An unnatural history of ghosts
Authors should be wary when dealing with the BBC says ROGER CLARKE – Auntie and friends might just pinch your book title.
Afew weeks ago an astrologer friend got in touch to say the BBC was trailing a new Radio Four series with my book’s name tacked onto the top. It was the first I’d heard about it.
A Natural History of Ghosts was published by Penguin in 2012 and went on to sell very successfully around the world, including Korea, Japan, Spain and Germany. The title came to me first, like a kind of gift. I wrote the book around the title. The title encapsulated the idea that it didn’t matter whether you believe in ghosts or not, the idea of ghost-seeing was rich enough in itself. And that in many cases – including Borley Rectory – the people were more interesting than the ghosts anyway.
I knew others would come after and use elements of the book, just as I used elements of other people’s books, including Owen Davies and David Clarke – all properly thanked and acknowledged upfront. The original research I did showing that the haunting of Hinton Ampner was the source story of
Turn of the Screw and recently
The Haunting of Bly Manor
(“The House that was Haunted to Death”, FT309:28-32) was something I was especially proud of, especially when Sir Christopher Frayling publicly endorsed my theory. Nearly all writers of non-fiction dread and fear the moment that their books will be exploited without thanks by TV and radio production companies. Indeed, I even had lunch with one well-known writer who had managed to get an entire Sky series based without credit on one of his books stopped in its
tracks and never broadcast. One hoped the news got around these production companies that they were playing with fire.
I immediately tweeted from my account @skionar to the presenter and apparent writer of the series, Kirsty Logan. She answered me very politely and said she was so sorry but she didn’t really know my book but that she looked forward to reading it. This, I felt, seemed fair enough, though I was a little sceptical that she had not come across my work. Not even in a Google search did my book come up, I asked querulously? No, she replied sweetly. “Though it sounds fascinating.”
Then the plot thickened. Another twitter user, Richard Kovitch, pointed out that she had actually recommended my book in 2016. Johnny Mains noted that she had even tagged me on her contemporaneous tweet about it. And, indeed, her recommendation was still live on her website. I learned she was a young writer from Glasgow – a very keen and ambitious one.
Then the tweets and website references started disappearing. I had, of course, anticipated this and screen-capped them all. She then partially restored her website recommendation, which sowed the seed of doubt in the minds of some observers, one of whom claimed I was ‘lying’. Yet another twitter user came to my rescue by showing evidence that she had deleted her website piece by the time I tweeted, and subsequently restored it.
It all started unravelling for Kirsty Logan and the BBC. The R4 twitter feed stripped all reference to the 10-part series. I asked my readers to complain to the BBC. FT’s Chris Josiffe, who had been interviewed about his Gef the Talking Mongoose book, publicly dissociated himself from the show and asked for his podcast contribution to be removed. A twitter thread I put together was retweeted by many, including the historian Tom Holland. Privately, some big names on R4 contacted me to express their dismay.
But there was more. On the first day of broadcast I posted a link to Kirsty Logan’s Instagram page, where she can be seen holding a copy of my book in her hand!
Finally the BBC took notice. I was contacted. The title was changed to A History of Ghosts, though only on the website. When I was asked for further clarification as to whether this title change was permanent, I was simply referred to the public complaints website.
I have a case, I’m told, for passing-off. Two of the contributors contributed because they thought the series was connected to my book. That’s the key. Passing-off is a legal term, which is not the same as plagiarism but related to trademark law, where you claim to represent something else. A Natural History of Ghosts has only ever been used once before, and that was by me. The BBC could so easily have called their series A Natural History of the Supernatural and none of this would have happened.
The BBC contacted complainants to say they were sorry they had caused me ‘distress’, but, by any standard, the issue was handled poorly. The BBC should hold themselves to a higher standard than the industry norm.
My sales have gone through the roof and there was a hasty reprint; at one point, twitter was posting which bookshops had it in stock as if it was an urgent samizdat text. The support I’ve had has been wonderful.
Under conventional plagiarism laws, I don’t own the title of my book. But I do own the private haunted space it has made.
ROGER CLARKE is is a former writer and film critic at the Independent and a regular contributor to FT. His book A Natural History of Ghosts is available from Penguin.