King’s Bromley (or Kings Bromley, the spelling is apparently variable) in Staffordshire is on the way south from Ashbourne to Lichfield. I spotted its War Memorial as we were passing through.

A granite cross on a stepped square plinth:-

Great War dedication and names:-

Second World War dedication and names:-

Maggie Smith, thespian extraordinaire, has died. (I almost wrote actress rather than thespian but that word has fallen out of favour in the past couple of decades. In any case her work surpasses that of male members of her profession.)

Her name must be one of the most recognisable in British life over the past fifty or so years. A Grande Dame of British acting, her ability to hold the eye and dominate a scene was all but unsurpassed.

Margaret Natalie (Maggie) Smith: 28/12/1934 − 27/9/2024. So it goes.

SPFL Tier 3, Palmerston Park, 28/9/24.

Reality biting hard?

That’s two games lost in a row now. AndMark Durnan got himself sent off.

Plus we’re bottom of the table.

It’s getting hard to see where the win is going to come from.

I’m not convinced it’ll be next week at home to Stenhousemuir. They owned us last season.

Penguin, 1993, 637 p

Richard Papen was brought up in Plano in California, a place he regards as a backwater. Nevertheless, he has made it to an elite college at Hampden in Vermont. His parents were not well off and he feels the contrast between himself and other students there. At first he tries not to be found out, but such things are hard to disguise. After originally being turned down as student of Greek by its professor Julian, Richard comes into the orbit of his rather small and close-knit class cohort, Francis, Henry, Edmond (known as Bunny,) and twins Charles and Camilla. (Those last two names perhaps now have more of a frisson than they would have had when Tartt wrote the book.) Richard overhears the five arguing about a Greek translation and provides them with a neat solution which encourages them to petition Julian to accept him.

Though Julian is perhaps unorthodox as a teacher – certainly in his attitude to assessments -his reputation as being charismatic is not actually reflected in the text, where he almost seems a nebulous presence, though he is instrumental in the plot unfolding.

Only a few instances are given where Julian’s personality comes through. When struck with the thought that Bunny, due to his girlfriend Marion being Presbyterian, might be about to turn to religion Julian opines, “‘Well whatever one thinks of the Roman Church, it is a worthy and powerful foe. I could accept that sort of conversion with grace. But I shall be very disappointed indeed if we lose him to the Presbyterians.’”

So far, so campus novel; but an exchange in one of Julian’s classes foreshadows later events.

Julian says, “‘We think we have many desires but in fact we only have one. What is it?’”

‘To live,’ said Camilla.

‘To live forever,’ said Bunny.”

A sentiment like that is always a hostage to fortune, whoever utters it.

Richard is not yet fully part of the group when the incident upon which the whole structure rests takes place; a Dionysian Bacchanal at which neither Richard nor Bunny was present where the invocation of the god actually happened – or the other four believed it did, which is the same thing. During their drug induced stravaiging a neighbouring farmer was accidentally killed. Richard learns this only later but Bunny saw the blood-soaked aftermath and did not quite believe their story of running over a deer.

Bunny is a bit of a loose cannon, leaching off anyone he can but most often Henry, of whom he says to Richard, “‘I think he’s got a little bit of Jew blood.’” The incident makes his behaviour worse. At one point Henry’s refusal to indulge him provokes the outburst, “‘You make me sick, you fag, you Nazi, you dirty lousy cheapskate Jew.’” How representative this is of the attitudes of attendees of elite US colleges in the time portrayed I don’t know but perhaps they may still be common.

The group’s growing fear of Bunny’s possible betrayal of their secret, complicated by the convoluted relationships between Francis and Charles, Charles and Camilla and Camilla and Henry, and Richard’s unrequited feelings for Camilla is drastic, irrevocable and only creates further tensions between them.

The book received a lot of praise and became a best seller. While being well enough written it is also about one third as long as it needs to be. The author might argue she was providing space to develop character but that could still have been done more economically. Moreover, nearly all of the characters are unsympathetic and morally bankrupt to a greater or lesser degree. Though maybe this is true of elite US college alumni/alumnae in general. Even viewpoint character Richard is weak and easily swayed.

It’s not encouraged me to read anything else by Tartt.

Pedant’s corner:- a missing comma before a piece of dialogue (x 2,) – and at its end (x 1.) “‘If I’d of been’” (‘If I’d have been’; or, ‘If I’d’ve been’ – but it was in dialogue,) “it was the epicenter” [sic] – despite this being a British publication the text is in USian – (not ‘it was off centre’, just ‘it was the centre’,) “littered like a fairgrounds” (like a fairground. Is “fairgrounds” USian?) Gladiola (Gladioli.) “None of his things were gone” (None of his things was gone,) organdy (organdie,) a cat is first referred to as she but later as he.

Even though he wasn’t born when this group had their big hits, for a time The Human League were my son’s favourite band.

Recent events brought this song to my mind. Still waiting for the soldiers to be gone.

The Human League: The Lebanon

Going south last September we passed through the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire and as a result happened upon its War Memorial, a set of gates under an archway plus a low wall:-

Great War Names respectively, above, to left and right of arch:-

Second World War names are displayed on the extremities of the walls:-

A memorial to those who served is located in a Memorial Garden to rear of the War Memorial:-

Ashford in the Water‘s Great War Memorial lies close to a wall of the parish Church of the Holy Trinity. A granite cross above a plinth displaying the names of the dead:-

The Second World War Memorial is set into the church’s wall:-

In the church grounds I found this War Grave, of a Millitary Medal recipient, Private J Johnson, Hampshire Regiment, 1/8/1918, aged 21.

Ashford in the Water also has a War Memorial Hall, with a statue of a soldier in the foreground:-

Ashford in the Water is a village in Derbyshire just under two miles from Bakewell. We stopped to see it because it featured in a book of British villages worth visiting.

Its main attraction for me was the lovely old bridge over the River Wye:-

View from bridge:-

Bridge close to:-

Reverse view:-

During the Great War Lavery was commissioned as a war artist. Several of his war paintings are on display at the Lavery on Location Exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery.

Mine-Laying Submarines Harwich 1917:-

Hendon 1917. Hendon was a Royal Flying Corps training base. I really liked this as I’m a sucker for biplanes:-

More sombrely this is The Cemetery, Étaples:-

Daylight Raid from my Studio:-

A Coast Defence. An 18-Pounder Anti-Aircraft Gun, Tyneside:-

Lavery was almost alone in portraying those who became casualties. Wounded, London:-

More of Lavery’s works can be seen on the Ulster Museum’s website, here.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 21/9/24.

Well, I suppose the unbeaten league run had to end sometime, but from the comments on the game I’ve read we were all over them apart from their goal.

This result, combined with Arbroath’s win over Annan, means we’re now (joint) bottom of the league. Ominous.

We really need to start winning games soon.