I can remember John Julius Norwich giving a talk on Belloc at Saint Paul's Girls' school, in Hammersmith, just before he died. I loved his story about Belloc transforming the dinner table into a historical European battle scene at the end of the evening. Seemingly, his favourite one was Crecy.
Hilaire Belloc bought King's Land (in Shipley, Sussex), 5 acres and a working windmill for £1000 in 1907 and it was his home for the rest of his life. Belloc loved Sussex as few other writers have loved her: he lived there for most of his 83 years, he tramped the length and breadth of the county, slept under her hedgerows, drank in her inns, sailed her coast and her rivers and wrote several incomparable books about her. "He does not die that can bequeath Some influence to the land he knows, Or dares, persistent, interwreath Love permanent with the wild hedgerows; He does not die, but still remains Substantiate with his darling plains."
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
John Julius Norwich on Belloc...
I can remember John Julius Norwich giving a talk on Belloc at Saint Paul's Girls' school, in Hammersmith, just before he died. I loved his story about Belloc transforming the dinner table into a historical European battle scene at the end of the evening. Seemingly, his favourite one was Crecy.
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