So, I've been messing around with a script for a biopic of John Snow. It's getting there, though I had no idea when I started quite how challenging it can be to create a story from historical facts. You'd think it would make things so much easier - there's a great story about the guy who discovered the cause of cholera, and it's all true - all you have to do is put it on paper. Hah!
Anyway, for anyone who's been wondering what I've been up to, and who doesn't know who Snow was, then there's a five minute summary of the facts in the middle of the second episode of BBC4's "Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession." (I think they had as much trouble as I am finding a snappy title - I'm running with "The Communication of Cholera" for the present)
What it doesn't tell you, is that three of those black bars marking the cholera deaths in Soho, marked the demise of three of my great great great aunts and uncles. Which is what led me to this story in the first place.
3 comments:
That's an excellent idea for a biopic. I used to work around the corner from Broadwick Street and passed the pump fairly often. There's a plaque on it commemorating his work.
And there's a pub named after him there.
We should pop in for a celebratory drink when you finish a draft.
Is there any way to wrap the personal stories of those relatives into your draft narrative? It might be one way to bring human faces and feelings to the text.
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