It's 50 years since the release of the film based on The Ipcress File, a 1962 spy thriller by best-selling British author Len Deighton. To mark the anniversary, Deighton's biographer, Edward Milward-Oliver, has devised a moviegraphic for the British Film Institute, The Ipcress File: Still hip at 50, which notes the author was a freelance commercial illustrator and wrote The Ipcress File as a diversion without expecting it to be published; it has never been out of print. The 1965 movie, starring Michael Caine, broke box-office records and "cleverly exploited [character] Harry Palmer's off-duty skills to reinforce the differentiation with [producer] Harry Saltzman's other serial hero, James Bond". Palmer is portrayed as a keen cook and his passion for caffeine helped quadruple coffee-bean sales in Britain. As Milward-Oliver says, he "made it cool for men to go shopping and prepare food with style and vigour in the 1960s". Deighton himself is a fine cook and used to create weekly "cookstrips" in The Observer, which are echoed in the design of the moviegraphic.

LET'S TALK POETRY

Looking even further back, Melbourne University Press is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the literary journal Meanjin by republishing the first edition from Christmas 1940. Founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen (the Aboriginal word meanjin refers to the land Brisbane sits on or, according to Frank Moorhouse, means "rejected by The New Yorker"), the magazine moved to Melbourne in 1945 at the invitation of the University of Melbourne. The first edition of Meanjin Papers  was no more than a pamphlet containing eight poems by Queensland poets Christesen, James Picot, Paul L. Grano and Brian Vrepont. In his foreword Christesen wrote, "In an age governed by the stomach-and-pocket view of life, and at a time of war and transition, we will strive to 'talk poetry'... Media for similar expression are sadly lacking in this country. It is hoped to continue publication of this brochure throughout the war period - and perhaps well into the Peace." Indeed they did. Each issue of the magazine this year will have a guest editor, including Hilary McPhee and Melbourne University vice chancellor Glyn Davis. Paperback and ebook replica copies of No. 1 can be ordered from mup.com.au.

FESTIVAL EVENTS FOR READERS

Two diary notes: I will be on a panel of Herald critics as part of the Spectrum Now Festival, at Wharf 1 Theatre, Walsh Bay, on Friday March 27, 7-8.30pm. Wendy Harmer will chair the discussion with my opinionated and entertaining expert colleagues: visual arts critic John McDonald, Ruth Ritchie (TV), Bernard Zuel (music), Terry Durack (food), and Natalie Bochenski (entertainment). Come and find out how we do our job in this fast-changing world, where everyone is a critic. Tickets at spectrumnow.com.au.

And next Saturday's Spectrum will include the full program for Sydney Writers' Festival, which runs May 18-24. Tickets go on sale on Friday so check out the details and start booking and also planning which of the many free sessions you want to attend. We will also have relevant interviews, reviews and news, and a dedicated page on smh.com.au leading up to the festival.