Dear Mr. fxh,

It has been brought to our attention that you currently have over twenty of our publications. Readers are reminded that there is a limit of six books per borrower.

Yours Faithfully

Mrs E. Everage
Moonee Ponds Public Library

I should also have said that Fleming presented sexual activity and conquest in a way that was new - just the right side of lewd and that also transferred well to the screen. There's no sex in Conan Doyle. Moreover, whether we like him or not, Bond has no weaknesses that seem to affect him: Sherlock Holmes was a drug-addicted manic depressive, given to periods of introspection and doubt: Bond brushes off such reflexions and, no matter how much he drinks (or used to smoke), he seems to be able to keep his pecker up. I guess that all that contributed to his evident appeal to the film-makers, in manufacturing one of the world's great templates for masculinity in that age. Somehow, despite all the pcism of our own age, they have kept him alive and kicking. Moreover, exactly at the time of British decline in international influence the old flag still flew and there were, and are, I am sure, many in America, who quietly applaud that (rather fictional) aspect of the portrayal of the stiff...upper lip...and so on and so forth (!).

Just taken delivery of 'Recording the Twenties: The Evolution of the American Recording Industry, 1920–29' by Allan Sutton.