Interview with Christopher Bush

Writer Christopher Bush, alias Michael Home, is interviewed by Hugh Sykes-Davies.

The main street in Lavenham with the White Swan Hotel in the foreground. A car turns into the market place by the Guildhall and interviewer Hugh Sykes-Davies knocks on the door of the Great House, the Lavenham home of Christopher Bush, alias Michael Home. Most of the film is an interview with Mr. Bush, recorded in the sitting room of his house, Mr. Sykes-Davies sitting on his chintz sofa. Mr. Bush contends that he has never thought of himself as a novelist. He explains that he was born in Breckland, although maintains that to be a recent term. He has seen enormous changes in the area, stemming from the destruction of the Thetford Plantations during World War I and their replacement with pine trees. The heath he remembers was full of gorse willow herb and little pools, often dry in the summer. A heath, he maintains, is alive; a breck is dead.He talks of the influence of the Breck on his novels. He reads from Chapter XIII of his novel `This String First'. He recalls that life was very different. People in his village and often never been more than a mile from the village. Any effect the scenery had on them would have been subconscious.He talks of the change of name to Michael Home. This came about after family problems forced the sale of his house at Hockham. He moved to Sussex where he experience writers block. The change of name was a device to overcome this.

Featured Buildings

The White Swan Hotel; The Guildhall; The Great House

Keywords

Writers

Background Information

Christopher Bush was born in East Wretham, Norfolk, and attended Thetford Grammar School before going into the army. He wrote detective novels under his real name, Christopher Bush. He later moved to Sussex before settling in Lavenham. His books about East Anglia included: God And The Rabbit, 1943 No Snow In Latching, 1949 The Strange Prisoner, 1947 Spring Sowing, 1946 Autumn Fields, 1946