WHERE MY BOOKMARKS ARE RESTING
A month or so back I finished The Once and Future King by T.H.White.
Book 5, The Book of Merlyn, did contain much of the material used in Book 1, The Sword in the Stone, but that which was original was moving and a fitting conclusion to an epic work.
It was commendable, too, that T.H.White and his publishers did not play the trick played many years ago by the author Leslie Charteris (in collusion with Hodder and Stoughton and his American publishers) of renaming books previously published and presenting them, with a miniscule reference to the change, as new material.
I am thinking of Meet The Tiger (Later called The Saint Meets The Tiger) The Last Hero (The Saint Closes the Case), Knight Templar (The Avenging Saint), She Was A Lady (The Saint Meets His Match) and The Holy Terror which later became The Saint versus Scotland Yard. That, by the way, is to name, or rename, just a few.
My father regarded the whole thing as a blatant deception. He eventually forgave me for remarking that he should have read the small print. He never forgave Mr. Charteris and he discontinued looking for the Sign of the Saint.
Coincidentally I have just finished a Saint short story, The Smart Detective, which is contained in my current bedtime read The Television Detectives' Omnibus edited by Peter Haining (Orion 1992). Had my father been alive to read it he would no doubt have remarked that any plot which depends on the hero being that lucky is not a plot at all.
He would have been right. Sadly, a similar criticism can be levelled at many of the stories in this collection.
Never mind, in preparation for the publication of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows next month, I am reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet again.
Now there's a darned good read.
DID IT ALL START IN AMERICA ?
In this country we used not to applaud between the movements of a symphony or a concerto. Who started doing that? Was it the Americans? We certainly didn't. We did not leap to our feet at the end of an act or a song or a recital to applaud the turn or the soloist or the orchestra, either. We sat in a sensible fashion and applauded just as heartily without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves. I mean, why would we stand? To applaud each other? To make sure everybody knew we were there? To be sure we were ready for the national anthem?
Did it all start in America? Perhaps I unfairly malign Americans. Perhaps it wasn't them at all. They do have some cranky ideas though.
Who else would invite the three tenors to perform and then induce them to sing a selection of ancient movie numbers so that creaking musical has-beens in the audience could take a bow? Who else would conclude a concert by Andrea Bocelli with a totally incongruous diving and firework display, presumably on the grounds that he wouldn't see it? Who else?
Well, not us, I hope. Though we do become dafter every day. Latest craze is to sing the national anthem during play at international soccer matches. Why? The Queen is not a football supporter. The late, great, Tommy Cooper is said to have asked her if he could have her Cup Final ticket. Perhaps it's because Land Of Hope And Glory is not PC enough and too few people know the words to This Royal Throne Of Kings.
I dunno: and if you think you do I'll thank you not to tell me.
UNQUALIFIED PRAISE
Noel Coward once said: "I can take any amount of criticism, so long as it is unqualified praise."
Good old Noel, just about anything he didn't say was said by Oscar Wilde. For that matter, pretty much anything done by Oscar Wilde was done by good old Noel. Only he wasn't caught.
Where was I?
Oh, yes: unqualified praise. If you looked in earlier you may have seen another kind comment from John 'Anonymous' A. It now rests elsewhere. I transferred it on the grounds that the publication of one nice comment is fine but more, too soon on, will have you looking askance and me looking in mirrors. [Nowadays I avoid reflections - not quite sure who the old guy is.]
But thanks again, John.
And at the risk of sounding like a letters editor: this correspondence is now closed.
BECKS VICTORIOUS
I was pleased to see that Becks finished his Real Madrid stint on a high.
The cat Shadow was pleased, too, though I think he was marginally more pleased to see the four expensive boxes of cat food bought for him by my Leader on her last trip to Marks & Sparks.
I worry that he may become too grand for ordinary grub.
Anyway, good luck to Becks in America. He's still a winner so he should do well.
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