The Xtra Diary - Manga comic books featuring The British Museum?

Published: 27 August, 2010

THE British Museum has been reporting a surge in Japanese tourists and we might just know the reason why.

The Bloomsbury institution is the rather unusual setting for a comic book adventure that is currently taking Japan by storm.

Until now the fortnightly manga adventures have largely been set in Japan, but the creator of the Big Comic – one of the most popular titles read by millions of Japanese fans every week – decided to shake-up the formula after a recent visit to the UK, where he fell in love with the museum.

The plot line follows a well known character called Professor Munakata, professor of folklore at Toa Bunka university. He can be seen exploring various museum exhibits, including the Rosetta Stone, an Easter Island statue and a samurai warrior’s helmet, as part of a wider mystery he is trying to crack in London.

And it seems manga fever has gone full circle, because the comics are going to be translated into English by legendary creator Hoshino Yukinobu.

Horsemen’s holy day

WEREN’T we told to love thy NAY-bour?

More than 100 horses will attend a church service with a difference in Marylebone next month to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the protest against the closure of the stables in Hyde Park.

Reverend Stephen Mason from St John’s Church in Hyde Park Crescent will bless the horses from that very same stable that came under threat in 1968, before throwing a huge party.

There will be a fete, jazz band, food stalls and tombola, among other things, at the event on Sunday September 19 from 10am.

Reverend Mason said: “We are really looking forward to this year’s celebration. Horseman’s Sunday is an event that celebrates tradition and a strong sense of community.”

Grosz take on torturer

A RARE watercolour depicting Nazi brutality in the run up to the second world war is to go on display at the Ben Uri gallery in St John’s Wood.

“Interro­gation”, painted by the German artist George Grosz in 1936 following his emigration to the USA, shows a man being tortured by Nazi soldiers.

The work will be one of the highlights of an upcoming exhibition – the date of which has yet to be confirmed – surveying German, Russian and British war artists.

Jonathan Horwich, chairman of the museum’s acquisitions committee said: “Grosz is one of the first half of the century’s most influential artists and led the concept of using graphic satire to motivate and communicate political views and challenge the establishement.”

The Ben Uri gallery is in Boundary Road, St John’s Wood.

Biography in a brown paper bag

THE mystique of the brown paper bag is well known so Diary was excited when such a package arrived in the office this week.

No contraband to declare but the contents could be described as X-rated – the new biography of the late porn baron and “King of Soho” Paul Raymond.

Apparently the packaging was so not to cause offence to the more prudish reviewers.

Author Paul Willetts, who also wrote the highly acclaimed Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia, promises a racy jaunt through Raymond’s life, from strict Catholic upbringing to isolation, paranoia and extreme wealth after presiding over an empire including Britain’s first strip club and a clutch of top-shelf magazines. Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond, Serpent’s Tail, £14.99, is out next week.