Quotation of the Day!

-

"Only Mills and Boon can rival British intelligence," says MI5's official historian. This fascinating quotation was in The Guardian newspaper today, as related by Charlotte Higgins from the Hay Festival. She goes on to write that Christopher Andrew, who spent years as a member of of the service whilst he undertook the research for his book Defence of the Realm, claimed that the human resources consultants employed to discover the levels of job satisfaction at the British domestic intelligence service had found that there was "only one organisation they had investigated that had a higher morale: Mills & Boon." A Spooks/M&B collaboration must surely be in the offing. Of course this confirms for those of us in the know what we already knew: romance books make you happy. And so does spying. Allegedly. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jun/02/christopher-andrew-mi5

Comments

Heather Snow said…
It's even better when you romance book includes a bit of spying...

Thanks for the smile!
3 June 2010 at 17:58
Heather Snow said…
Aack! iPhone typos!!!
3 June 2010 at 17:59
NinaP said…
I don't get it. (read the article and everything) It’s because my ancestors defected, I'll bet. :-)
3 June 2010 at 17:59
Nicola Cornick said…
LOL, Nina! Yes, I thought it was funny too, Heather. And you don't need the intelligence community to work out that romance books are good for you!
3 June 2010 at 20:53
Keira Soleore said…
I bet Richard Armitage's joining the BBC's Spooks' cast had something to with this result!

Like the National Trust current love affair with M&B, perhaps, there should be a contemp series staged at Thames House, where happy (real) M&B authors help happy (hypothetical) MI-5 spies find romance HEAs.
11 June 2010 at 21:32
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Books of Your Childhood.

-
Image
This is a fantastic meme from Michelle Styles for anyone who loves to talk about books, especially the books that captured you when you were a child and are still with you now. Name at least one book that you read as a child (ie 11 or under) that still exists in your memory as a perfect story. You can say why if you wish, or simply give a list -- your choice. It can be a story that you are now uncomfortable about having loved or were uncomfortable at some point and have now come back to or alternatively just one that you have always loved. Here is my list: 1. A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley. History fascinated me even as a child, as did the idea of stepping back in time. I’ve been hooked on timeslip romance ever since! 2. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. I could name just about every Alan Garner book for this list. I was totally hooked on his writing. The combination of adventure, magic and something just a little bit strange and spooky fascinated me. Plus the fact
Read more

Farewell to the rugged look!

-
Image
As you know, I'm all for blogging about hot-looking actors in period costume. Any excuse! So an article in the Observer newspaper at the weekend was a bit of a gift. Under the headline of "Farewell to the rugged look as new male beauties sweep all before them" it suggested that the leading men of film and TV are becoming interchangeable. Gone are the days of actors with such individual looks and charisma as Marlon Brando and Al Pacino and in there place are bland clones. Among the new breed of actors cited were Zac Efron, Edward Pattinson and Jonathan Rhys Myers, whose appealing baby eyes apparently sealed the role of Henry VIII in The Tudors (odd when you think about it, since of all the things that Henry was renowned for, his baby face wasn't one of them). Experts claim that these boy-men are chosen for their cherub cheeks and gentle jaws, and that women prefer them because they associate these softer looks with fidelity and warmth. So what is going on? What happen
Read more

A Brief and Selective History of Swimming!

-
Image
I've taken a longer-than-expected break from the blog over the past couple of weeks due to a terminally stubborn set of book revisions that simply refused to work. I knew there were problems with the manuscript and, hard as I worked to fix them, my writer's intinct told me that there was still something wrong even when I had finished draft 2. I tinkered, I re-wrote, I changed one thing which led to another which brought the whole thing down like a pack of cards. I had a fabulously helpful set of revision notes from my editor but still I could not do it. I cried. I comfort ate. I didn't sleep. Now I have draft 3, a sleep deficit, and no idea whether the book is any good since my judgement is shot to pieces. I love being a writer. Anyway, now I've emerged into the daylight I see it is a beautiful hot sunny day so to get back into the blogging I decided to post a piece about aspects of the history of swimming, some of which is taken from an article I read in the Daily Tel
Read more