another matter.
09:32He didn't?
09:33No, some kiddies who were playing here let us know.
09:36As I was saying, I have a theory.
09:38Well, obviously they copped it in the raid, didn't they?
09:41What do you think, Jack?
09:44Me?
09:44You.
09:48Uh...
09:49Yeah, that's what must have happened.
09:52Air raid killed them.
09:55Died two years ago, and now they're all rotted away.
09:59That would be a logical assumption.
10:01Who's this?
10:02So you don't think they died in an air raid?
10:05If you recall, Inkeman Street was already empty, wasn't it, Mr. Basehart?
10:08Scheduled for demolition.
10:10So nobody was living here, in which case...
10:13Who are they?
10:14Well, anybody, surely.
10:16Anybody could have taken shelter from the bombing in one of the empty houses.
10:19A dozen of them?
10:20What about clothes?
10:21Clothes?
10:22All flesh is grass.
10:24The raid was only two years ago.
10:26Even if the bodies had rotted away, their clothes would still be intact.
10:29But I think Mr. Basehart and I are thinking along similar lines.
10:43Well, that would appear to be the clincher.
10:47What do you think?
10:51The unmistakable bonds of King Charles II.
10:54Oh, does it have a date on it, too?
10:56What do you think of a plague pit?
11:011665.
11:01Plague pit, yeah?
11:03So it would seem...
11:04A what?
11:05Plague pit.
11:07The Great Plague.
11:08London's burial grounds were overflowing,
11:11so they dug these great big pits and dumped all the corpses in them.
11:16I'm a bit of an archaeologist.
11:19On the side, strictly amateur, you understand?
11:22So why didn't you tell us straight away when you found them?
11:24Well, I...
11:26I knew I'd never get a chance like this again.
11:29I just wanted a bit of time to excavate them.
11:33Fascinating stuff.
11:37I really am very sorry, Inspector.
11:40Yes, well, no harm done, I suppose.
11:42Not sure about that.
11:44These skeletons might still be lively.
11:46What?
11:46You mean, it's still catching?
11:48The jury, as they say, is out.
11:51But I think it's very unlikely.
11:52Do you mind if I hang on to this?
11:54You're welcome to it.
11:55Right, Mr. Book?
11:56Oh, hello, Nora.
11:58Why, I'm not surprised to see you here.
12:00Did you know that back then,
12:01they used to use great catapults
12:03to toss plaguey corpses into besieged cities
12:06to deliberately affect people?
12:08That's horrible, Nora.
12:11I know.
12:12And a split infinitive.
12:13Even more horrible.
12:17Might be worth a bit, too.
12:21Sergeant, get this.
12:22It's not taken care of in a prompt hour,
12:25would you like?
12:25With care.
12:27Where to, sir?
12:28At a morgue, I suppose.
12:30Get Dr. Golder to take a shifty.
12:32See if there's any chance they're still infectious.
12:34Yes, sir.
12:34Thank you, Book.
12:36Any time, Inspector.
12:40Sergeant.
12:43Why can't you collect stamps like normal people?
12:54Oh, dear.
12:55Are you all right?
13:16Yeah.
13:19It's all just a bit, uh...
13:22Being coppers.
13:23I've, uh...
13:26Been away, you see, and...
13:28Oh, yes, I have.
13:28I know.
13:30I've found him very nice.
13:31Tell me all about it when you're ready.
13:33Here, let me take this.
13:35Well, you must stay with us, mustn't you?
13:36Now that you've got the job.
13:38I have the premises next door.
13:40Book has his books,
13:41I have my wallpaper,
13:42and there is a darling little attic room between the two.
13:45Why are you helping me like this?
13:47Why not?
13:47I don't expect it.
13:49I'll get this for you, sir.
13:51Well, I'll hark up.
13:55Suicide, I heard.
13:57Heard?
13:57Uh, from your colleague over there.
13:59Oh, I have his ruddy guts for garters.
14:02This goes against all the rules of...
14:03All right, Sergeant.
14:04All right.
14:06Mr. Book's always welcome to give us the benefit of his wisdom.
14:08As you know...
14:09Yes.
14:11Yes.
14:14Bad business, but very bad.
14:15Oh, sod.
14:18But, look, Morris has a point.
14:19This is a plain, ordinary suicide.
14:21I mean, I can be flexible, as you know.
14:23When something a little bit more...
14:25Recherche, outré, anything with an acute accent.
14:29Unusual comes along.
14:31Like our barbed friends, the skeleton.
14:33This is a meat and potatoes job.
14:35You know, the sergeant and I are perfectly capable of...
14:37Who found him?
14:39Charwond.
14:39A hater dredge.
14:41Pretty shook up, she is.
14:43Dredge?
14:44That rings a little bell.
14:45She'd been doing the hark up for donkeys.
14:49Ding dong.
14:51Was it a note?
14:52No, no, no.
14:53How did he do it?
14:55Prussic acid.
14:56It's not...
14:57Nasty.
14:58Nasty.
14:59And intriguing, don't you think?
15:01Mr. Harker.
15:08Great, sir.
15:09Looks like suicide.
15:10Oh, how dreadful.
15:13Well, I'd better get on.
15:14Too much excitement for one day.
15:17Jack, nip back to the shop, would you?
15:19There's a pile of newspapers,
15:21third stack on the right as you come in,
15:23Charing Cross Dispatch,
15:24underneath two volumes on Eleanor of Castile
15:27and the Wilting Espadistra.
15:29Fetch them for me, would you?
15:31Oh, and put the kettle on again.
15:38We're going to have company.
15:45Have a drink.
15:46All right?
15:46Oh, well, seeing as it's from him.
15:58Oh, I brought a coffee and walnut cake round for Mr. Harkup.
16:02You might as well have it.
16:04This is your usual char day.
16:07Yes, every week, regular as clockwork.
16:10But I only saw him yesterday.
16:11Pop round to get some bandages.
16:13Bandages?
16:14Oh, my son, he was injured in the war.
16:17He needs constant attention.
16:19The dressing.
16:20What time did you see Mr. Harkup?
16:23Six.
16:24Six-ish, I think.
16:25Oh, it doesn't seem possible.
16:28Him standing there all full of life and then...
16:31Finding him lying there like that.
16:34You're doing very well.
16:36And was he?
16:38Was he what?
16:39Full of life when you saw him.
16:41In good spirits, I mean.
16:43Well, to be honest, he seemed a little down.
16:45Although I'd want to go and do an horrible thing like that to himself.
16:51Any vices?
16:54Vices, sir?
16:55We must investigate all angles, alas, dear lady.
17:00Man of very regular habits he was.
17:02Church every Sunday.
17:04Kept his accounts in very neat order.
17:06I think that was the soldier in him.
17:09He did play dominoes.
17:11Dominoes?
17:12Every Monday and Thursday night.
17:13In the ball with Mr. Baceheart and some others.
17:16Does that count as a vice?
17:18I hardly think so.
17:20Do you have any family?
17:27My mother always said if you can't see anything nice about someone, don't open your trap.
17:32So there was bad blood then?
17:36There's a daughter, isn't there?
17:38Some estrangement?
17:40I wouldn't like to say.
17:41No, don't seem right.
17:45What with Mr. H not cold in his grave.
17:47Heavens, this cake.
17:49Yes?
17:50It's superb.
17:51Oh, too kind, sir.
17:53But then I'd expect nothing less.
17:55Oh, why'd you say that?
17:57From Miss Lyons' Corner House, 1921.
18:00Oh, I fancy you knowing that.
18:04It was 1922, though?
18:06My mistake.
18:06Oh, how the dickens?
18:08Oh, I store off a lot of little tidbits like that, mostly useless.
18:13Must have been a lovely experience.
18:15Oh, yes.
18:17Oh, I've never felt so glamorous.
18:19I've got a new hat and the Lord Mayor winked at me.
18:24Winked.
18:25Fancy.
18:25Worked there for years, I did, at the Corner House.
18:29So I got very good with the baking.
18:32Mr. H used to love my pineapple upside down.
18:35You know, it really would be most helpful to know why he and his daughter, Sarah, uh,
18:41Lor, Lor, Mary?
18:42Marula.
18:42Marula, that's right.
18:44Why he and Marula no longer saw eye to eye.
18:46Well, seeing as you've been so kind, sir.
18:51Very good of you.
18:52She was a cow.
18:54A right horrible, money-grabbing little cow.
18:58I see.
18:59Apple of his eye, she was, after his wife passed on.
19:03But she knew how to twist him around her little finger.
19:07Nothing was too much for his little princess.
19:09And then she has the gall to run off with him.
19:14Him?
19:14Oh, Mickey.
19:17Mickey Hall.
19:18It's a right and there do well.
19:19Up to all sorts in the war spivvy stuff, you know.
19:22Black Market.
19:23He's a motor mechanic.
19:25They've got a garage out Mile Endway.
19:27Mile End.
19:28Charming.
19:29And now Marula will inherit the lot.
19:35Don't seem right, do it?
19:37No, it, um, don't.
19:40Thanks for the cake.
19:44What the hell do you think you're doing?
19:47Just being neighbourly, Sergeant?
19:50Uh, your witness, I think.
19:53Hello again.
20:05Oh, hello, Book.
20:07I just wondered if I could have a little nosy around before I head out.
20:11See if I can help at all.
20:13Head out?
20:13Oh, Mrs. Book and I are often pleasure-bent.
20:16The new boys, babysitting.
20:18Oh, for the dog?
20:20Dog.
20:20There's no definite article.
20:22Off to the pictures?
20:24Rerunning a Sandra Dare at the Rialto.
20:26The opera.
20:27Fat ladies singing.
20:31Speaking of which, may I, um...
20:32There's a daughter, but Mrs. Dredge says they didn't get on.
20:42So I gather.
20:44Yeah, we're endeavouring to trace her.
20:46She has a garage at Mile End.
20:50Oh, right.
20:52Thanks.
20:52Thanks.
20:52Funny, aren't they?
21:14Mrs. Bliss goes in for something similar.
21:16A little, a little make-nacks.
21:18Not quite the same, I think.
21:20These are jade.
21:21Rather fine.
21:24And this one.
21:32Mr. Harcup was obviously a connoisseur.
21:48Too full of sots.
21:51Do you think it was suicide?
21:55Do you have doubts?
21:57I do.
21:58What's your theory?
22:00Evening, gentlemen.
22:01Evening.
22:02Oh, Eric.
22:03Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.
22:05What?
22:05That book for Sheila, it's arrived.
22:07Oh, smashing.
22:08She'll come over tomorrow for me.
22:10Righto.
22:10Wait a whistle.
22:11Oh, no, thank you.
22:13I was never keen on him myself.
22:15Harcup.
22:17God forgive me.
22:19Bit of a little Hitler.
22:20Still, poor bugger.
22:22Stop it himself like that.
22:23Hmm.
22:24So, so, what's your theory?
22:27Patience, Inspector.
22:29Patience.
22:29The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
22:33Halstoy.
22:34Oh, I couldn't get into it.
22:35I tried that one, you know, where she chucks herself in front of a train.
22:39No?
22:39No.
22:41Oh.
22:42Inspector.
22:43There you go.
22:52There you go.
22:52Too much?
23:21No, not at all.
23:22Uh, you look amazing.
23:26I meant the walls.
23:28Oh.
23:29Book says it's an affront to good taste, but I don't know.
23:32I think it has a certain something, don't you?
23:35I'm good at knocking things together.
23:37I always have been.
23:40Wardrobes, wireless sets, heads.
23:43I was in the land army.
23:44Gin?
23:45What?
23:47Oh, yeah, please.
23:50So you're going out, then?
23:52My dear, we're always going out.
23:55Well, one has to live, doesn't one?
23:57Especially after the time we've all had.
24:00There's some chops in the larder, I think.
24:01Your room's up at the top.
24:02I've heard the sheets.
24:03You're, I mean, thank you.
24:21Better go and unpack.
24:22Well?
24:23I know that look.
24:42You're onto something.
24:44Nonsense.
24:45Really the happy look of a contented man.
24:47I have my lovely wife, my lovely shop, my lovely dog.
24:51What more could a man ask for?
24:53Broad.
24:54Three things, then.
24:55Mr. Harkup collected Chinese jade figures of exceptional quality.
25:00But dust is eloquent, as someone once said.
25:04Dust doesn't lie.
25:06One of the figures has been replaced with a bit of cheap trash, a chess piece.
25:10But the larger outline remains clear.
25:13Mrs. Dredge hasn't cleaned in a while, despite what she said.
25:16Secondly, Mr. Harkup has a small lump on the back of his head.
25:21Not caused by him falling, I don't think.
25:24Or probably a blow with a blunt instrument.
25:27A blunt instrument that didn't break the skin.
25:29And yet there is blood on the back of Mr. Harkup's scalp.
25:33Thirdly...
25:33Yes?
25:34Darkly they listen, and for many a time I have been half in love with easeful death.
25:41Called him soft names in many amused rhyme.
25:46To take into the air my quiet breath.
25:50Pardon?
25:51Why would a chemist, with every known gentle poison in the shop,
25:55choose to kill himself with something as horrible as prussic acid?
26:01Hmm.
26:03Well, book.
26:04There you are, then.
26:07Yes, Trotty.
26:08There we are.
26:12It's murder.
26:13It's murder.
26:34Book.
26:42Book.
26:42Mrs. Book.
26:44Be careful.
26:45Be careful.
26:45Be careful.
26:47You are aなた.
27:01Is there a nurse?
27:01You are a nurse?
27:03Look how wrong?
27:04No, please.
27:04Take care.
27:05OK, please.
27:05Take care.
27:05Never.
27:10Take care.
27:10Oh, my God.
27:40Shop.
27:46Ah, good morning.
27:52How can I help?
27:53Oh, well, I'm...
27:54I'm after a book.
27:56You are very much in the right place.
27:59What do you think, young man?
28:00What would suit the lady best?
28:01Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James?
28:05Do you have the new Georgette Heyer?
28:08Ah.
28:09Well, I've read all her other ones.
28:11Me too, and what a smasher she is.
28:13But that would be a new book, Miss...
28:15Mrs. Goodwin.
28:16Mrs. Goodwin.
28:18Jean.
28:18Jean.
28:19We're not really going for those, do we?
28:23We should try foils.
28:25It's a bit of a trudge.
28:27My feet being what they are.
28:29I have the perfect alternative.
28:30One who was spinning romantic yarns
28:32when Miss Heyer was still in the cradle.
28:34Probably.
28:35Oh, well, if you think that...
28:36Shh!
28:37I mean, if you'd recommend...
28:38Shh!
28:39Beg your pardon?
28:40Sure.
28:41Sorry.
28:42Thinking.
28:42Ah!
28:42Ortsi.
28:54Never heard of him.
28:55Her.
28:56Baroness.
28:56Hungarian.
28:58The Scarlet Pimpernel.
28:59Oh, I've heard of that.
29:02French Revolution.
29:03It's a delight.
29:04You won't regret it.
29:06When you've finished,
29:07come back and I'll find you the sequel.
29:09Oh, that's very good of you.
29:11What do I owe you?
29:12Oh, let's call it a bob.
29:14Hang on.
29:15Feet.
29:16Feet, feet, feet.
29:18Ah.
29:20This is free.
29:24Oh, I couldn't possibly...
29:25Oh, there's nothing.
29:27But sending you off happily on the bus
29:29without further bunions
29:30is a price above rubies.
29:32Wouldn't you agree, Jean?
29:36Cheer to bye.
29:38Come on, woman.
29:41I never make any money like that, will I?
29:47Hey-ho.
29:48Now then, Jack.
29:49Excited to start the day?
29:51There's a whole world of learning in here.
29:53All human life
29:55and some inhuman.
29:57Little got that coin.
29:59What?
29:59Oh, er...
30:00Yeah.
30:01Yeah, of course.
30:02Good.
30:04I don't mean to pry, Mr. Book,
30:07but, um...
30:09What exactly is it you do?
30:11I would have thought that was obvious.
30:13I sell books.
30:15Yeah, but that's not all, is it?
30:17Yesterday,
30:18out there, the bomb site.
30:20Chat with a charlady.
30:22Yes.
30:22Well, is that, like, your...
30:24your hobby?
30:27I mean,
30:28the way you talk to those coppers,
30:30where they let you roam around that pit,
30:32are you, like, some sort of advisor
30:33to them or something?
30:34I mean, why should they listen to you?
30:36They frequently don't more fool them.
30:39I did the inspector a favour once,
30:41during the war.
30:43He hasn't forgotten.
30:44Also, I have a special letter.
30:46A letter from Churchill.
30:47Yeah, the copper said that.
30:49A letter saying what?
30:54It's a chaotic world, Jack.
30:56I have a system.
30:58Sometimes people like me to give an opinion on things,
31:01impose a little order,
31:03that's all.
31:04You can read all sorts of things,
31:06as well as books.
31:08It's a...
31:10This...
31:11This is your system?
31:13Yes.
31:15What's wrong with it?
31:17Well, they're not in any kind of order.
31:19I...
31:20Cataracts of denial.
31:25Diseases of the eye and their treatment.
31:28Cataracts?
31:29Eye disease?
31:30Logical.
31:30The guillotine.
31:33A practical guide.
31:34The life and death of Alfred Mutting's gent.
31:37Coins of the realm.
31:38I mean, there's no system.
31:40There's no system at all.
31:41Well, it's all up here, isn't it?
31:43How best to explain.
31:45Alfred Mutting's was a career criminal.
31:48A very successful forger in his day,
31:49which was Queen Victoria's day.
31:51Extraordinary chap in his field.
31:52He was a coiner, a forger of coins.
31:54But his luck ran out of Paris,
31:55and they chopped off his head,
31:57which is why all those books are clumped together,
31:59you see?
31:59Yeah, but that's...
32:01I mean, that's silly.
32:06Nevertheless.
32:09Well, I shall leave you to, uh...
32:12hold the fort.
32:29Slightly foxed.
32:36Slightly foxed.
32:39Says it all.
32:40Slightly foxed.
33:10Yeah, can I help you?
33:12I've come to collect an order.
33:14Right-o. What's her name?
33:17Sheila Well Beloved.
33:24Hello. Jack.
33:27Yeah?
33:28I'm Nora. We've got lots to talk about.
33:40Thank you, Miss. Again, very sorry for you.
33:48Can I go now?
33:49Well, if you wouldn't mind just answering a few questions.
33:53Just come with me, please, Miss.
33:56Fascinating.
33:58Where better to hide a tree?
34:00Than in a forest.
34:02And these are markings.
34:04Indeed.
34:06Oh, look.
34:07Oh, hello.
34:08Just checking in on those skeletons with Dr. Calder here.
34:11Ah, yes. Any risk of infection?
34:13Quite safe on that, Count Inspector. However...
34:16Ah.
34:17Loose lips drop slips, as they say in the knicker trade.
34:20Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?
34:22Surprise?
34:24Anyway, back to the case in hand.
34:26This is Miss Marula Harcup.
34:28Oh, my dear child, I'm so very sorry.
34:31A few questions, you said.
34:33Do you mind if I tag along?
34:38Oh, don't forget that blood test, will you?
34:43Well, let's wait.
34:49Sorry about that.
34:51There you go.
34:52Black lamb and grey falcon.
34:54Sounds interesting.
34:56Ta.
34:57Get in the hang of it.
34:58Slowly.
34:59So, who are you?
35:00Nora.
35:01I live across the road in the Turkish restaurant.
35:02Help out in the shop sometimes.
35:03So, um...
35:04Do you know him well, then?
35:05Mr and Mrs Book?
35:06Yeah.
35:07And do you know about his little hobby?
35:08Bloody hell.
35:09Yes.
35:10It's all I think about.
35:11Isn't all that...
35:12Isn't all that...
35:13I mean...
35:14Isn't that...
35:15Unhealthy?
35:16I should think so.
35:17What do your mum and dad think?
35:18Don't have any.
35:19What do you mean?
35:20Well, it was the war, wasn't it?
35:21Everyone lost someone.
35:22I lost them.
35:23Sorry.
35:24Bloody hell, yes, it's all I think about.
35:28Isn't all that, I mean, isn't that...
35:32Unhealthy? I should think so.
35:36What do your mum and dad think?
35:38Don't have any.
35:40What do you mean?
35:42Well, it was the war, wasn't it?
35:46Everyone lost someone. I lost them.
35:51Sorry.
35:54What happened?
35:55So, how are you getting on anyway with the books?
36:00Mr and Mrs.
36:03It's not quite what I expected.
36:06What is his Christian name, by the way?
36:09What do you think?
36:11Cookbook, scrapbook, mucky book.
36:14Gabriel.
36:16Ah.
36:18Like the angel?
36:20Archangel, I think you'll find.
36:22They're a dream.
36:24Both of them, such sweethearts.
36:28So, what's the real story?
36:31It's pretty, I think I'm hard.
36:48I'm not sniffling, boo-hooing all over the shop.
36:53I mean, it's just not the way I'm made.
36:55So, there.
36:56Your father?
36:59I'm sorry that he's dead.
37:02Of course I am.
37:02He was my dad.
37:04In spite of everything.
37:08He didn't make it easy to, um...
37:10To love him, though.
37:12Can you think of any reason why he'd want to take his own life?
37:15None.
37:16No, he was nicely set up with his shop and...
37:18Well, Mum had left him a few bob when she died.
37:22You don't think you're a restrangement?
37:24No.
37:25Nothing to do with that.
37:26He wasn't the type to get all emotional.
37:29Maybe that's where I get it from.
37:31I mean, he made it very clear that he didn't approve of, um...
37:36Me and Mickey.
37:38But, um, he'd hardly have gone and killed himself in a fit of the glums about it.
37:41He just... he weren't the type, as I say.
37:46Tell us about Mickey.
37:51What's to say? He's my fella.
37:55How was his war?
37:58Why do you ask that?
37:59Well, we know how much our father appreciated the armed forces.
38:02Always wore his metal ribbons with great pride.
38:04Yes, well, Mickey wasn't lucky.
38:07His eyes, they're not... they're not good.
38:11I say that's why he ended up with me.
38:14I mean, he wouldn't have been much good against Jerry with eyes like his.
38:18Dad didn't like that.
38:20Thought he was a shirker.
38:22That was the start of it.
38:23What was the finish?
38:27Well, Dad was convinced that Mickey was thieving from him.
38:30What?
38:32Morphine.
38:35Mickey got up to some shady business during the war.
38:39Just stockings, cigarettes, small stuff.
38:42Dad had, um, just got it into his head that Mickey was bad.
38:45And he'd noticed morphine had gone missing.
38:48Yes.
38:49Wouldn't speak to us.
38:52But you've had a bit of news, haven't you?
38:59I mean, I thought a little one might be the thing that brung us back together.
39:02What's all this about?
39:04Why are you so interested in Mickey if Dad has gone and topped himself?
39:09Stories?
39:17Detective stories.
39:19That's what I want to write.
39:20I've got so many ideas.
39:23It's such an exciting new world out there.
39:28Everything's all smashed up.
39:30The whole world.
39:31No one knows what to do anymore.
39:33Well, I do.
39:35The war turned everything upside down.
39:37Shook it up.
39:38But that's great.
39:39It's now going back to how things used to be.
39:42Including murders.
39:43Including murders.
39:44Half the soldiers in Britain have come home with pistols they stole from dead Nazis.
39:50The country's a washroom.
39:52So?
39:53So, we only seem civilised in this country because we're not armed.
39:58Think of all that throbbing suburban passion.
40:03Husbands having affairs with secretaries.
40:06Ladies having affairs with their chauffeurs.
40:09All those contested wheels and domestic rows.
40:13People used to kill each other by boiling down arsenic from their wallpaper.
40:17Now they just have to reach for a looga.
40:22Pow, pow, pow!
40:30What did happen to your parents?
40:34You're supposed to be telling me your story.
40:39I'm an orphan too.
40:42I never knew my mum.
40:44I've got a picture of my dad.
40:48That's all.
40:51I'm sorry.
40:54It's alright.
40:58Look, I should, um...
41:00Yeah.
41:01It was nice to meet you.
41:02It was an incendiary.
41:06What?
41:10An incendiary.
41:11I set the roof on fire in the Blitz.
41:19Mum got me out and went back for Dad.
41:25Then the roof fell in.
41:26I just sat there in the garden looking at the house.
41:33Just felt sort of numb.
41:39The ARP warden found me.
41:44Then my uncle took me in.
41:47So now I have to help him out with the restaurant.
41:53But you'd rather be.
41:58Much more exciting over here, isn't it?
42:00Well, I gave up pleasure for Lent.
42:14I gave up pleasure for Lent.
42:28I gave up Lent.
42:34Pleasure.
42:42Well, what's your answer?
42:45I told you before, I'm just a bookseller.
42:50I sell books again, like I did before the war.
42:53This would be...
42:56for old time's sake.
42:58And we did help you find him.
43:04Very kind of you.
43:08How's all that working out?
43:10It's complicated.
43:13Well, yes, I imagine it is.
43:17Delicate.
43:20And we wouldn't want anything to go wrong.
43:24Now, would we?
43:28Well, we'll see.
43:42Bye.
43:58So, what do we do?
44:28What do we make of him? Jack, put him in the attic room.
44:33Like Mrs. Rochester, only slightly more butch.
44:36Has it ever occurred to you that you are such a...
44:39Bibliophile?
44:40Because of your name?
44:42Nominative determinism. Hmm.
44:45I mean, if you've been called butcher, you might be slicing up choice cuts of meat.
44:52Flensing. That's the word. Removing fat from a carcass.
44:56A wonderfully descriptive word, flensing. I shall endeavour to bring it back.
45:00Well, I wish you joy with that.
45:02Yes, you could be slipping your black market chops under the counter like Mr. Well Beloved.
45:07Much more useful than books these days.
45:09I could have been an archer, or a baker, or a chandler. Speaking of which, farewell my lovely.
45:17Oh, you're going out again?
45:19You're so sharp you'll cut yourself. Crime fiction. American.
45:23Customer put in a request. I know it's here somewhere. I saw a lady in the lake recently.
45:28Anyway, Jack.
45:30Oh, definite promise, definite promise. And he didn't try to flog that coin.
45:37So Jael hasn't made a morongan for life.
45:40Touch wood.
45:45And the, uh, other matter.
45:51It's too soon to tell him.
45:58What was so special about your book?
46:23Nothing really. It's just about some chaps.
46:27At school, playing cricket.
46:30And what do you think of Carol Darley?
46:32Wait. You've read Tim?
46:34Started it.
46:35When?
46:36After I saved it from the incinerator.
46:43Book. What's your name?
46:47Bajova.
46:50It's a funny name.
46:57Stratford Perry.
46:59Stratford Perry.
47:02But my friends call me Trotty.
47:05You're splendid.
47:06You owe me.
47:08I do.
47:11So when I get into trouble here, will you help me out?
47:14Let us make a solemn pact.
47:17Put your strong arms round me, Carol, and raise me a little. I can talk better so.
47:35Carol bowed his head without a word and kissed him. And thus their friendship was sealed.
47:45Good night, Mrs. Book.
47:55Good night, Mr. Book.
47:57The daughter, the spiv, the char, the warden, who gave Harcup the ruddy poison?
48:27Absent friends.
48:36I love you, sir.
48:43I love you, sir.
48:58I love you, sir.
49:17You never believe it.
49:18It takes a lot to surprise me.
49:21What?
49:22Why is it?
49:23We just got the chemist's wheel through, sir.
49:25Who?
49:26Daughter doesn't get a beam.
49:27No.
49:28No.
49:29No, he does.
49:30Oh, the charm.
49:41Mrs. Ada Dredge.
49:43No.
49:44No.
49:48No.
49:51No.
49:55No.
49:59No you.
50:01No.
50:03Transcription by CastingWords
50:33Transcription by CastingWords
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50:45
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