Splinters

On BBC4 TV tonight there was a documentary on the Black Magic thriller writer Dennis Wheatley. The programme featured a round-table discussion by enthusiasts and footage of interviews with the writer. In one clip, a very young Melvyn Bragg asked him if there was a formula to a bestseller. Wheatley said he had studied books by Arnold Bennett, "GH Wells" and Proust to find one but no two books were similar. So, no, there wasn't a formula. Unfortunately there seems to be a formula for TV documentaries about authors: find one who is 'popular' and spin biography and social history so that the only role the books play is to justify such digression.

Oh, and it turns out Wheatley was terrified of democracy. So much for populism.