Britain's greatest masterpieces
In fact, this year marks the centenary of the first book collections of his stories, Just William and More William, and he is actually a sprightly 103 in print years. Richmal Crompton’s boisterous creation made his first appearance in the short story Rice Mould Pudding, published in Home Magazine in 1919. A second story, The Outlaws, appeared the following month, introducing fellow scamps Ginger, Douglas and Henry.
Despite the tales being centred on a schoolboy anti-hero, their language and humour appealed to adults, as Crompton had originally intended. Speaking in the 1950s, she observed that it had not been until the Second World War that they ‘found their way from the general shelves to the children’s department in the bookshop. And even now I receive letters from adult—even elderly—readers’.
Many authorities on children’s literature have pondered the dual appeal of the stories. Crompton saw herself as a serious author and looked upon the early ‘William’ tales as potboilers. Home Magazine, in which the stories appeared between 1919 and 1922, and Modern Woman, in which they appeared between 1940 and 1946, were magazines aimed at females. They bookended the stories’ Happy Mag period (1922–40), which was family-orientated.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 22, 2022-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 22, 2022-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
