Michael Williams

Blog

A date with Brief Encounter

25 May 2012

I've just completed a marvellous interview with Margaret Barton, the last survivng actor from David Lean's iconic film Brief Encounter. Great tales from the war and from working with Lean and Noel Coward, as well as Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson. I'm including it all in my new book for Preface on 'How Britain's Railways Won the War'.

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Recent posts

May 2013

Steaming to Victory and Dam Busters anniversary

15 May 2013
Steaming to Victory on Random House video channel

09 May 2013
Steaming to Victory - working class heroes

09 May 2013
Steaming to Victory previewed in Sunday Times

07 May 2013

April 2013

Steaming to Victory on Facebook

25 April 2013
Steaming to Victory on Facebook

25 April 2013
Steaming to Victory on Facebook

25 April 2013
Steaming to Victory in Rail magazine

18 April 2013
Steaming to Victory and the local world of newspapers

05 April 2013

March 2013

Steaming to Victory on the Jeremy Vine Show

27 March 2013
Steaming to Victory on the Jeremy Vine Show

27 March 2013
Beeching 50 years on - a slow train revival

24 March 2013
Beeching 50 years on - a slow train revival

24 March 2013
Steaming to Victory and Top Gear man

21 March 2013
Steaming to Victory and Imperial War Museum memories

12 March 2013
The Slow Train and the Beeching cuts

10 March 2013
50 years since the Beeching axe - On the Slow Train

07 March 2013

February 2013

Steaming to Victory: a wartime mystery solved?

28 February 2013

January 2013

Steaming to Victory and the future of newspapers

25 January 2013
Steaming to Victory and steam on the Tube

09 January 2013
On the Slow Train on the London Overground

04 January 2013
On the Slow Train and rail fares rise

02 January 2013

December 2012

Steaming to Victory in the British Library

28 December 2012
Steaming to Victory on the rails with Winston Churchill

16 December 2012
Steaming to Victory on the rails with Winston Churchill

16 December 2012

November 2012

Steaming to Victory on the Slow Train

15 November 2012

October 2012

Pain in Spain – but not on the train

28 October 2012

September 2012

Steaming to Victory - mission (almost) accomplished!

25 September 2012

August 2012

Steaming to Victory! How Britain's railways won the war

11 August 2012
How Britain's Railways Won the War

05 August 2012

July 2012

Rail electrication and the Varsity Line – a hidden treasure

16 July 2012
How Britain's Railways Won the War

03 July 2012

June 2012

On the Slow Train in London's Guildhall

26 June 2012

May 2012

A date with Brief Encounter

25 May 2012
On the slow trains of Victorian times

10 May 2012
Heading off to take the slow train in Spain

02 May 2012

April 2012

On the Slow Train is 'inspiration' for Great Victorian Railway Journeys

04 April 2012

March 2012

On the Slow Train and the Virgin Trains Pendolino

24 March 2012
On the Slow Train Again with Marc Jacobs

08 March 2012
On the slow train in Spain

04 March 2012

February 2012

On the Slow Train and Bradshaw's Railway Handbook

27 February 2012
New departure on the Slow Train

06 February 2012

January 2012

Slow trains can be better than High Speed ones

10 January 2012

December 2011

On the Slow Train on the Jeremy Vine Show

23 December 2011
On the Slow Train and the Spirit of Christmas Past

19 December 2011
On the Slow Train Again is book of year

14 December 2011

November 2011

Slow Train rescued by George Osborne

30 November 2011
Slow Train rescued by George Osborne

30 November 2011
The best 'slow train' in Britain?

17 November 2011
On the Slow Train in WW2

04 November 2011

October 2011

On the Slow Train and the Slow Tram

26 October 2011
Architectural treasure on the Slow Train

06 October 2011

September 2011

On the Slow Train Again becomes a pin-up!

26 September 2011
Slow train wins on First Great Western!

24 September 2011
You don't need to be rich to take the slow train

13 September 2011
Record passenger numbers take the slow train again

05 September 2011
Why the slow train needs the fast train

02 September 2011

August 2011

On the Slow Train to Georgia

29 August 2011
Beeching revisited - on the slow train

03 August 2011

July 2011

On the Slow Train – and the case for HS2

27 July 2011
On the slow train again – and goodbye to the signalboxes

24 July 2011
On the Slow Train to the Olympics

12 July 2011

June 2011

On the Slow Train at St Pancras

30 June 2011
On the Slow Train in the last dining car

29 June 2011
Slow Train in the British Library

22 June 2011
On the Slow Train Again nudges Michael Portillo

15 June 2011
On the Slow Train Again and James May

12 June 2011
On the Slow Train and the loss of public libraries

10 June 2011
On the Slow Train Again - and Fathers' Day

01 June 2011

May 2011

Volcanic cloud benefits the slow train

24 May 2011
Slow train on the Today programme

21 May 2011
Final call for the restaurant car on the slow train (or the fast one!)

19 May 2011
Elegy for slow trains and local newspapers

17 May 2011
The Slow Train along the Settle and Carlisle line over the Ribblehead Viaduct

11 May 2011
On the Slow Train now 'officially' a bestseller

03 May 2011

April 2011

On the Slow Train Again aboard the Orient Express

26 April 2011
To Salisbury On the Slow Train Again

22 April 2011
On the Slow Train Again wins Golden Sausage Award

19 April 2011
On the Slow Train Again in The Independent

18 April 2011
On the Slow Train Again is 'a delicious read', says Evening Standard

11 April 2011
On the Slow Train Again, the BBC - and the risk of a Beeching axe on local media

08 April 2011
Britain's Top Ten Train Journeys

07 April 2011
Slow Trains and smart phones

04 April 2011
On the Slow Train Again on the BBC

02 April 2011

March 2011

Expanding girths, train seat rage and why it's all the fault of the Romans

28 March 2011
Slow trains, fast trains

17 March 2011
World Book Day meets the iPad

05 March 2011

February 2011

On the slow train, time does not interfere...

23 February 2011
Slow trains and slow journalism

11 February 2011
The poignancy of culling books

03 February 2011

January 2011

So sad about Britain's best railway closing...

30 January 2011
Two Michaels - a passion in common for trains

23 January 2011
To Kindle or not to Kindle?

13 January 2011

December 2010

The iniquity of rail fare rises

30 December 2010
Slow Train - Big Society?

14 December 2010

November 2010

On the Slow Train, fast rising rail fares - and the spectre of Beeching?

25 November 2010
The infinite sadness of slow trains...

20 November 2010
How the Railways Won the War - and a shock on the doorstep

04 November 2010

October 2010

In praise of slow travel...

19 October 2010

September 2010

God's Wonderful Railway...

28 September 2010
On the Slow Train Again, re-reading Paul Theroux

18 September 2010

August 2010

Will there be another Beeching?

06 August 2010

July 2010

Bob Dylan's 'Slow Train Coming' and 'On the Slow Train' by Michael Williams

24 July 2010

June 2010

On the Slow Train and a Michael Palin mystery solved

24 June 2010
Searching for Michael Portillo On the Slow Train

17 June 2010
The Oldie on the Slow Train

13 June 2010
God's Wonderful Railway

07 June 2010
'A superb narrative'

04 June 2010
All Aboard 'The Slow Train Again'

01 June 2010

May 2010

Slow Train author linked to North London Railway murder!

21 May 2010
Station with sweet name back on the map

21 May 2010
Steam fans like book about diesels, too!

20 May 2010