tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post430771586571275277..comments2024-02-03T13:09:38.313+00:00Comments on Mirabilis - Year of Wonders: Never fear, Smith is here!Leo Hartashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417174942647091006noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-25821448931614131672009-12-03T09:43:34.063+00:002009-12-03T09:43:34.063+00:00I too strongly recommend "Fifth Business"...I too strongly recommend "Fifth Business" (thanks again, Sandy, for introducing me to that). Are these characters Fifth Business? Certainly most of them fit into that category - though not all Fifth Business parts are scene-stealers. <br /><br />Toad - of course! From the moment he appears in the book he pretty much claims it for himself.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-3971470595806173452009-12-03T07:48:09.885+00:002009-12-03T07:48:09.885+00:00I believe this is the character Robertson Davies r...I believe this is the character Robertson Davies refers to as "Fifth Business": In any opera there is the hero, the heroine, the heroine's rival, the villain, and the character known as Fifth Business, who has no counterpart in the scenario and without whom the story cannot advance. (The character Liesl who explains the concept of Fifth Business is a bit of the business herself!) An incredible book, by the way, for anyone who hasn't discovered Davies - it has become one of my all-time favourites.<br /><br />My pet ones, let's see...how about Toad from The Wind in the Willows? The book wouldn't be the same without him.Sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00599376696122828129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-63247424432555173782009-11-30T10:59:13.755+00:002009-11-30T10:59:13.755+00:00Here's two for the price of one: Jack Havoc an...Here's two for the price of one: Jack Havoc and Tiddy Doll in Margery Allingham's The Tiger in the Smoke.Geoffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-15049385788077527372009-11-29T23:42:14.309+00:002009-11-29T23:42:14.309+00:00I know - once I got started making a list, I kept ...I know - once I got started making a list, I kept thinking of more. Shane is a great example, but then Vic Mackay himself is quite a force of nature. Steerpike - yes, a great example from literature. Another Johnny Rotten lookalike is Lupin from Diary of a Nobody, which makes me wonder if the young Mr Lydon wasn't an archetype all his own.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-4819297315359879002009-11-29T20:11:10.596+00:002009-11-29T20:11:10.596+00:00Literature I'd definitely nominate the utterly...Literature I'd definitely nominate the utterly compelling Steerpike from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy as an aside I was amazed at how much Johnny Rotten resembled Peake's drawings of Steerpike some thirty years later. Falstaff springs to mind as a compelling and humanizing foil to young Prince Hal's hateur. In fact Shakespeare's got lots of similar such characters peppered throughout his plays, Polonius in Hamlet springs to mind as both buffoon but also a plot spring.<br /><br />Comics I'd definitely nominate Captain Haddock, who's irascible temperament proved such a wonderful catlyst for some of the more unpredictable occurrences in the Tintin stories and by the same token Professor Calculus.<br /><br />Or how about Carl Bark's creation of Donald Duck's miserly Uncle Scrooge? A character so riven by greed that he pretty well supplanted Donald in terms of reader interest and some of the other support slots were fascinating too in particular Donald's unbelievably lucky and thoroughly detestable Cousin Gladstone Gander.<br /><br />TV I'd nominate Doug McClure's Trampas from the Virginian who really did seem to end up overshadowing James Drury's title role character, Arthur Lowe's Leonard Swindly from Coronation Street also springs to mind. How about Walton Goggins superb portrayal of Shane Vendrell in The Shield?<br /><br />Film - well Ralph Fiennes mesmeric performance as Amon Goth in "Schindler's List" is still jaw droppingly awesome.<br /><br />I could go on but time, time, time presses ...Peter Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15566601617123798061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-23256032808087864422009-11-29T11:44:27.159+00:002009-11-29T11:44:27.159+00:00David Robert Jones, that's Bowie's real na...David Robert Jones, that's Bowie's real name!Kazanoreply@blogger.com