Cavalier (Lost Version)
Group: Members
Posts: 598
Joined: Nov. 2010 |
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Posted: Feb. 04 2013, 23:21 |
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In finding this topic again after Platinumpty's recent memories of this book, I've a few observations to add. My apologies, Inkanta, if you've satisfied your curiosity in your own time over recent years!
I've a fair bit of experience with W.H. Allen and Virgin - I probably own a couple of hundred of their books, as they published Doctor Who titles for nearly 25 years. I won't go into all the changes of ownership and imprints but W.H Allen took over from Universal-Tandem in 1976, and Robert Devereux (Richard Branson's brother-in-law) bouught them for Virgin in the late 1980's. It's quite common for books to say inside that they are Tubular Net Books - an imprint of Olivier Lebra Publishing, and harassed compilers of catalogues will enter whatever they feel like  - hence Born in the UK's dual identity!
At this point, I should admit that I have no proof that any of these people coming up are one and the same. I'm presuming so, but better research may prove otherwise.
First, I give you this Wikipedia entry for Melody Maker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Maker
[ "In 1980, after a strike which had taken the paper (along with NME) out of publication for a period, Williams left MM. Coleman promoted Michael Oldfield from the design staff to day-to-day editor, and, for a while, took it back where it had been" ]
Should this turn out to be the same man, it's entirely possible that his initial contact and contract would have preceded the Virgin takeover. This said, I strongly suspect, that, whatever this Michael may have felt, the Virgin marketing people were well aware what effect presenting the author as 'Mike' would have...
There is at least one more book out there which is sufficiently likely to be his.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3061325-dire-straits
I've seen this morning that there's a French-translated version as well. Over to qjamesfloyd for matters Dire Straits related, I think!
When it comes to the confusion, I must confess that it got me every time that I saw it in libraries or bookshops. However, my memory is that there was an author biography - either on the back cover or inside - which stated that this Mike Oldfield was a music journalist, and certainly did not refer to any success as a recording artist. I regret ( or not! ) that I was never tempted to buy or read it.
Inkanta is our most eminent librarian, I am sure. I am an example of a failed one - I studied towards a qualification but messed up my studies in no uncertain fashion. I haven't kept up in recent years but I remember all sorts of bits and pieces and have lots of memories from back then. One source of a collected database of catalogues at the time was JANET - the Joint Academic Network. It was either in there or within the computer system of the beautiful National Library of Wales that I first saw that some people must have reckoned that the man responsible for Tubular Bells II's sheet music, also had a novel inside him.
The idea was catching. With the recycling and sale of former stock, it's not likely that any public libraries still have a copy of Born in the UK within their collections, but Inkanta's 2005 search may have found a couple still hanging around from the 1980s; and if the author has ever been in contact with his local authority, they might hold onto their copy for his sake. She certainly found some of the copies that make their way to the British and Irish legal deposit libraries. There are different arrangements all round the world, and you may know what goes on at the likes of the Library of Congress or the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Any book published in Britain and Ireland (pamphlets, newspapers and magazines too) is required to be submitted to the British Library by law. The Bodleian at Oxford, Cambridge University Library, Triinty College in Dublin, and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales are entitled to ask for copies too, so many are sent regardless. Today, their catalogues are online in this world wide web, and with a bit of typing you too will see if the cataloguers were able to tell the difference! 
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"Who was that?"
"That was Venger - the force of Evil! I am Dungeon Master - your guide in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons!"
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