Random Jottings

Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor by Adrian Fort

"I'm the kind of woman I would run from." That was how Nancy Astor described herself and after reading this biography I have no hesitation in congratulating Lady Astor on her self knowledge.  First woman in Parliament, worked tirelessly for her constituents, brave and selfless in her aid when Plymouth was so heavily bombed in the Second World War, all this and more but, oh my goodness me, despite all this to her credit my impression at the end of this book was, yes, I would run from meeting you. Didactic, rude, opinionated and an appalling bully, heavily prejudiced in many ways with no reason,  and though Adrian Fort tries to see the best of her, in my case he has failed.

'Oh she could laugh at herself'

'Oh if answered back she would respect you'

'Oh she liked if you did not let her bully you' blah blah blah. Well sorry my Lady but I do not particularly care to be with somebody with whom you have to have a running battle before she would give you the time of day. She regularly reduced her daughters in law to tears, was not very nice to her children and her relationship with Bobby, her son by her first marriage, was intense and claustrophobic and caused as much anguish as love.

Nancy's first marriage more or less collapsed on the honeymoon when she discovered she was required to have sex with her husband. Came as a great shock to her and she had an antipathy to this all her life (mind you she managed to have five children with Waldorf Astor so one can assume she managed to overcome this occasionally), she rushed home to her father and though the marriage limped on for a year or two, mainly at the behest of the two families who, not unreasonably, felt that they should try a little longer than a week, it ended in divorce and Nancy came to England.

Here she was a social success and had two men in love with her and vying for her favours who she seemed to treat with a careless disregard for their feelings before finally marrying Waldorf Astor who was desperately in love with her. His letters to her are revealing as he knows that she does not have the same feelings for her and he often accuses her of being cruel and unkind.  He loved her all his life and supported her throughout her parliamentary career even to the detriment of his health, to which she was totally indifferent.

"“When I married Nancy,” he said in 1944, the year she would retire from Parliament, “I hitched my wagon to a star … In 1919 when she got into the House I found I had hitched my wagon to a sort of V2 rocket.”

I suppose one should feel a sense of sisterhood to a woman who entered the sacred hallows of Parliament but I am afraid that though she may have been an admirable woman in many ways, in others she was prejudiced, hypocritical and unpleasant and try, as I might, I cannot warm to her.

This is an excellent book published a few years ago and Nancy should be grateful she had such a clear sighted and generous biographer to write about her.

I followed up after finishing this book by reading My life in Service by Rosina Harrison who was Lady Astor's maid and companion for forty years. The book is very gossipy and of course a lot of it will have been embroidered and mellowed with nostalgia, but still it is unavoidably a portrait of a woman who was a pain in the neck for her servants, treating them with severity or kindness, paying for them to travel with her around the world, but refusing to raise their salaries and incredibly demanding.   Seems Rosa was about the only person who could really tell her what she thought of her and early on in her career with Nancy she realised that she was going to have to give as good as she got else her life would be a misery.

Many viewers and fans of Downton Abby have made the comment that the life below stairs was sanitised and that real life service was a miserable existence but reading Rosa's book and comments from the other servants who worked for the Astors, they regarded themselves as 'family' were intensely loyal and brooked no criticism of their employers from anybody else.   There was a feeling of 'we are all in this together' and this came across very strongly in this rather charming book.

I was most intrigued to find out that the butler at Cliveden, Lee, a prince among butlers it seems, was the basis for the butler in Ishiguri's Remains of the Day. And of course, the meeting of the great and the good who sought to avoid the Second World War, which appeared in that film, not in a good light, was based on the so called Cliveden Set which came in for a lot of criticism at the time and accusations of treason.

Two completely different books but both equally fascinating.

Thursday Ramblings

January over half way through and thank goodness for that. It is a month I really dislike and even more so this year with the death of my friend Erika and sorting all things legal and domestic out.  Clearing out somebody else's property is a melancholy experience. I am so used to being in the bungalow with Erika and chatting and talking while she makes me a cup of coffee, it is almost an intrusion to be there going through everything, but it has to be done.

At the solicitors this morning where I had to Swear a Document. This always sounds to me as if I should be standing there letting rip with a stream of expletives but of course the opposite is true. I had to put my hand on the Bible and swear that the contents of said document were OK and I would do my duty as executor etc etc and off it goes. So now I have to wait for the Grant to arrive and then sort out all the monies that are due to be distributed. I also have to arrange for the house to go on the market and all that entails so I am having a busy start to 2016.

I was up in London last weekend seeing the family and wonderful to see them all even if my grandchildren insist on (a) sleeping with me and (b) bouncing up and down on the bed in the morning. But I will not complain as I know full well that these happy years pass and to make the most of them. I always come home and take to my bed after a visit to restore my health and sanity. In a couple of weeks time their mum and dad are away for a weekend so all hands on deck and grandparents (assorted) will be taking care of them and I am really looking forward to that.

I am managing to read in between all this and after my perusal of The Mistresses of Cliveden just before Christmas, I was then fired with enthusiasm to find out more about Nancy Astor and am now halfway through an excellent biography of her. I am not overwhelmed with enthusiasm for her personally, she sounds quite a handful, but I will write more fully when I have finished it.   From the other point of view, I have also just read a book written by her maid and companion of over forty years and that makes really fascinating reading.  More of that later too.

I am finding concentration difficult at the moment with so much going on and last night I decided to sit back and watch a DVD and slotted into the recorder one of my all time favourite old movies which I recently got from Amazon, The Crimson Pirate with Burt Lancaster. Years ago when I was about 12, I went to my local cinema in the school holidays to see this together with Calamity Jane - what a double bill that was. In those days they did not turf you out at the end of the show and I went in at 1pm and came out at about 7pm having watched both films three times.  I was entranced with the glam Burt Lancaster fighting and swashing his buckle and showing off his circus training by trapeze like gymnastics while being chased by the Nasty British soldiers who were all totally inept and fell over at the touch of a finger. Years later when I saw Pirates of the Caribbean I spotted a scene which was a direct lift from this film and said out loud Blimey the director saw the Crimson Pirate.

  

Check out the trailer and you can see what I mean. Wonderful stuff

Anyway it was great and I have just remembered writing about this some years ago on Random and the link is here.

Knitting - contemplating my next project but in the meantime, at the request of my sister, I am making her a bobble hat. As I have never made one before I have warned her that this could be a dangerous exercise but she is willing to take the risk.  According to the pattern it is very simple and 'even a beginner should be able to do this in about half a day'.....HA!

Au reservoir.

Felixstowe Book Festival - We pay our authors!

OK call me naive, call me daft but until Philip Pullman resigned from his post as Patron of the Oxford Literary Festival saying he could no longer agree to their policy of not paying their authors, I was labouring under the misapprehension that all Festivals did. I am staggered to discover that most don't. It seems that one author, who drew a large capacity crowd at Oxford with seats near the front costing up to £50 a ticket, ended up being thanked and given a mug to take home.   So now the proverbial is hitting the literary fan with the Bookseller publishing a letter signed by authors asking that they be paid for their endeavours and lots of publicity all round which can only be a good thing. I have been joining in a chat on Facebook with Amanda Craig, Danuta Kean and others regarding this and decided that I would help in my own small way by writing about the Felixstowe Book Festival and its payment policy.

The festival at Felixstowe was founded by Meg Reid four years ago when she decided what the town needed was such a festival so she just got on with it and provided one. I have been privileged to have been involved since the beginning and am astonished at the amount of enthusiasm, hard work and sheer bloody mindedness involved in such a venture. And, here is the important thing to note, from the very start authors and speakers have been paid. Not for one moment did we think that they should come for free. Why should they? A little seaside town in Suffolk is not going to get your book spread across the newspapers or the TV screens (though who knows what the future may hold), but what Felixstowe can promise is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience who are out to have a thoroughly enjoyable weekend with lots of fun and bookish chat.

And here I have to make it clear that all our authors/speakers who have appeared have been wonderful. Many agreed to commit to coming in the first year without a guarantee of payment. Meg made sure that they knew this and though she was searching out funding, sponsorship etc there was no guarantee there would be a fee, but she would do her best to make sure that at least they got expenses. And you know what? Not one of them pulled out. Not one. The festival has been a success since the get go and it is not just down to the organisers, or the people who pull the pints in the bar, or the ticket sellers - though of course we could not do without them and their help also freely given - but I am sure they will forgive me for saying that the Festival would not take place without writers.

I gather the Oxford University Press has said it cannot afford to pay their speakers as they are a registered charity and cannot exist without sponsorship etc etc. Gosh blimey there is a surprise. How do you think others manage? I gather Hay is another festival which relies on its name being big enough to attract authors for free because of all the publicity they get. I think this is arrogance of a high order.  If you called out a plumber would he come and mend your leaky tap for free? In fact, you will be lucky to get one to come out at all without a call out fee let alone labour on top.

All authors who agree to come to speak at the Felixstowe Book Festival are paid a fee and reasonable expenses. Publishers do help out with some costs - we have a speaker this year coming over from Brussels and his travel costs are being met, but we will be paying him a fee and accommodation and that is how it should be. No arguing. We have very little difficulty obtaining speakers because we give them a fee, not always commensurate with their worth naturally, but we hope that they also enjoy the atmosphere and the appreciative audience and the welcome they receive. 

This year, among others, we have Martin Edwards talking about his Golden Age of Murder best seller; on the platform with him will be Rob Davies from the British Library talking about their Classic Crime series; Rose Tremain; a well known Bronte author (almost 100% confirmed); Fanny Blake; Guy Fraser Sampson hosting two Tilling tea parties at which he will give a talk about Mapp and Lucia and he will also be speaking about his debut crime novel published in March. On the platform with him will be the actor Hugh Fraser, who will be well known to many as Captain Hastings in the Poirot series, who also has a debut crime novel published. There will be writers workshops, children's events and many wonderful things.  Our patron is Esther Freud and we are delighted that she has agreed to take on this position as it shows that authors are appreciated by the organisation.

This year the Festival is on 25th and 26th June and the venue is the Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe Suffolk Keep an eye out for further news etc on the website.

So all authors who would like to spend a weekend in a lovely seaside town in Suffolk mark up your diaries for the last weekend in June for as long as we flourish and prosper. We could not do it without you.

PS Dear Mr Pullman - fancy coming to us in 2017........?

Holy Island and Sycamore Gap by LJ Ross - Great stuff

My daughter in Australia, knowing how much I love a good mystery, emailed me to say she had just read these and she thought I would enjoy them. She told me she had no idea Who Dun It and as we have both read so many detective/crime novels and regularly spot the murderer half way through, she thought this was a good recommendation.  So I downloaded them on my new Paperwhite Kindle (Christmas pressie) and started to read. And Kathryn was right. I was hooked.

At the start of Holy Island DCI Ryan is an on leave of absence from his job. We do not know why but something in his last investigation, that of a serial murder called The Hacker, has caused a breakdown. He cuts himself off from his family and has spent several months on Lindisfarne where he has made his home. A body is discovered and as he is on the spot he begins the investigation.   But before he can do so he has to plead with his superior officer to be allowed to take over, arguing that as he has been resident for some time he has knowledge of the people who might be involved.

The body is that of Lucy Matheson, a teenager whose family live on the island and she is discovered laid out in the ruins of the Priory in a way that points to witchcraft or paganism. All very nasty and on a small island it is difficult to know who to trust.   An historical expert is sent over to assist DCI Ryan, who just in case I had not mentioned it, is rather gorgeous and Anna immediately finds him attractive:

"He was ridiculously good looking, almost cartoon like with unruly black hair swept away artlessly from a symmetrical face with slashed cheekbones and striking grey eyes"

Unwelcoming at first, naturally, they find themselves increasingly drawn to one another, naturally and an affair begins. This does not intrude on the story line at all nor distracts and, in fact, adds and extra layer of tension as more bodies pile up and it looks as if Anna may be in danger also.

Right, the second story Sycamore Gap takes us six months further down the line. I would mention here that if you read this one first by accident it does not really matter as there are sufficient references to the first for you to understand the plot. I hasten to add that really it would be best to read Holy Island first.

There are characters and themes revisited from The Holy Island and as I picked this up and started reading it immediately after finishing the first one, all was fresh in my mind and I just carried on seamlessly from one to the other.  I cannot tell you too much about the narrative or the plot without giving secrets away but we are once again involved in the Dark Side (sorry about the Star Wars reference but is is a good one) with evil intent everywhere.

I will say that though I did NOT guess the murderer in the first Ryan story, two people who I suspected of being involved turned up in a twist at the end and made me cry I Knew IT!. Just call me clever clogs. This is a running theme which is going to be revisited in the third book I suspect but I think the author has to be careful not to keep it going too long else it might become a trifle unbelievable.

Two excellent stories and I was surprised to learn that these are the author's debut books. They are written with an assurance of a writer of many years standing, pace and narrative gripping and the plot with its twists and turns make this unputdownable. I am looking forward to the next one already and hope it will not be long.

If you like a good thriller then try these two. You will not be disappointed.

 

Random Chores

So I have been busy today. Nothing earth shattering but just catching up on chores.

I cleaned the kitchen floor. Yes, folks I did, honest.   I took one look at it this morning and realised that even by my standards of housework I could not leave it any longer.  I cannot use a mop or squeezee thingy as pushing it around puts my back just in the right position where it 'goes'. This has happened to me too many times to risk it any more. So I now get down on my bottom, cannot kneel any more as I have a touch of arthritis in my knees, with bowl of water etc and scrub.When I look back at the days when I mopped and polished with gay abandon and non-creaking limbs I realise that Elaine, you are no spring chicken any more.

It is quite satisfying in the end and the best thing, or worst, whichever way you look at it, is that you can really see into corners and the floor now looks pristine.I even moved the fridge and freezer out, only an inch or two I hasten to say, not that mad, and was able to clear up some of the mess revealed. I will leave hauling them fully out to the spring.  Cleaned up the cupboards, the outside not the inside, another thing for the spring, and the oven. I checked inside but hastily closed the doors again. I do have a super duper oven cleaning set from the Blessed Lakeland which I used about six months ago and was delighted with. I had not cleaned the oven for five years (no do not sneer I bet there are plenty of you out there who are just as bad) and was amazed at the result. I got quite excited by it all but then calmed down pretty quickly when I realised I was getting worked up over A Cleaning Product. Anyway I mopped and mopped and scrubbed and polished and then had lunch and, totally exhausted by this foray into domesticity, fell asleep for a couple of hours.

Duly refreshed I arose from my slumbers and decided to tackle the Drawer in the Bedroom which houses medical stuff, make up stuff, foot stuff, nail stuff, stuff stuff....

I decided that nobody needs twenty packets of Paracetamol, gawd knows how long some of them have been there, so checked the user dates and kept two packs, rest went in bin. I have an abundance of baby buds (why?), and tiny tins of Vaseline that I kept picking up when I needed them.  I was ruthless in getting rid of things that have been hanging around for too long and, saddest of all, I found a bunion protector lurking in a corner and I despatched that pretty quickly I can tell you.

Turned my attention to my make up. Oh dear. Six dried up mascaras totally unusable. Eye shadows of colours so lurid I cannot imagine why I purchased them in the first place. Horrid dusty make up brushes. Loads of tube of foundation with a final squeeze in them. Now these I do keep as I have found that if you chuck them out too soon you waste a huge amount so I got scissors and snipped them open and scooped out all that was left and put it in a little container and I reckon I have enough there for some time. I do not buy cheap foundation so feel inordinately pleased with myself for this economy.   Suck it up Chanel.

Then Lipsticks.  I have discovered I own 25 various shades of pink, I have spent a lifetime finding the perfect pink, never found it yet but I certainly do not need to purchase any more for a while. And another thing with lipsticks, the stubby bits that are left at the bottom have loads of life left in them. I have three of these in my favourite lippy so I did another scooping and they are now in a bijou pottette (always have plenty of those around) and, if I use a lip brush, can apply ok. So suck it up Clinique.

So, not earth shattering, but I do feel a glow of virtue which I always get when I do housework/tidying up. Perhaps I ought to do it more often.......

Bathroom tomorrow.  As my brother in law says whenever he sees it 'You know Elaine you really don't need to scatter talcum powder down you, just roll on the floor'. He is right you know.

Au reservoir

Random knitting

I used to knit a lot. I seem to remember knitting at primary school and making a jumper for a doll. Do not suppose that would happen nowadays, crafts seem to take a back seat and, I daresay, any teacher mad enough to show a little girl how to knit for a doll would be hauled before the Governors, told off and be sent off to a Gender Workshop to get herself sorted out.

However, whoever taught me I am very pleased they did and I also remember my mum showing me how to as well. She used to churn out cardigans for my two girls and I was always pleased to have them.  Somehow though life got in the way and other things caught my attention, probably boys and sex, and knitting fell by the wayside. But I do remember knitting an Aran cardigan for my then husband which was simply fiendish to do and I sometimes wonder how I managed it. Each block of pattern was 13 rows and it was absolutely necessary that I did not abandon my knitting session mid block or else you would lose where you were. I only did this on one occasion and for years after I could see the extra line I had done every time my ex wore this cardie. Nobody else could spot it but it annoyed me. I asked ex hubby if he would send me some photos of it, knew he would not have thrown it out, and he did and lo and behold there was the mistake. I should say I showed these photos to a knitting friend and she honed in on it as well!!

My two grown up daughters did not realise I had knitted this years ago and when I told them they were mightily impressed. I have now got my knitting mojo back and this year knitted scarves for my son in law, Helen and Flo and Bea. Whether they will ever wear them or not I do not know but they were well received. Helen's, in fact, was a cowl and she was delighted with it and knitting them got me back into the rhythm of knitting and cabling as well. There is nothing to relaxing as sitting back watching TV and knitting - of course, if you are watching The Bridge which has sub titles then you do not even attempt to knit, but otherwise it is incredibly stress busting.

So I am now back into the swing and have gone slightly mad as every time I see a knitting magazine I have to buy and have borrowed several books from the library (photocopied patterns I like) and also bought a couple which I think are going to be really helpful.  One is by Nicky Epstein - Knitting Block by Block and there are some fabulous patterns in there. I have a stash of dusky rose wool and intend to knit some of these blocks and make a throw for my bed. And the second I recently purchased is Big Knits Projects to knit using super size needles by Melanie Porter. I knitted my son in law's scarf on large needles and though it took a bit of getting used to, the scarf grew at the most astonishing rate.

Well dear readers brace yourself as I will now be writing about knitting on Random. I have, in the past, flirted with additional blogs on cooking and theatre and opera etc, but in the end it is too much faff and I will just bung everything on here.   As the design magazines would say, I am aiming for an 'eclectic mix'.....

Au reservoir.

 

First reading round up of 2016

So the trees are at the tip, the presents exchanged or kept, the decorations are stashed away and we are back to normal. Am I the only one who is glad when all the hoo hah is over? I know I am very Scroogish when it comes to Christmas, but I find the build up goes on so long and is so tedious and good to get back into the routine, though I see that some supermarkets have their Easter Eggs out already....

Right so here we go. Just catching up as you will know I had a difficult time before Christmas with a bereavement and a funeral, months of legal stuff to sort out as well ahead of me, and reading rather went to pot. I need to give a quick review of books over the last month or so.

The Mistresses of Cliveden - Natalie Livingstone. I spotted this book in Waterstones some time ago and popped it on my list, but it was only before Christmas that I managed to get a copy from the library and it was just perfect for my reading pattern at the time. I could read a section/chapter a day and then put it to one side.  All I knew about Cliveden was the Astor family and the Profumo affair back in 1963 and I was totally unaware that its original name was Clifden and the first building was erected by George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham and a friend and favourite of Charles II. The book takes us through all the ladies who reigned there, one being the Duchess of Sutherland a bosom friend of Queen Victoria who I had heard of through diaries and letters of Her Maj, but knew very little about other than that. 

Nancy Astor lived there of course when she was in Parliament and I have to say she sounds a most unpleasant and bigoted woman. I now need to read more about her and so a biography of this lady is on my to get hold of list. This is a terrific book, excellent writing and very engaging. Social history, which is my favourite kind of history, at its best and I finished it on New Year's Day so it makes the cut for this year.

Murder at the Old Vicarage by Jill McGown NOT Agatha Christie. Classic setting. A village cut off by deepening snow and all is quiet and getting ready for Christmas, when the body is found at the vicarage. He is the son in law of the vicar who seems a pretty unpleasant person and is not mourned by anybody very much.  Suspects abound as everyone seemed to dislike him including his wife who had left him, and his in laws.  At first I thought this book seemed promising and so it was, but I found it incredibly dated. Now this is odd as it was written in 1988 and yet I found some of the language jarred and the relationship between Chief Inspector Lloyd and his ex colleague with whom he had had an affair slightly off putting. Odd that the crime stories I have read set in the 1920s and 1930s have not dated but this one has.   I have to be honest and say this was a fairly mediocre book and not sure that I shall seek out any more by this author.

Death in Ecstasy - Ngaio Marsh. Have decided to do a re-read of books by this author which I seem to do every two years and the contrast in style, wit and narrative to the McGown book is extremely marked. I am a huge fan of Dame Ngaio anyway, but always happy to give credit to other mysteries both old and new, but really she is one of the queens of the genre. Always enjoy her.

Ngaio Marsh, the woman and her Work - edited by B J Rahn. Had this book on my shelves for several years and decided to refresh my memory by a re-read. A collection of essays by authors such as Catherine Aird, Julian Symons and friends discussing not only her books but her theatre work for which she is better known in New Zealand, the place of her birth.   One fascinating essay on the meaning of the relationships and character's names in Death and the Dancing Footman (a favourite title of mine) is masterly and a pleasure to read. I shall re-read this one next.

Tricky Twenty-Two - Janet Evanovich. The latest in the Stephanie Plum series and had me laughing. Better than the last one but that is all I can say about it. Having discovered the 'writing' methods of James Patterson last year and finding his genre ranging from good to bad, it is clear that Janet E also adopts this method - ie, coming up with the ideas and somebody else putting it down on paper as she has co-authors now.  I am beginning to wonder if she ever actually writes anything herself.  Passed a couple of hours and, as I said, better than the last one and had me laughing but the pleasure in these books is beginning to fade. In the Patterson books we do get character development and relationship ditto, but none in these so the Ranger/Joe/Stephanie set up needs to be resolved or else stop writing them.

Well that is it for now. I am determined that I will pay more attention to Random this year. 2015 was not one of my best years and ill health etc got in the way, but I am determined to get better this year and fitter.

I wish all of you who have stuck with me through thin and thin my love and best wishes for the coming year.

Au reservoir.