This morning I was reading Great Lives: A Century in Obituaries, a book of prominent peoples' obituaries from The Times.
I was greatly pleased by two particular passages, taken from two different obituaries. Can you guess who the obituarist is writing about?
Here's the first: "He remained a teenager even in his eighties-- and a late Victorian one, at that. Boat Race Night of Mafeking Year may be roughly the point at which he came to a standstill." This person died in 1975.
And here's the second, for somebody who died in 1980: "A Billy Bunter who had somehow turned out to be a great artist."
I had a quick look to see if the authors of the obituaries were given anywhere, but they don't seem to be.
(Incidentally, I was going to give this blog post the title "Guess The Stiff". But then I remembered my dislike for this kind of cheap levity which pervades our culture. Today even bus advertisements routinely make bawdy puns or double-entendres. But it's not just bawdy jokes I'm complaining about here. I regret all the jokey blog post titles I ever posted on this blog. Even museum and gallery displays now use titles that are drawn from famous movies or songs. I don't mind this kind of thing in tabloid newspapers, where it's raised to an art-form and is part of the whole atmosphere. My problem is that it's getting everywhere. I'm trying to be more priggish.)
I don't think there is enough information provided to do this from memory!
ReplyDeleteI solved the second person with help from Mr Google, and realize that what info there was, was misleading (to me, anyway)!
The first... Well, I can guess the *kind* of person (i.e. a toff) - but which specifically, I have no idea; except that he must have been very old by 1975, if he was a teenager in 1899.
His nickname was Plum!
DeleteAnd thanks for playing!
DeleteI might have suggested Tolkien, as he died AROUND that time- I assume no-one 's allowed to check- but I can't see him being called plum. Séan Lamass died on the 70s also...I know DeValera died in the late 70s because my father had silent projector footage of the guests arriving for mass.
ReplyDeleteI heard someone who was a schoolboy in those days saying they were very annoyed that De Valera died during the summer holiday, since they expected to get a day off when he died!
DeleteNeither of this people are Irish! And yes, checking is forbidden!! Thanks for playing.