for six years during the late eighties and early nineties,beryl bainbridege often began her evening standard columns with the words "something happened yesterday……"-and in this unassuming,offhand fashion she would engage her readers in her experiences at a concert in the royal albert hall or as a fortuneteller for her block's annual street carnival in camden town or on excursions with her grandchildren to the regent's park zoo,to shady soho cinemas,to madam tussaud's chambers of horrors.wherever whatever happened,and whether yesterday was last night or thirty years ago-when she performed sound effects for the manchester bbcat the age of twelve,for one anecdotal instance,or when she arrived alone in london at sixteen,or the afternoon her ex-mother-in-law blew a hole in the ceiling with a pistol-never would bainbridge fail to dixover in it a humorous quirk,and sometimes,too,a moment that defined her life or times,as the fifty piecesincluded here amply illustrate. 　　 something happened yesterday holds new,various,and abundantdelights for the many fans of bainbridge's novels,not least among them her exchanges with her readers like fred,on the history of beryl,or like the committee for east clyst's "cllker prize"of a gas oven for winning authors.pleasantly idiosyncratic,this collection of personal essays blends subtle observations of contemporary england with fond,personal menmories of its past.the result is part diary,part memoir,all life. 　　 　　 作者简介： 　　beryl bainbridge,author of the birthday boys,is one of england's leading novelists.nominated for the booker prize four times,most recently for every man for himself,she has won,among numerous other awards,the whitbread prize and the guardian fiction prize.she lives in england.