Reporter’s Marsh Code Released - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Reporter’s Marsh Code Released – A WESTCLIFF-based writer who just released her first book, Code: Damp – An Esoteric Gide to British Sitcoms, will be holding a book reading event in Leigh this December.

Reporter’s Marsh Code Released - A WESTCLIFF-based writer who just released her first book, Code: Damp – An Esoteric Gide to British Sitcoms, will be holding a book reading event in Leigh this December.

Leigh On Sea News: Reporter’s Marsh Code Released – A WESTCLIFF-based writer who just released her first book, Code: Damp – An Esoteric Gide to British Sitcoms, will be holding a book reading event in Leigh this December.

A WESTCLIFF-based writer who just released her first book, Code: Damp – An Esoteric Gide to British Sitcoms, will be holding a book reading event in Leigh this December.

Published by Repeater Books on the 40th anniversary of the death of actor Leonard Rossiter, this imaginative counter-history by Sophie Sleigh-Johnson charts unexpectedly esoteric patterns of English domestic life underlying the sitcoms Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, both brought to life by Rossiter’s electric energy.

Both a surreal study of popular TV (from sitcoms to MR James and Nigel Kneale adaptations) and an extended metaphor on the symbolism of damp, Sophie – who is also a reporter for Leigh News – charts a weird history using Essex as an imaginative backdrop.

For Sleigh-Johnson, 36, the Essex marshes tether the parochial histories of her hometown to antiquarian themes, such as the creation of Mesopotamian cuneiform – writing systems developed from marsh clay.

In the book, this idea is developed through her conversations with Akkadian scholar Irving Finkel, keeper of ancient manuscripts of the near east at the British Museum, and author of The Ark Before Noah.

Reviewing the book, author and scholar Tobias Churton said: “Sophie Sleigh-Johnson’s book is a lament for lost times and perceptions, extruded through the clinging metaphor and symbolism of damp.

“Having myself been raised amid rising damp and now threatened by floods, I know well that decay is the meaning of Decadence, and Code: Damp is both a handsome response to national decline and a celebration of hidden arts.”

This book represents the latest milestone in a longstanding tradition of publications released by Leigh Times and Leigh News reporters, including works by Ancient Aliens contributor and author Andrew Collins and local historian Ian Yearsley.

On December 13th, Sophie will be reading from Code: Damp in a special event at Leigh’s bookshop Read-on-Sea, at 28 Broadway, 6 pm.

She will be joined in conversation with Southend-based writer Tim Burrows, author of the acclaimed The Invention of Essex, published last year.

Standard Entry for this not-to-be-missed evening is £5.00, and purchase of a ticket includes admission to the event and is fully redeemable against any book on the shelves.

To purchase, visit Read-on-Sea, or order online at: https://readonsea.co.uk/product/author-reading-sophie-sleigh-johnson

To purchase the book visit Amazon, or the Repeater website at: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/code-damp-an-esoteric-guide-to-british-sitcoms/

Picture: Sleigh-Johnson outside Carry On star Charles Hawtrey’s house

Picture 2: The book is published by Repeater Books

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