Recycling's good, right?
As part of my A-level English, I had to to an extended essay. I can't remember exactly how long it was, but there's a part of me that thinks it was around the 5000 word mark. It could be on a topic of the candidate's choice.

I chose to write something about the political themes in Anthony Burgess' work. It took me a long weekend to write. Looking back, it's not a great piece of work - certainly not publishable - but it was reasonable, and I was proud of it at the time; in due course, it got me the A. (Let's face it: an A at A-level in the mid-90s wasn't exactly a mark of high achievement...)

A couple of years later, I was a finalist at the University of Redbrick, and one of my courses was on politics and the arts. It was assessed by exam and - thanks to an easy-going tutor - an essay on a subjct of our choice.

Hmmmmm, I think. I think I have just the thing for this..., and I dig out the disk with the A-level project on it. (Christ only knows why I had it nearby, but that's not important.)

It needed fiddling with a bit - but nothing too much. A couple of hours later, it was printed off and ready to submit. It got a first.

Hurrah for Anthony Burgess.
(Star Wars Starwarsy McStarwars Face, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 10:53, 11 replies)

A at A-level in the mid-90s
far more of a mark of achievement than it is now
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 10:56, closed)

Too true...
We've gone from "meh" to "super meh".

Every year I'm amazed by the kids on the news on results day looking pleased with their B and C grades, and saying how hard they worked for them.
Really? You had to work hard for that?
(Star Wars Starwarsy McStarwars Face, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 11:15, closed)

they still get Bs and Cs?
it's all As and A*s as far as I know
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 12:15, closed)

I can attest....
...that you CAN still get C's and below, being proof of that :)
I'm a fucking idiot who thought procrastinating was the best possible choice and that deadlines were to be ignored..

Left with an E and two D's.

And they STILL let me into uni!

Scary......
(Fleximus Rex briefly gave up lurking on, Mon 17 Aug 2009, 5:39, closed)

Hey
I'm re-re-re-reading 'Earthly Powers' at the moment. Strange choice to look at the political themes of his work, rather than, say, religious, but hats off to you.

I guess 'Clockwork Orange' could be considered political to a degree...
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 11:05, closed)

"Earthly Powers" is great.
I was looking at Clockwork, but also Any Old Iron and some of his short stories - a couple of them are politically interesting (especially, IIRC, one called "Wine of the Country")...
(Star Wars Starwarsy McStarwars Face, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 11:13, closed)

Ah,
Never got around to 'Any Old Iron' - liked 'The End of the World News' though.

What baffled me about him was why he thought he looked good enough to go on telly with that atrocious comb-over! And he always liked to talk about 'pornographs' - a good b3tan word.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 11:17, closed)

Earthly Powers is awesome
Finished re-re-re-reading it recently too.
( rofl harris, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 12:30, closed)

mrgibbles
just re-aquainted myself with your 'best of's - some of the funniest I've read.

I salute you.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:19, closed)

According to
this, he wrote a tribute to George Orwell which consisted of him saying that he didn't like Arabs or unions. So, um, yeah.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 13:37, closed)

Since when
does Wikipedia replace real life? Burgess was no saint, but he was a deep thinker and a real writer and this response is trite in the extreme. There's a scene in 'Enderby' involving a 69 with a couple of Algerians (if I remember correctly) which displays no anti-arab feeling.

So, um, yeah.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 14 Aug 2009, 14:22, closed)